Sick puns aside, I have to apologise for the state of this blog - it's going downhill rapidly as I'm pushed for time to edit it properly. Anyway as I keep explaining to people - I'm not great with French or Spanish since I'm still struggling with English.
I started writing this post in Barcelona and finished writing it in San Sebastián - so I'm going to cut the section on Languedoc a bit short - I've run out of time.
I started writing this post in Barcelona and finished writing it in San Sebastián - so I'm going to cut the section on Languedoc a bit short - I've run out of time.
This is the story of our time in the Languedoc region. Languedoc - how can I praise thee? It's a beautiful place and it was enhanced because we were seeing it with a couple of good friends from Sydney - Cathy and Alain. We visited Cordes sur Cile a smaller medieval town and Carcassonne.
I've been interested in this area of France for a few years now - ever since reading about the Albigensian crusade in the 13th Century. Today we know it as the Cathar faith - although the people in that day were unlikely to call themselves that. They developed some heretical beliefs and then apparently murdered a papal legate - which was not on - so Innocent III declared a crusade on them and basically ordered the French king and his nobles to sort it out. As the local nobles were inclined to let the locals worship how they wish (which was politically pretty smart) they ended up getting the chop as well. It also had the useful outcome, for the French anyway of aligning the region towards themselves and lessening the Aragonese influence. Unfortunately, the result was a lot of people killed and harassed firstly by the crusade and then by the inquisition which descended into the the region with homicidal intent. According the René Weis (in his great book - The Yellow Cross) the last of Cathars were winkled out in 1329 somewhere in the mists of the Pyrenees.
So much for the potted history.
Against this sweeping backdrop of drama and bloodshed we decided to visit the (restored) City of Carcassonne. I've been choking to visit the place ever since I read about it a few years ago. The photos below will describe far better than I can - but it was an awesome place to see and I'm very thankful that the French saw fit to restore the place under Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Carcassonne was the super weapon of it's day - when it was at it's pinnacle of power sitting astride the then Aragon and French border, people just avoided it. Early example of the MAD principle..
Tuesday we headed south to Perpignan to catch the train to Barcelona. Well that was the intention. Unfortunately French rail workers had other ideas - they were going on strike. So we sat around glumly and eventually a bus came which took us across the Pyrenees and into Espanol.
I've been interested in this area of France for a few years now - ever since reading about the Albigensian crusade in the 13th Century. Today we know it as the Cathar faith - although the people in that day were unlikely to call themselves that. They developed some heretical beliefs and then apparently murdered a papal legate - which was not on - so Innocent III declared a crusade on them and basically ordered the French king and his nobles to sort it out. As the local nobles were inclined to let the locals worship how they wish (which was politically pretty smart) they ended up getting the chop as well. It also had the useful outcome, for the French anyway of aligning the region towards themselves and lessening the Aragonese influence. Unfortunately, the result was a lot of people killed and harassed firstly by the crusade and then by the inquisition which descended into the the region with homicidal intent. According the René Weis (in his great book - The Yellow Cross) the last of Cathars were winkled out in 1329 somewhere in the mists of the Pyrenees.
So much for the potted history.
Against this sweeping backdrop of drama and bloodshed we decided to visit the (restored) City of Carcassonne. I've been choking to visit the place ever since I read about it a few years ago. The photos below will describe far better than I can - but it was an awesome place to see and I'm very thankful that the French saw fit to restore the place under Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Carcassonne was the super weapon of it's day - when it was at it's pinnacle of power sitting astride the then Aragon and French border, people just avoided it. Early example of the MAD principle..
Tuesday we headed south to Perpignan to catch the train to Barcelona. Well that was the intention. Unfortunately French rail workers had other ideas - they were going on strike. So we sat around glumly and eventually a bus came which took us across the Pyrenees and into Espanol.
Next stop - Spain.
No comments:
Post a Comment