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Castle of Minerve (
Castèl de Menerba)
Minerve (Occitan: Menèrba) is a commune in the Hérault
département in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.
It was the site of a ten week siege by Simon de Montfort during
the Cathar Crusades, after which some 180 Cathars were burned to
death at the insistence of Catholic Church leaders.
The village was protected by a double curtain wall, and overhanging
natural ledges; but this did not stop Simon
de Montfort's crusader army. They set up four catapults around
the fortification in 1210: three to attack the village, and the
largest, called Malevoisine ("Bad Neighbour"), to attack
the town's water supply. Viscount Guilhem of Minerve and the 200
men of his garrison could not resist for long. The defensive walls
were breached by St Rustique's well, and Guilhem was obliged to
negotiated the town's surrender.
Minerve is located above the River Cesse in a naturally strong
defensive position. Near the village the river disappears underground
in a large, natural tunnel. There are a few vestiges of the medieval
castle remaining and some moving monuments to the Cathar martyrs.
The village's antiquity is evident from its name, for a temple
to the goddess Minerva once occupied the site.
See separate sections below on:
Address / Maps
/ Location
History
Architecture
Photographs
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Minerve
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Address
Contact
James McDonald
Tel from the US: 010 33 468 201142
Tel from the UK: 01 33 468 201142
Tel from France: 0468 201142
Tel other: + 33 468 201142
e-mail castlesandmanorhouses@gmail.com
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Google Maps
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Small scale map showing the location of
Château de Minerve |
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Google map showing the location of
Château de Minerve |
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Large scale map showing
Château de Minerve |
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Location
Minerve (Occitan: Menèrba) is a commune in the Hérault
département in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.
Minerve is located above the River Cesse in a naturally strong
defensive position.
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History
It was here that Cathars took refuge after the massacre of Béziers
in 1209. Minerve was surrendered to the Crusaders on 22 July
1210. Guilhem saved the villagers but he could not save the
Cathars who had taken refuge in the town. Some 150 to 180 Cathar
Parfaits
were burned alive when they refused to abjure their faith.
Here is the account given in the contemporary Song
of the Cathar Wars , laisse 49, written in Occitan,
by a poet sympathetic to the crusader cause:
Minerve June/July 1210
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Minerve
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Now in Summertime, my lords, when winter was past
and fine days and hot weather had returned,
the Count de Montfort prepared for his expedition
against Minerve, which lies towards to coast.
He laid siege to the place as had planned,
and set up his catapults, making Bad Neighbour
the queen and lady of all his siege engines.
He smashed openings in the high walls and in the stone-built
hall,
mortared with sand and lime;
many a good penny they had cost and many a masmudina.
If the King of Morocco and his Saracens
had sat down all around the place, by St Catherine,
they could have done no damage worth an Anjou halfpenny,
but against the host of Christ, the judge of all,
no high rocks, no steepness may avail,no
mountain fortress hold out.
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Senhors, so fo en estiu, cant l'iverns
se declina,
Que reven lo dos temps e torna la calina ;
E lo coms de Montfort de l'ostejar s'aizina,
Al castel de Menerba, qu'es lai ves la marina,
Mes lo setge entorn, c'aitals es sa covina ;
E dressa sos calabres e fai Mala Vesina,
E sas autras peireiras e dona e reïna.
Pessia los autz murs e la sala peirina
Que so faitz de mortier, d'arena e de caucina.
Mot bon denier costeron e mota masmudina.
Si lo reis de Marocs ab sa gent sarrazina
Estes en tôt entorn, per santa Katerina!
No lor tengra nulh dan valent un' angevina ;
Mas contra l'ost de Crist que tota gent afina
No pot garentir rocha que seit aut ni rabina
Ni castels en montanha.
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The castle of Minerve sits not on a plain,
But stands, as God is my witness, on a high spur of
rock.
There is a no stronger fortress this side of the Spanish passes,
Except Cabaret and Termes
at the head of Cerdagne.
William, Lord of Minerve, rested and bathed,
Shut up in the castle with his whole troop.
Our French men and those from Champaigne,
From Maine, and Anjou and Brittany,
From Lorraine, and Frisia and Germany
Drove them all out by force before the grain ripened.
And there they burned alive many heretics, sons of bitches,
Frantic men and crazed women who shrieked among the flames.
Not the value of chestnut was left to the survivors.
Afterwards, the bodies were were thrown out and mud shovelled
over them
So that no stench from these foul things
Should bother our foreign forces.
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Lo castel de Menerba non
es assis en planha,
Ans si m'ajude fes, esenauta montauha:
Non a pus fort castel entro als portz d'Espanha,
Fors Cabaretz e terme, qu'es el cab de Serdanha.
Guilhems, sel de Menerba, sojorna e se banha:
Laïns s'era el mes ab tota sa companha.
Mas li nostri Frances e cels de vas Campanha,
Mancel e Angevi, e Breton de Bretanha,
Loarenc e Friso e celh de Alamanha
Les ne traiso per forsa ans que venga la granha,
E i arson mant eretge felo de puta canha
E mot fola eretga, que ins el
foc reganha.
Anc no lor laichá hom que valha una
castanha;
Pois gitet hom
los cors e•ls mes e mei la fanha,
Que no fesson pudor a nostra gent estranha
Aicelas malas res.
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Architecture
The Cistercian
chronicler Vaux de Cernay noted that it was not necessary to throw
the heretics into the flames, for they went voluntarily. They
claimed that "neither death nor life can separate us from the faith
to which we are joined".
Their behaviour seems to have impressed some of their persecutors,
but not enough to raise qualms about killing them. A strangely evocative
plaque - shown on the right - commemorates the massacre. It says
"Ici pour la foi Cathare 180 Parfaits sont morts par les flammes"
- loosely, "Here, for the Cathar faith, 180 Parfaits were burned
to death".
The town has kept its charm with its gates, the covered street
leading to a well and its two walls.
Nothing much remains of the castle except the candela - a slender
octagonal tower - and one facade, but you can clearly see the town's
exceptional defensive position. A museum displays figurines showing
the history of the Cathars and of Minerve and a monument commemorates
the mass murder perpetrated here in 1210
 The
village is the capital of the Minervois wine region, and is classified
as one of Les
Plus Beaux Villages de France (the "Most Beautiful Villages
In France").
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On the eight hundredth anniversary of the
massacre of Cathars by French Catholic crusaders at Minerve
on 22 July 1210, the inhabitants of the town installed a memorial
to their ancestors - shown below. It says, in Occitan:
"Minerve remembers PARATGE!"
Click
here for an explanation of the term Paratge
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GUIDED TOURS OF CATHAR CASTLES OF THE LANGUEDOC
You can join small exclusive guided tours of Cathar Castles
led by an English speaking expert on the Cathars
who lives in the Languedoc
(author of www.cathar.info)
Selected Cathar Castles. Accommodation provided. Transport
Provided.
Cathar Origins, History, Beliefs.
The Crusade, The Inquisition, and Consequences
Visit
the Cathar Tours Website for more information
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Photographs
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Memorial at Minerve
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Street sign in Minerve
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the town of Minerve
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Reproduction of "Bad Neighbour"
at Minerve
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Natural defences at Minerve
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underground river at Minerve
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Road sign in Minerve
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Cathar Memorial at Minerve
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Natural defences at Minerve
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Street in Minerve
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Cross of Toulouse in Minerve
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Rue Escalier, Minerve
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Reproduction of "Bad Neighbour"
at Minerve
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Minerve
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Minerve
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Plan of the church at Minerve
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Minerve
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Minerve
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Minerve
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Minerve
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Minerve, named after the goddess Minerva,
whose symbol was the owl
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Minerve from a distance
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Minerve road sign
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Minerve
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Minerve
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Minerve
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Minerve
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Minerve in 1950
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Minerve in 1950, Southern postern gate
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Minerve, postcard, date unknown
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Minerve, postcard, from the north of the
village,1920
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Minerve, postcard, from the north of the
village,1910
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Pont du Moulin in theBrian Valley to the
north of Minerve, postcard, 1910.
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Postcard, Minerve in 1905
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Postcard, Minerve in 1905
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Cathar Monument in Minerve
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Minerve
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Minerve
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Cathar Monument in Minerve
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In the Town.
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Close-up of the only part of the "Cathar"
castle still standing in Minerve
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Minerve
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Close-up of the only part of the "Cathar"
castle still standing in Minerve
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The (Modern) Bridge at Minerve
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Memorial at Minerve
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Minerve
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The only part of the "Cathar" castle
still standing. The flag of the Counts of Toulouse flies on
the site.
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Natural Defenses at Minerve
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The Candella, the only part of the "Cathar"
castle still standing in Minerve
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A memorial to the Cathar "martyrs"
burned alive Minerve by the Abbot Arnaud Amaury and Simon
de Montfort. Carved on the monument are the simple words in
Occitan: "Als Catars": - To the Cathars
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The only part of the "Cathar" castle
still standing at Minerve. The flag of the Counts of Toulouse
flies on the site
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Cathar Memorial at Minerve
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The Candella at Minerve
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Minerve from the other side of the gorge
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Minerve
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Minerve
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.Natural Defenses at Minerve
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Minerve
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Minerve
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Nearby: Dolmen lo Morrel dos Fados:
N 43 18 45
E 2 40 48
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