The department of Aude boasts a rich historical heritage whose outstanding landmarks are the city fortress at Carcassonne, together with the innumerable hilltop castles of the Middle Ages that are scattered around the dramatic landscape.

The history of these strongholds is intimately bound up with the events that shook the whole of the Languedoc region in the XIII century, when the crusade against the Cathars - the Albigensian heretics - focused widespread attention on the area.

The Cathar religion is a derivation of Roman Christianity. Pope Innocent III demanded a crusade in 1209 after the murder of Pierre de Castelnau.

Crusaders headed by Simon de Montfort destroyed Béziers and Carcassonne. Amaury de Montfort, Simon's son, went into Marmande with his soldiers and massacred more than 5,000 men, women and children on the mere pretext that they were heretics.

A Cathar Church existed in the Pays Agenais but the proportion of the population that adopted it in the city of Marmande is not known. This crusade only ended under the regency of Blanche de Castilles in 1229. The last resistance group was headed by Montségur and persisted until 1244. On March 16th of that year, more than 200 Cathars were burned alive for refusing to deny their faith. They were so convinced of their beliefs that they sang while agonising in the fire.

After the fall of the citadelle of Montségur, it is believed that the Cathars' treasure was hidden in the Caves of Lombrives to escape the Inquisition. To this day, we still do not know the contents of that treasure.