The Château de Puivert is a Cathar castle situated in the commune of Puivert, in the Aude département of the Languedoc. This building, on top a hill overlooking the village and its lake, reaches an altitude of 605 m.
n the twelfth century a castle stood on this site, which had strong Cathar and troubadour links. A meeting of troubadours took place here in 1170, and in 1185 festivities attended by the Viscount of Carcassonne and Loba, Lady of Lastours (Cabaret).
The castle has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1902.The castle of Puivert is still in relatively good condition. It is privately owned, but open to the public and undergoing restoration.
At the meeting of 1170 a troubadour called Peire d'Auvergne penned a satirical Occitan poem which concluded with the words
| Lo vers fo fats als enfobatz A puich-vert tot jugan rizen |
This poem was composed to the sound of bagpipes At Puivert among song and laughter |
At
the start of the Wars against the Cathars, the so-called Albigensian
Crusade, Puivert's seigneur was Bernard de Congost. His wife
Alpaïs had become a Parfaite
before her death just a year earlier in 1208.
In November 1210 the Castle was besieged (just after the fall of Termes) by Simon de Montfort, and fell after three days. The dispossessed Congost family carried on the fight against the invaders.
Bernard died after receiving the Cathar
Consolamentum at Montségur
in 1232. His son fought on, participating in the events of Avignonet
in 1242 and helping defend the Château
of Montségur (
Montsegùr)
in 1243-4.
In
1213 the seigneurie, now in French hands, was conferred by Simon
de Montfort on one of his lieutenants, Lambert de Thury. Later
it was allocated to Pons de Bruyère.
At the start of the 14th century, probably around 1310, Thomas de Bruyère, grandson of Pons, built the present castle, to the east of the old "Cathar castle". His wife was Isabelle de Melun, daughter of a Grand Chamberlain of France, whose arms are still to be seen in the building.
One room has fine carvings of minstrels, and tourists are often told that troubadours played in this room. This is absolute rubbish, but if you look behind the castle you will find the foundations of the earlier castle where troubadours really did play.
