Châteaux de Lastours

The site above the village of Lastours belonged to the lords of Cabaret, first recorded in 1067; at least twenty-two of them held the fortress across the medieval period, their wealth coming chiefly from the iron mines worked in the surrounding hills. Probably only three castles stood on the spur in the eleventh century, their sites shifting over the years as buildings were pulled down and rebuilt.

The lords of Cabaret were closely bound to the followers of Catharism, and the villages clustered beneath the rock sheltered many Cathars. The fortress belonged to Pierre-Roger de Cabaret, a follower of Raymond-Roger Trencavel who had fought at his side in the defence of Carcassonne.

In 1209 the site resisted the attacks of Simon de Montfort, and the crusader Bouchard de Marly, then lord of the Château de Saissac, was taken prisoner by Pierre-Roger. Montfort brought captives from the village of Bram, had their eyes gouged out and their ears, noses and lips cut off, and sent them toward Lastours led by one man left with a single eye, as a warning.

The castles put up more resistance regardless, and held out until the fortress at Termes, thought impregnable, fell in November 1210, when the lord of Cabaret surrendered — though another account of the campaign dates the surrender to 1211, tying it to the negotiated release of Bouchard de Marly.

In 1223 the lords of Cabaret repossessed their lands, and Cabaret became the seat of the Cathar bishop of Carcassès. Pierre-Roger went on resisting Montfort's forces, and the castles were besieged again by Humbert de Beaujeu; Cabaret capitulated in 1229.

The villages and castles were plundered and then rebuilt as royal fortresses. The crown had the three original towers and their houses torn down to deny the Cathars any refuge, and their replacements were sited on the crest of the ridge, less accessible to enemy fire. The Tour Régine was raised by order of the king to affirm his authority; no written record of it survives from before 1260, and its name is thought to mark its royal origin. Together the four castles became the administrative and military centre of six communities forming the châtellerie of Cabardès.

In the sixteenth century the castles were occupied by Protestants; the maréchal de Joyeuse dislodged them in 1591.

The ruins were classified a monument historique in 1905, and archaeological digs continue at the site. In 2026 the castles were named part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc, alongside the ramparts and château of Carcassonne, the "five sons of Carcassonne" and the château of Montségur.