This castle is perched on a rocky hill overlooking the town of Foix, and was the seat of the Counts of Foix. It was built in several stages, and wanted to be a stronghold of the region, through the power of its owners.
History of Chateau of Foix
The castle is mentioned for the first time in a charter in the early eleventh century it was probably built at the end of the previous century. In 1002, it appears in the Will Roger Trencavel I, Count of Carcassonne which bequeathed the castle to his youngest son Bernard. This first castle was typically consists of a single tower, which left their bases in those of Arget and was built on the site naturally the highest of the rocky outcrop. An enclosure protected the top of the rock wall at the edge of cliffs carefully and did little more than raise them. This monument enabled counties to establish their authority and consolidate their presence in the region. Indeed, the noble family ruled the country had moved to this location that allowed them to control access to the upper valley of the Ariege, monitoring of this strategic country down while hiding behind the impregnable walls.
In 1034, the castle became the chief town of the county of Foix and plays a key role in medieval military history. During the next two centuries, the castle is home of the Earls brilliant personalities who were the soul of the resistance Occitan during the Albigensian Crusade against the county and became a favorite refuge for persecuted Cathars.
From the first dungeon, it perfected the building. The first seal Counts known one, Roger Raymond (1188-1223), Count of Foix in the early thirteenth century, has on one side a very symbolic drawing of the castle of Foix. It included a second round square (current tower in the middle) and a large building that connected the two towers. This building seems to have possessed at least two stages and was certainly very different from what exists today. It may have been the stately room: the place of acceptance and decision-making center of the county. The square is named in turn acts medieval “new tower”, which proves its construction after that of Arget.
The castle had to suffer the attacks of the Crusaders during the crusade against the Albigenses (1208-1249). The county of Foix was relatively unscathed by the crusade which the outcome was fatal for the counts of Toulouse. The Treaty of Meaux-Paris amputated in 1229 the county of Foix on its eastern fringes by isolating a lordship of Mirepoix and occupying positions scattered. In 1241, Roger IV became Count of Foix in the death of his father. Sensing that the situation was unfavorable, he declined for the first time since the beginning of the crusade military support to the Count of Toulouse, in 1242, thus precipitating the failure of his last rebellion. Roger IV stood far from the case of Montsegur.
The late Middle Ages was a time of substantial improvements and are still visible. We surrounded the tower Arget probably a shirt at the time of the conflict between Roger Bernard III and the kings of France and Aragon. We perfected the middle tower, vault ceilings may be at the beginning of the fourteenth century seems to suggest as the seal of Eleanor de Comminges, wife of Gaston II (1315-1342), Count of Foix and mother of Gaston Phoebus, placed on the keystone of the first floor. We also added a barbican and Chatelet access to the outside of the city, near the road to St-Girons. The first gatehouse supervisor ordered two watchtowers rising. The gatehouse and a barbican higher strengthened the defense of lists, first platform inside the castle. The new building combines the limestone rock and brick, which reappears in the fourteenth century in military construction in the region. The two towers were equipped with a gated.
Most importantly, we built a third and final lap in the first half of the fifteenth century. This round tower was immediately seen as a building dedicated to the residence more than the defense is on the ground floor while the military turns know no opening before the first floor, wide open windows, chimneys and ducts Independent on four floors, latrines with flue, vaulted ceilings. The round tower was a work of complex and expensive architecture that was undertaken during the reign of Gaston Phoebus.
In the mid-fifteenth century, the round tower or a portion thereof was used to deposit the archives of counts. The castle was quickly converted into barracks and handed over to himself, which accelerated its degradation. In 1570, there were eight men in garrison in the castle, which can seem low, but understandable in the absence of conflict. Only the chapel was maintained on a regular basis. The already tangled around the rock used for the inhabitants to graze their flocks and spread sheets. The castle was so shabby.
The castle had already served in jail since the Middle Ages the counts of Foix were vigilantes. But a small space at that time was devoted to this function. From the eighteenth century and especially in the early nineteenth century, the castle and its towers were completely transformed in prison. During the Revolution, when creating the department of Ariege, this institution became county. The prison then gathered the people who were accused or prevented, awaiting trial and those who were sentenced to short terms.
The function of prison led to numerous architectural changes to the castle. Grids were placed on the openings, solid cell doors were installed with locks effective. We built new buildings on the land is to house the prison. Prisoners engraved graffiti on the walls of their cells and they can still be observed in different rooms of the round tower which served as dungeons. The conditions of detention were appalling. In addition the prison suffered from a chronic overcrowding and lack of space. In the early nineteenth century, prisoners were a hundred, the number reached nearly 200 in 1859 and the low number of bathroom did not separate them as crimes committed as the law imposed. It ends up building a modern prison in the town of Foix and the prisoners are moved, creating in 1864 and for a short time a workhouse on the site.
The late nineteenth century witnessed in Europe a renewed interest in the Middle Ages and historical heritage. The castle was classified a historical monument and restored under the direction of Paul Boeswillwald friend of Viollet-le-Duc. The restorers tried to return to the medieval monument or more to the idea they had. The castle before our eyes today is the result of this restoration.
Chateau of Foix