Chateau de Puilaurens

Around 1250, the castle passed into the hands of French royalty. By a letter of August 1255, Louis IX ordered the seneschal of Carcassonne to fortify the castle. Saint Louis had it reinforced to defend Languedoc against Spanish incursions. The Treaty of Corbeil in 1258 upgraded the castle to the rank of defensive fortresses facing Aragon. It is then one of the “Five sons of Carcassonne” with the castles of Quéribus, Peyrepertuse, Termes and Aguilar, all located at the top of “impregnable” rocky peaks. A garrison led by Odon de Monteuil with a chaplain and 25 sergeants occupied the castle of Puilaurens in 1259. Consolidation and fortification work continued under the leadership of Philippe the Bold from 1270 to 1285. The castle then resisted several Aragonese attacks and will remain as the southernmost fortress in France.

The Château de Puilaurens (also Puylaurens; in Occitan: lo Castèl de Puèg-Laurenç) is one of the so-called Cathar castles in what is now the South of France. It is located in the commune of Lapradelle-Puilaurens in the Aude department. The castle stands on a spur of rock above the Boulzane Valley and the villages of Lapradelle and Puilaurens. There is a path from Axat to the castle. The castle here had belonged to the Abbey of Saint-Michel de Cuxa before it was acquired by the Queen of Aragon in 1162. As Aragonese property it was outside the territory ravaged by the Crusaders during the Cathar wars. Like Queribus it therefore provided a refuge for those fleeing from the invading forces. Those who took refuge there included both Cathars and failed, that is to say those who had forfeited their property because of their opposition to the invaders. These faidits included high nobles, such as Guillaume de Peyrepertuse.Puilaurens was ceded to the French some time before 1255. After 1258 its possession by the French crown was ratified by the Treaty of Corbeil, when the Aragonese border was moved south. In 1260, it was garrisoned by 25 sergeants. It was taken by Spanish troops in 1635, but lost all strategic importance after the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 when the border was moved even further south to its present position along the crest of the Pyrenees.
Numerous Cathar deacons sought refuge here after the fall of Montsegur. It is thought that the castle was finally forced to surrender (probably around the same time as Queribus) c.1255.