A trip to Cathar Country in the Langedoc - 7
Peyrepertuse

This precipitously-placed pair of castles, balanced on a blade of rock comprise a lower fort, which was one of the last Cathar strongholds to hold out against King 'St' Louis IX. It is North of Maury (on the D117 West of Perpignan) but dominates the Cucugnan Valley. After it fell, 'St' Louis built the higher fort to make a statement of domination over the Cathar fort. It is reached from the Cathar fort by an extremely dodgy staircase cut into the rock, which is wide but slippery & not to be comfortably contemplated in full armour. The Cathar castle is much the larger & must have been quite comfortable by the standards of the day. Across the valley, Quéribus Castle can be seen. This dominates the Maury valley, so between them, they overlook much country. It hung on until 1255 & after that, the Cathars lead a fugitive existence until the last overt one was burned in 1320 but their memory lived on & Cathar songs and poetry still have a life today. The English composer, John Buller, set some memorably in his work, 'Proença', published on CD by Unicorn.