A couple of weeks ago, I posted a couple of photos from a small village called Cabrerolles in the Languedoc region of Southern France. I didn’t finish the series, so here is a recap of where we got to and then tomorrow we’ll continue the tour….
Like many or even most other villages in this region, its history dates back to medieval times and before. Villages were constructed in a circular shape with thick fortified outer walls and the castle or chateau towards the center, often in an elevated position.
In cabrerolles, the chateau was at the top of a steep pinnacle with the village running down the pinnacle and high walls on either side. The outer walls of Cabrerolles have long since been pillaged for the stone and have thus disappeared.
There is written evidence of a dungeon having been completed in 980 which was the beginning of its medieval feudal history tied to the Lord of Narbonne. The village then played an active roll in the Cathar Crusade in the 11th and 12th centuries.
Unlike other settlements closer to the coast, he village wasn’t known for its wine before the 12th century but now continues in the tradition to produce wine in the Faugères AOC.
The village is now part of the Languedoc Haut National park.