Thanks to Philippe le Bel, King of France

Close to the cottage, is situated the village of Dourgne, of which the bell tower can be seen on next picture, behind the bell tower of Sainte Scolastique abbey.

This nice little village, so quiet today, had a rather tormented history: it was destroyed by the army of Simon de Montfort in 1212, during the Cathar crusade and rebuilding it was forbidden.

Quite one century later, in 1301, the villagers took the occasion of the venue of the king of France, Philippe IV Le Bel, in the nearby Abbey of Sorèze. They went to ask him the authorization to rebuild the village, which he accepted.

The story says that to please the king, a group of the most beautiful girls and boys of Dourgne came with branches of rosemary, symbol of youth. Since more than 700 years, this event is celebrated by the Rosemary feast every February.

Nice moment for people around and for visitors to see a medieval fair.

Photo : Grand Sud Insolite

It is one of the oldest feasts in North Languedoc.

Eight centuries ago

Destroyed in 1212 by Simon de Montfort during the Albigensian Crusade (Cathar Crusade) relics of the castle are still visible on top of one of the Black Mountain peaks  (southern part of the French Massif Central). Between rocks and pine trees the foundations of the keep and houses and fortifications are there to be discovered.

The castle, situated between two other castra, Bernicaut (on the mountain close to Sorèze) and Hautpoul (on the mountain close to Mazamet), provided a strategic overview of the plain from Revel to Castres.

On top can still be seen the foundations of the keep, directly built on the rocks.

On the Northern side, in defense of the weak point (a plateau), a ditch and long defensive walls together with a big house with arrowslit.

As in the case of Château Gaillard (Normandy), the castrum may have been conquered with siege engines settled on the plateau.

In the middle of the vestiges, two caves are still visible above the keep, one of them may have been used as latrine.

Much remains to be seen and discovered about the history of Contrast.