Events CSG Conference Durham 2012 CSG Autumn Conference 2012 Cathar Castles 2012 Previous CSG Conferences Sites visited since 1987 Magna Graecia Project

Cathar Castles (II) September 15th-22nd 2012

Led by Richard Eales & organised by Pamela Marshall.

Participants may remember the CSG ‘Cathar Castles’ tour in October 2007, based in Carcassonne centred on the Aude (river and Departement) but venturing as far west as Montsegur and north to Minerve. These and other sites were scenes of major sieges during the Albigensian Crusades against the Cathar heretics which began in 1209 and lasted into the 1240s, though many of the buildings themselves were reconstructed afterwards for other purposes. [See Peter Purton’s report in CSG Journal no 21, 2007-8]. Richard Eales has proposed a follow-up tour to the region further west of the 2007 sites, essentially the Ariege (river and Departement). This would similarly feature important castles which were disputed in the Albigensian wars, but also medieval towns and churches of the same period. The tour will be based in Toulouse for two nights, then in Foix for the remaining 5 nights.

Itinerary

NB This programme is provisional and covers the main sites, but other sites may also be visited depending on time and access. The order of daily schedules may also be modified if necessary. The programme will be finalised nearer the time.

Saturday 15th September

Arrive Toulouse: participants will make their own way to the hotel in Toulouse. Dinner not included.

In Toulouse it is possible to walk around the few remaining sections of the medieval walls, and see the layout of the city as it was in the great sieges of 1211 and 1218, but the main interest is in the churches: St Sernin is said to be the largest surviving Romanesque building and the Musee des Augustins has ‘the most important collection of Romanesque sculpture in the world’. The Church of the Jacobins architecturally symbolises the power of the Dominicans who supervised the Inquisition after the crusading campaigns.

Sunday 16th

Breakfast included Morning: short guided walk around remnants of city defences. Afternoon: free in Toulouse to visit major churches: Cathedral, St Sernin, the medieval art from the city in the Musée des Augustins and other sites. Dinner not included

Monday 17th

Breakfast included Morning: short guided visit to the excavated remains of the Chateau Narbonne, more time free in Toulouse. Afternoon: depart by coach for Foix, with short visits on the way. Dinner included

Tuesday 18th (NB this is the longest day in terms of driving distance)

Breakfast included. Morning: Lordat. Lunch stop in Ax-les-Thermes. Afternoon: Usson, Querigut. Dinner included.

Wednesday 19th

Breakfast included Morning: Foix castle and town. Lunch stop in Foix. Afternoon: Miglos, Montreal. Dinner included

Thursday 20th

Breakfast included. Morning: Montaillou (centre of the Inquisition persecutions which provided the evidence for Le Roy Ladurie’s best-selling study of ‘Cathars and Catholics in a French village’). Lunch stop in Montsegur (an optional group lunch can be reserved at an Auberge – not included). Afternoon: Montsegur museum and castle (the eastern limit of this tour, as it was the western one in 2007). Dinner included.

Friday 21st

Breakfast included. Morning: Roquefixade. Lunch stop at Mirepoix bastide. Afternoon: Mirepoix, Lagarde. Dinner included’

Saturday 22nd

Breakfast included. Return to Toulouse with drops at airport and main train station.

Cost: Per person in a shared room - £790. Single room - £895. £750 Triple (Foix only).

             

               

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