Montaillou
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Here is where the newly married Beatrice, at 17, became the chatelaine of Montaillou, living in its castle, with her husband, Berenger de Rocquefort, who in turn ran the castle and its garrison to protect the interests and territory of the Count of Foix, as the sign says.
The castle, or what is left of it, now sits alone on a hilltop with a gentle rise above it where some of the old town sat.
The old town has moved to be clustered around the church, previously the lowest building, from which the castle is barely visible (the "rabbit ears" building behind the tree at the top of the hill to the right):
Looking down from the castle to the church, only the steeple is visible. But it also shows the very nice view over the valley from the castle:
That very nice view is one that our chatelaine, Beatrice, also enjoyed:
Today's Montaillou is built with the stone from its predecessor buildings farther up the hill. The marks of trails and homesites are everywhere on that hill:
The modern town is very small,but does sport one very curious building that has the appearance of being both old and military. But it is likely to be much more recent than the times of our friend Beatrice.
As with any fortified structure, the walls of the castle of Montaillou were formidable:
And the ports allowed arrows to be shot at approaching enemies:
Beatrice walked to Caussou, an all day walk, to visit her sister and go to church with her, probably more than once. An important view to the chatelaine, no doubt, was this view from the castle up the trail running to where her sister Ava lived in Caussou.
Following that trail to Caussou involved going straight at this place, while walking to Prades, instead, would involve a right turn at this same place:
Here are some views of the castle from the trail she would have taken, not the round-about one the road follows today:
Actually, her trail would have stayed below where the pictures were taken. Where the pictures were taken is from the ridge that separates Montaillou from Prades. Prades is a town also important to the history of our chatelaine.
If we turn around and walk over the wooded hill shown above, we have to pass through some fairly dense stands of pine:
These are the same pines on the hill shown below, as it is seen from the castle:
The above photo shows the high mountains above Prades. Once over this hill and through its pines, Prades comes into view. This telephoto shot (3x) shows that city in its setting, and the next photo backs up a little and shows Prades again.
Note the cemetery outside and below the town.
Montaillou and Prades were basically in the same valley, a valley with a ridge running down one side. This is nicely shown in this view from just over the pass from Caussou valley:
In these two photos, Prades is not visible but hugs the valley wall around the bend to the left, and Montaillou isn't visible either, but is straight up the grassy slope between the wood-topped hill and the valley wall on the right:
In case you are into flowers like me, here are some from around the castle:
When her husband died, the chatelaine lost her position at the castle and moved to a house very near it. Perhaps these archealogical excavations are unearthing her home site?
We will never know, but they are in the right place.
But let's get back to our unfortunate, widowed, chatelaine. While she lived as a widow with children in her house near the castle, she attended church and was amazed at being propositioned there by the priest, whose cousin had already done the same, but with force, and was keeping her. After staving him off several months she accepted the priest's offer and was kept by him instead. The church building has changed little since those days.
After some time she seems to have run away from this priest-lover-keeper, moving over the hill into a very small house next to the church in Prades. A little closer to her sister Ava's in Caussou, perhaps, but not much.
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