What is Cathar Country?

Basic historical and geographical orientation...

Living Christianity
Primitive Christianity dates back to the time of Paul/Saul of Tarsus (known as St Paul)  just after the death of Jesus Christ and it is possible to detect this thread through countries and centuries, continually changing form and name.   This flowing and self transforming stream lived and lives to this day, avoiding the dangers of being fossilised or perverted into inappropriate 'created forms' (narrow thinking, power structures, dogma and worse).  One such stream was a dualist or 'gnostic' stream,  big names on the way are; Manicheans (Persia, 210-276 AD), Paulicians (Armenia 7th Century) and Bogomils (Bulgaria, perhaps Macedonia? 10th Century).

Cathars (Cathares in French)
The people who became known as 'Cathars' (pure ones) probably derived from these kinds of roots and in the 11th/12th centuries migrated to parts of France, Italy, Flanders Germany and the UK.  They were known as 'Tisserands' in some parts as they often earned their living as weavers.  The only place they were not persecuted and burned, and where they eventually gathered and settled was in the region of Southern France/Northern Spain, known today as 'Pays de Cathares'. 

How this area is defined is a little confusing in terms of modern France, it is based on a historical grouping of mini kingdoms including, but we're talking South of France, Toulouse, Carcassonne as major cities, something like this:

The 'cathars' understood both good and evil and what evil is responsible for on earth (termed a kind of 'dualism')  they understood that they would need to incarnate for as long as it took to be purified and released from the influence of evil.  In practice they were social activists, helping those around them with shelter, food, healing by laying on of hands and use of local herbs, they were promoters of women (they had women pasters, homes for widowed or single women run by women), denied the church hierarchies and rituals, employing their own simple rituals where they found themselves, at a committed level they were vegetarians who occasionally ate fish, avoided killing and were committed to non-violence.     They had a simple 'hierarchy' based on commitment and spiritual development, their 'pasters' were known as bonshommes or bonnefemmes/dames (goodmen and goodwomen).   You could become a bonshomme/femmes at any point in your life, married or not, many women became bonnefemmes after their children had grown up, however, once engaged, celibacy was required.    They travelled the land preaching. 

The Cathars fell before the Catholic dominating authority and were persecuted, tortured and burned.  They took refuge in fortified castles relying on local lords and their knights to defend them, as they themselves would not fight. By the 13th century they and their religion were thoroughly exterminated.  The only historical record of Cathars are, ironically,  the Inquisition records, kept by particularly diligent Inquisitorial Bureaucrats.

This is the region we visited this year, staying at Alet-les-Bains, visiting the villages of Arques (home of Deodat Roche), Fanjeaux,  (see Arthur Guirdham and St Dominic) and the fortified town of Minerve, and the Chateaux of Queribus, Peyropertuse, Termes and Villerouge and to the east of this map, Montsegur.  (Previous visits in the Ariege and Couserons regions).  We also stayed one night in Carcassonne.

Falconer

Falcon coming in at 100s of kilometers per hour, precision flying of the miraculous kind

Cathar Castle Interieurs

 There are no Cathar Castles...

St George's Chapel suspended in the airs

 

In the 12th Century Christians of the Paulician line who became known later as 'Cathars' were forced to take refuge from Catholic armies and inquisitors in the fortified towns and castles of local sympathisers and protectors.

Tracing the persisting stone forms of castle life...

Queribus, Peyrepertuse, Montsegur, Villerouge, Puivert...

Cathar Castle Views

Look down on the mountains

See for two hundred miles

Happy Rentree

Here is a symbol of September, the first fruits of our grape harvest;  rosé grapes in an Italian grape bowl which caught my eye in a charity shop.  Grapes love heatwaves and drought.  I only watered this vine a couple of times and yet it thrives. 

B leaves school for university, R leaves Collège for Lycée. 

Terrace Aftermath

Spot the cat as usual, faithful companion in times of rest

We can go on no longer (for the time being)

R & Friends...

...making pancakes one Sunday morning...

Cosmic stuff

Terrace interlude

We have had to abandon work half way through the project, to take it up again during the fine weekends of September, our helpers have gone and JC is back to work.  We dumped all the planks on top of the foundations to protect them and so we can get out of our door, and it gives an impression of just how wonderful it will be...when we finish it.

YES  the first plank, Sunday!

B lovingly sets up and demonstrates our laser machine which we could have used to help us get the terrace level had we remembered that we had bought it in a brocante years ago...but I will use it to draw large squares of colour on the wall in the living room

Sunday evening, time's up, puzzling over the laying of the parquet and screwing in place

Terrace facing defeat

The loneliness of the leader before the everlasting overhwhelming challenge, pushing on beyond the point of exhaustion.

We realise we are involved in a major construction, a roof perhaps, or an entire house.  We are underqualified, under staffed and our deadline is inappropriate.  I think it would have been easier to build 20 metre foundations with an underground carpark and have done with it.

It is Saturday evening, last half day tomorrow, and not a single plank of terrace is in place.  The 80 4 metre long planks have not even been carried to the building site.  As I write, JC and A are screwing the foundation frame in place.  Utter exhaustion has set in and and in desperation family loyalties have been pressed upon.

R:  OK OK I'LL WORK BUT NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING STUPID ASK ME I MAY BE ABLE TO HELP YOU AVOID A PROBLEM.

B came over with H his girlfriend, after disappearing for 2 days and nearly causing a family Rift.  Push on, push on...

The rare sight of B, R and JC on site at the same time, if only many hands would join to make light work...

One hole drilled in the baked earth every 40cm, filled with cement, topped with an adjustable foot to be finely adjusted, equidistance between the rafters, equal height, perfectly flat in all directions...

R prepares to 'work'...and JC prepares to collapse

A does the work of 3 men he is a titan...a black belt in Aikido, a qualified sports teacher, a determined, honorable and loyal friend

Complex engineering, calculations, problem-solving...

A sea of terrace foundations stretching to the horizon


I feel like a war photographer.