Montaillou

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Montaillou
Montalhon
Montaillou (France)
Montaillou
region Occitania
Department Ariège
Arrondissement Foix
Canton Haute-Ariège
Community association Haute Ariège
Coordinates 42 ° 47 '  N , 1 ° 54'  E Coordinates: 42 ° 47 '  N , 1 ° 54'  E
height 1,181-1,806 m
surface 8.61 km 2
Residents 17 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 2 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 09110
INSEE code 09197

Montaillou - townscape with church

Montaillou Occitan Montalhon is a southern French town and municipality ( commune ) with 17 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Ariège department in the Occitania region .

location

Montaillou lies at an altitude of approx. 1280 meters above sea level. d. M. on a small mountain range, the Mont d'Alion in the Pays d'Aillou in the French Pyrenees . The small town of Ax-les-Thermes is about 20 kilometers (driving distance) in a south-westerly direction, the towns of Foix and Pamiers are about 58 and 78 kilometers to the north-west, respectively.

Population development

year 1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006 2017
Residents 49 45 37 20th 27 14th 10 17th

Since the beginning of the 19th century (the place had about 320 inhabitants at that time) the population decreased continuously to the lowest values ​​of the last decades.

economy

For centuries, the population of the mountain village lived from a little agriculture (barley) and from cattle farming (milk, cheese, meat); forestry hardly played a role because of the remote location of the place. In the second half of the 20th century, income from tourism (e.g. in the form of renting holiday homes ( gîtes )) was added.

history

Montaillou is important for historical studies , as a unique source of sources allows insights into everyday life and the mentality of a village community in the Middle Ages . In the 14th century, the majority of the population adhered to the Cathar teachings . Bishop Jacques Fournier, later Pope Benedict XII. , carried out a heretic trial that was concluded on October 9, 1325 and whose files with 578 recorded interrogations and 160 testimony provided numerous testimonies about the life of the residents, gossip and gossip of the village with insights into the privacy of many residents. You learn about the affairs and thoughts of the pastor and the simple shepherd , you gain insights into the daily routine and the economic structures of the place.

In the 1970s, the French historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie elaborated the sources into a life picture of the place. Since then, research has repeatedly sought to deal with the history of Montaillou, for example in a colloquium that was held in 2000, but also in archaeological excavations that could add many aspects to the picture conveyed by the written sources.

Attractions

Ruin of the castle
  • The ruins of Montaillou Castle from the 12th century dominate the town. Built by the Lords of Alion, it later fell to the Counts of Foix before being laid down in the 17th century on the orders of Richelieu . In December 1984 it was added to the list of Monuments historiques .
  • The small church of Notre Dame de Carnesses is a Romanesque building from the 10th and 11th. Century and goes - according to local tradition - back to the Marian apparition of a shepherdess. As 'proof' of this phenomenon, a rock slab with a 'footprint of Mary' can be found near the chapel. According to the records of the Inquisition of Pamiers , the devout Cathar Mengarde Clergue was buried in this chapel by her son, Pastor Pierre Clergue . It is not clear from the file whether the body - as it was at posthumously convicted heretics - common exhumed was then burned.
  • The castle of the Montauriol family originally dates from 1588. It was destroyed by arson on the night of December 15, 1756. Only the fortified gate from the 16th century, reconstructed by the Montauriol family, has survived.

literature

  • Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (Ed.): Autour de Montaillou - un village occitan; histoire et religosité d'une communauté villageoise au Moyen Âge. Actes du colloque de Montaillou (25-26-27 August 2000) . L'Hydre, Castelnaud la Chapelle 2001, ISBN 2-913703-11-9 .
  • Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie: Montaillou - A village before the Inquisitor 1294 to 1324 . Ullstein, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-548-26571-5 (Original title: Montaillou, village occitan de 1294 à 1324. Paris 1975.).
  • Aué, Michèle: Discover Cathar Country . MSM, Vic-en-Bigorre, France 1992, ISBN 2-907899-44-9 .
  • René Weis: The world is the devil - The story of the last Cathars 1290–1329 . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2003, ISBN 3-404-64196-5 (Original title: The Yellow Cross: The Story of the Last Cathars' Rebellion Against the Inquisition, 1290-1329 . 2002. ISBN 0-375704-41-8 ).
  • Matthias Benad: Domus and religion in Montaillou - Catholic Church and Catharism in the struggle for survival of the family of Pastor Petrus Clerici at the beginning of the 14th century . JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1990, ISBN 3-16-145562-2 (Habilitation, University of Frankfurt / M. 1987).

Web links

Commons : Montaillou  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ruines du Château, Montaillou in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)