Usson
In 1035 Usson marked the eastern boundary of the territories
of the counts of Foix,
while in the twelfth century it became the caput of the Donezan
region. Indeed, before the defile was cut through the
mountains to link Quillan to Axat, Usson was a barely accessible
outpost. As such it provided succour for both the faydits and
other Cathars. The castle was owned by the Alion family who
in the thirteenth century took the name Usson. Thus in 1226
Bernard Alion and his brother Arnaud Usson paid homage to King Louis
VIII of France (d.1226). This did not stop them from
continuing to support the Cathar cause. Before the fall of
Montsegur in March 1244, the brothers sent arms and supplies to the
garrison. On 15th March 1244, the day before the surrender of
Montsegur, four Parfaits left that castle for
Usson. They are supposed to have taken or escorted the
undefined Cathar treasure to the fortress. The castle was
eventually taken by the French Crown and Bernard Alion of Usson was
burned alive at Perpignan in 1258. Finally the castle was
granted by Louis XIV (d.1715) to a new Marquis Usson. It was seized by
the government in the French Revolution and destroyed for its stone.
Description
The castle consists of a rocky crag covered in three wards.
To the SE are the lower courses of a rectangular enclosure that blocked
the approach to the castle. This has a house built in its
northern third. Above this to the west is the main ward,
commanded by an internal hexagonal tower to the east. This is
set on the end of a much ruined hall-block, which in turn is surrounded
by a polygonal enceinte that consists of a herringbone masonry wall
with quoins and narrow loops. This ward is accessed via a
long barbican to the south with two small rectangular gatehouses, the
upper one of which has been made partially out of a projecting buttress
from the upper ward. The entrance steps pass along the rock
to the entrance to the main E-W running ward at its SE end.
Behind this to the north is another irregular rectangular ward with a
twin apsed hall or chapel to the NW.
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Paul Martin Remfry