Montaillou

Montaillou ( oc. Montalhon ) is a municipality with a population of 35 (as of 1 January 2011 ) in France. It is located in the department of Ariège in the Midi-Pyrénées region.

Geography

Montaillou located on a small ridge, Mont d' Alion in the Pays d' Aillou in the French Pyrenees.

Neighboring municipalities are Comus, Comus, Prades and Ax- les -Thermes.

History

Significant is the place Montaillou for the science of history, since a unique source location allows insight into the daily life and mentality of a village community of the Middle Ages. In the 14th century the majority of the population of the doctrine of the Cathars was hanging on. Bishop Jacques Fournier, the future Pope Benedict XII. , Led by a heretic process, which was concluded on 9 October 1325 and whose records with 578 logged hearings and 160 witnesses numerous testimonies about the lives of the residents of gossip of the village with glimpses of the privacy of many residents has been handed down. One learns of the infidelities and thoughts of the priest as the simple shepherd, one gains insight into the daily routine and the economic structures of the place.

The French historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie has worked out the sources to a living picture of the place in the 1970s. Research since then has constantly sought engagement with the history Montaillous so in a symposium that was held in 2000, but also in archaeological excavations, which could complement the brokered by the written sources to image many aspects.

Demography

Culture and sights

Structures

Castle ruins Montaillou

The castle ruins Montaillou from the 12th century overlooks the town. Built by the Lords of Alion, they later fell to the Counts of Foix, before she was laid down in the 17th century on the orders of Richelieu. In December 1984, she was included in the List of Monuments historiques.

Notre Dame de Carnesses

The chapel is a Romanesque building from the 10th/11th. Century. The building dates back to a Marian apparition of a shepherdess. As "proof" of this phenomenon can be found in the chapel of a slab of rock with a "footprint of Mary ".

According to the records of the Inquisition of Pamiers the devout Katharerin Mengarde Clergue was buried by her son priest Pierre Clergue in this chapel. It is not clear from the file if the corpse - was exhumed and then burned - as it was in posthumously convicted heretics usual.

Today, the church is in a almost unchanged state.

Castle of Montauriol family

The castle was originally built in 1588th It was destroyed by arson on the night of December 15, 1756. The preserved only the reconstructed from the family Montauriol, fortified gate from the 16th century.