Lady Carcas

There's an ancient tale telling that the name of the city Carcas sonne would come from the expression "Carcas sonne" (Carcas rings), from the name of an imaginary heroin, Lady Carcass. This Saracen princess supposedly ruled the Knights of the City in the VIIIth C, while the army of the emperor Charlemagne tried to reconquer the city.

Historians have proved the legend to be a legend.

As for the name of the city, it might come from the ancient name of the hill, Carsac...

The settlement has been identified as extremely ancient.

First signs date from about 3500 BC, but the site became an important trading place, with a fortified oppidum, about 6 centuries BC.

The Romans made it the colonia of Julia Carsaco, later Carcasum.

Roman towers and walls have been incorporated to the medieval fortifications.

Then Visigoths settled a dynasty here...

Later it was a a stronghold of the Cathars.

It got submitted to the direct rule of the kingdom of France in 1247, and became a border fortress.

The medieval city is surrounded by two outer walls.

53 towers.

One of which hosted the inquisition in the XIIIth C...

Carcassonne fell into disrepair during the first haf of the XIXth C.

Its mayor and the writer Prosper Mérimée, first inspector of ancient monuments, led a campaign to preserve the fortress as a historical monument. The architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was commissioned in 1849 to renovate the place.

His work was criticized, even at his time...

But the result still has some more authenticity than Disneyland and most of the ancient villages, hôtels particuliers or small castles owned by people with more money than (self)education and good taste.

Let's say it's a great place to learn and teach history...

You get all the vocabulary.

It LOOKS authentic.

It IS beautiful.

Children LOVE it.

There are good restaurants.

Pay the price.

Touristic restaurants are AWFULL and one must dissuade them.

The center of the city is lovely...

And it remains upsettingly REAL.