Carcassonne, gothic castle
Carcassonne is a (very) diverse board game, having so many variations that simply naming them would need an entire post on their own. But this blog isn’t about games; it is about history. The real Carcassonne is actually a giant castle located in southwestern France. The site itself is vast and complex, with the oldest fortification dating all the way back to the Roman Empire. Quite ironic that one of the most famous medieval castles of Europe came from Antiquity, whilst we tend to believe they were built during the middle age.
The inner walls of the castle date from 485 CE and were built by the Visigoths king Euric I to defend his kingdom. It was efficient enough because it prevented the Frankish king Clovis from invading the Hibernian Peninsula in 508. However, this initial bastion wasn’t perfect because it was conquered on not one but two separate occasions. The first time was when the Umayyad Caliphate invaded the Visigoth kingdom in 728. It was then taken back from them in 752 by Pepin Le Bref, the first Carolingian king, making this event the second invasion of the site. Funnily enough, let’s remember that Pepin was also the son of the legendary Charles Martel, who had already repealed a Caliphate invasion during his reign. It seems like kicking the Muslims out of their land was a shared family hobby. Pepin also happened to be the father of Charlemagne.
Returning to Carcassonne, it won’t play another significant historical role for the next 300 years. The Viscounts of Carcassonne and Beziers would then build the “Basilique Saint-Nazaire” and the castle of Comtal over the old Visigoth fortification. Nothing feels like having a makeover after ageing for a millennium. All of this work of improvement came to an abrupt end during the Albigensian Crusades. Indeed, the middle east wasn’t the only destination for holy wars! The house of Trencavel, who then owned the castle, lost it to the French crown. Carcassonne served as a frontier fortress for the next 600 years, seeing further fortifications and artworks like stained glasses added along the way. All of this came to an end in 1659 when France annexed the province of Roussillon. This new map of the kingdom ended any use for maintaining such an expensive stronghold. So, Carcassonne was left to rot for the next 200 years.
In 1844, an architect took on restoring the castle, which lasted approximately a century. This says a lot about how massive Carcassonne is and the kind of mess it was when the work began. Ever since, it has become a renowned tourist attraction, meaning the long renovation works were not in vain after all.
