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The early days of the Château

For most of the 12th century, the South-West of what is now France was rocked by the scandal of the Cathar or Albigensian heresy, which challenged the teachings of the church of Rome and thereby the very authority of the Pope, Innocent III. The heresy was strongest in the county of Toulouse and all over Languedoc, where vassals of the Count of Toulouse built a a line of fortresses to protect themselves against Vatican agents. After Pierre de Castelnau, despatched by the Pope to restore order in the region, was murdered in 1208, the Pope ordered the northern barons to lead a bloody Crusade against the Cathars.

One of that line of fortified châteaux built to resist the Pope’s forces was Agel. We know from evidence in the oldest part of the château that in the year 1100 its owner was Bernarde, Lord of Agel, Minerve and Cazelles.

The Crusade against the Cathars, led by Simon de Montfort, raged with unremitting violence throughout Languedoc In Simon’s bid to take Minerve in 1210, the château d’Agel was almost entirely destroyed by fire. In July of that year, Minerve finally fell, and the 180 Cathars who had taken refuge there threw themselves on to the burning pyre.

The château d’Agel, with its commanding position over the Cesse valley was of great strategic importance to the Cathars. Simon de Montfort ordered Aymeri, viscount of Narbonne, to besiege the château, but Guiraud de Pépieux, Lord of Aigues-Vives and Agel, escaped during the night to Minerve, taking with him two French knights whom he had captured.

It was the Treaty of Paris, which annexed Languedoc to France in 1220, that put an end to the Crusade. Guiraud de Pépieux, who had escaped the massacre, set about restoring the château for his descendants. Notarial records dating back to the year 1300 mention another Guillaume de Pépieux as Lord of Aigues-Vives and Agel.

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