QUÉRIBUS
Queribus is a ruined castle in the South of France. This is one of the "Five Sons of Carcassonne", along with Aguilar, Peyrepertuse, Termes and Puylaurens: five castles strategically placed to defend the new french border against the Spanish in 1659.
This is sometimes regarded as the last Cathar stronghold. In a sense it was. After the fall of Montegùr in 1244 surviving Cathars gathered together in another mountain-top stronghold on the border of Aragon (The present border between the Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales). In 1255 a French army was dispatched to deal with them, but they slipped away without a fight, propably to Aragon or Piedmont, both regions where Cathar beliefs were still common, and where the Occitan language was spoken.
This is one of the "Five Sons of Carcassonne", along with Aguilar, Peyrepertuse, Termes and Puylaurens: five castles strategically placed to defend the new (1659) rench border against the Spanish. Quéribus is high and isolated. It stands on top of the highest peak for miles around. From a distance it can be seen on the horizon, sticking up into the sky. It's accessible to visitors. You can drive almost to it, walking just the last few hundred metres. The entrance to the castle itself is very steep and narrow – a defensive measure. Notice the number of arrow slits covering the approach.
PEYREPERTUSE
Peyrepertuse is a ruined fortress located high in the French Pyrénées in the commune of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse, in the Audedépartement, and has been associated with the Counts of Narbonne and Barcelona.
During the Albigensian Crusade it served as a Cathar haven and stonghold, but was handed over to French forces without a battle in 1240. Known as one of the "five sons of Carcassonne" — several castles along the border between France and Spain — the French fortified the castle in 1242 to protect the border.
The château at Peyrepertuse is the dominating feature of this terroir -- if you only visit one château in the Corbières, make it this one. Once you know where to look, it is visible for miles around (the best view is from Rouffiac), but it is grafted so closely to the rock on which it stands that it seems to blend into the mountain itself. The name Peyrepertuse is derived from pierre percée, "pierced rock".
Even on the approach road from Duilhac, the nearest village, it is difficult to detect where the rock stops and the castle starts. The pinnacle is so sheer as to seem utterly inaccessible, but the climb from the car park to the castle is in fact relatively easy, ten or fifteen minutes' walk along a shady path with very little scrambling required. The ruins are extensive, and impressive.
The main part of the château, over 200m long, is irresistibly reminiscent of the prow of a ship, running along the top of an 800m (2,600 ft) high crag. Further along the ridge, and at first sight completely unreachable, is the keep of San Jordi (Saint George), even higher than the castle itself. Investigation reveals a flight of 60-odd steps carved from the rock, winding their way from the curtain wall up to the ultimate "fortress within a fortress". Needless to say, the view from here is worth every minute of the climb. On the day we visited, hang-gliders were swooping silently around in the updraughts on the sunny side of the crest, like huge birds of prey.
Peyrepertuse was never subjected to siege or attack during the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars; it fell nevertheless to French forces in November 1240, through negotiation rather than force of arms. The King (Louis IX) naturally appreciated the virtues of its defensive position and it was he who had San Jordi and the steps linking it to the main fortress constructed. Peyrepertuse was now a base used to harass the remaining Cathars in the region. But unlike Montségur (in the neighbouring département of the Ariège) it was never illuminated by the flames of the bonfires on which Cathar perfecti were burned alive. Subsequently, along with Aguilar, Quéribus, Termes, and Puilaurens, Peyrepertuse became one of the "five sons of Carcassonne" protecting the frontier with Aragon. A small force was garrisoned there until the French Revolution.
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