Upstream
from Axat in the Aude
Gorge, carved out of the foothills of the the high Pyrenees,
is the little known castle of Usson. It dates from
the eleventh century (perhaps earlier) and during the Cathar
period marked the eastern boundary of the territories of
the Counts
of Foix. In the twelfth century this was the capital
of the Donezan region. Before the Défilé
was cut through the mountains to link Quillan to Axat, this
was an inaccessible outpost providing succour for faidits
and other persecuted Cathars. The Cathar bishop of
Toulouse Guilhabert de Castres is known to have taken refuge
here.
In 1226 Bernard, the Lord of Usson paid nominal homage to the King of France, but his sympathies still lay with the Cathars.
Towards
the end of the wars against the Cathars this was one of
their last sanctuaries, providing support for the Château
of Montségur (
Montsegùr)
The seigneurs of Usson, Bernard d'Alion and his brother
Arnaud d'Usson sent arms and supplies to their besieged
comrades there. On 15th March 1244, the day before
225 Cathar Parfaits were burned alive at Montsegur, four
other Parfaits left the castle there for Usson, where the
Cathar treasure had been evacuated a few months earlier.
What this treasure was, and what happened to it, no-one
knows. This mystery has fed a number of fantasies
about the equally mysterious treasure supposedly found at
Rennes-le-Château
in the nineteenth century.
Bernard d'Alion was burned alive at Perpignan in 1258. The castle was rebuilt as a French border fortress, and given by Louis XIV to the new Marquis d'Usson. Like other seigniorial residences it was sold as communal property at the French Revolution, after which time it was used as a stone quarry.
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