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Cathar Country: the Corbières
Walking the trails that criss-cross the broad ridges, narrow gorges, woodland of oak and box, and expanses of holm oaks, broom, juniper and wild herbs, you can appreciate the fortresses’ brilliant defensive positions all the more. Peyrepertuse is superbly preserved, with vertiginous drops on all sides, but if you visit just one, it should be Quéribus, which perches precariously above a sheer cliff, affording views to the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees. To maximise the limited space on this rocky perch, the area within the crenellations – an intriguing labyrinth of narrow stairways and passages – is terraced, the focus being the polygonal keep. Were it not for the fact that the crusaders captured Chabert de Barbera, the region’s de facto ruler, and forced his strongholds to capitulate, the castle may never have fallen – it was never successfully besieged. We offer one holiday in the Corbières: |
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The Corbières is one of the last truly ‘secret’ regions of France, one little-known to the French themselves, despite it being the focal point of a very turbulent and bloody era of the country’s history: the crusades against the Cathar sect in the 13th century. The Cathars – a name derived from the Greek word katharos, meaning ‘pure’ – were dualists who believed that this world is evil and that all material things are made by Satan. Repelled by what they saw as the indulgent excesses of the Catholic Church, they developed a more ascetic and less ritualised version of Christianity and sought to achieve spiritual purity by freeing the soul from all material things (those who did not do so were doomed to reincarnation). It was not just the beliefs of the sect, but also its high-profile support across south-west France, that led Pope Innocent III to declare it a heresy. (Probably no more than ten per cent of the population converted to Catharism but what caused consternation in Rome was the fact that its ranks were swelled by the tolerant southern nobility and many who resented paying taxes to the Church.) Motivated as much by greed as by a desire to uphold the supremacy of the Catholic Church, in 1208 land-hungry northern nobles launched a series of crusades against the ‘heretics’. They were led for many years by Simon de Montfort, who earned notoriety for his cruelty – those Cathars who were captured were often burned alive en masse. The châteaux that had originally been built by southern noblemen in the early 11th century to protect their lands against the Spanish provided refuge for the Cathars, but one by one the fortresses were besieged by the crusaders and their inhabitants massacred. The last one to fall was Quéribus, in 1255, but not before many of the garrison had escaped. This heralded the beginning of the end of Catharism in France, though it took the Inquisition several decades to eradicate the Cathars completely, and legends of ‘treasures’ – including the Holy Grail – and links to the Knights of the Round Table have endured to this day. 
Some of the castles were left in ruins, while others were rebuilt by their new rulers to ensure domination of the conquered lands. These also served to keep watch over the nearby border with the kingdom of Aragon ( Spain), but in 1659 the Treaty of the Pyrenees re-aligned the border further to the south, rendering the castles virtually redundant in this respect. 
A large proportion of the lands once plundered by the marauding northern seigneurs are now – and indeed have been since Roman times – planted with the vines from which the increasingly lauded Corbières wines are produced. Typically full-bodied and spicy, and vying for a share of the market traditionally dominated by Burgundy and Bordeaux viticulteurs, the red Appellation d’Origine Contrôllée wines are blended from a number of grapes, principally Carignan (a hardy variety which accounts for the deep-red colour and strong tannins often associated with Corbières wines), Grenache noir (which makes for a full-bodied wine and, like the Carignan, is well-suited to the dry climate), Syrah (which results in a bouquet with hints of plums and blackberries) and Mourvèdre (which improves the ageing qualities of the wine). These aromatic wines are complemented by an equally flavoursome cuisine campagnarde that is heavily influenced by Catalan traditions, and features olive oil and dishes such as boules de Picolat (meatballs flavoured with onion and olives served in a tomato and herb sauce), ouillade (stew featuring beef and beans that have been cooked separately), bouillinade (a local take on bouillabaisse, with fish, potatoes and peppers), canard sauté au Fitou (duck in a red-wine sauce) and gargoulade (slow-cooked snails served with bacon, onion, anchovies and sausage) – hearty recipes that satisfy the visitor as much as the fantastic paths of this real walker’s country.