The Château de Quéribus stands in the commune of Cucugnan, a Corbières village immortalized by Alphonse Daudet in his famous priest's sermon.
Perched on a narrow rocky outcrop, the castle rises to a massive silhouette at 728 meters above sea level.
Mentioned as early as 1020, Quéribus castle became part of the County of Besalù, then of Barcelona, and finally entered the House of Aragon in 1162 as a royal fortress.
The “de Cucugnan” family first appeared in 1193.
During the crusade against the Albigensians, they were among the champions of the Languedoc cause.
Before 1240, Pierre de Cucugnan supplied the heretics at Puylaurens castle and sheltered the faydit Guiraud d'Aniort.
In 1240, he joined Raymond Trencavel as he laid siege to Carcassonne.
Following the failure of this siege, he submitted to Saint-Louis.
The Château de Quéribus is still home to Cathars.
The deacon of Razès, Benoît de Termes, takes refuge there under the authority of the knight Chabert de Barbaira.
The latter was finally forced to yield to Saint-Louis in 1255.
The last bastion to fall, eleven years after the fall of Montségur, it became a key part of the French defensive system.
Quéribus is one of the “five sons of Carcassonne”, along with Aguilar, Peyrepertuse, Puilaurens and Termes.
Its prime strategic location enabled it to keep a watchful eye on the Roussillon plain to the south, and to block enemy access to the Corbières massif.
It lost its strategic importance in 1659, when the Treaty of the Pyrenees set the border with Spain at its present location.
Château de Quéribus
11 350 Cucugnan
Tel/fax: 04 68 45 03 69
Tel: 06 71 72 64 01
Translated with DeepL.com
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