Blanche de Bourbon, humiliated and rejected in Peyrepertuse
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Poor Blanche!
Blanche of Bourbon? We already met her in the neighbouring castle of Puilaurens: she was on her way to Spain, to see her fiancé, king of Castile Pierre I.
A terrible and unfaithful husband, who, several days after the wedding in June 1353, went to see his mistress…
Alone, humiliated, Blanche took shelter in the castle of Peyrepertuse. The poor one would have a tragic fate...
Citadel of vertigo
Peyrepertuse, famous citadelle du vertige (citadel of vertigo)!
Located at about 800 m high, it's a real impregnable place. The first mention of the castle dates back to 1020.
The lord, Guillaume de Pierrepertuse, took in Cathars on the run. But Simon de Montfort, leader of the Crusades against Cathars, forced him to make allegiance.
Nevertheless, Guillaume still greeted Cathars in his castle: at the end he was excommunicated.
Becoming a royal citadel in 1258, Peyrepertuse, like many other Cathar castles in the area, lost its importance with the signature of treaty of Pyrénées (1659), when France annexed Roussillon.
And the French Revolution signed its ruin…