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127-725: Carcassonne is a French fortified city in the department of Aude , region of Occitania . It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic Period , Carcassonne is located in the plain of the Aude between historic trade routes, linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea and the Massif Central to the Pyrénées . Its strategic importance was quickly recognised by

254-537: A Qing incursion in 1638. By 1641, there were ten bastion forts in the county. Before bastion forts could spread any further, the Ming dynasty fell in 1644, and they were largely forgotten as the Qing dynasty was on the offensive most of the time and had no use for them. In the wake of city growth and the ensuing change of defensive strategy, focusing more on the defense of forts around cities, many city walls were demolished. Also,

381-636: A humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification : Cfa ), though with noticeable hot-summer mediterranean climate influence (Köppen climate classification: Csa ), a climate which is more typical of southern France, with moderately wet and mild winters coupled with summers averaging above 28 °C (82 °F) during daytime with low rainfall. Carcassonne, along with the French Mediterranean coastline, can be subject to intense thunderstorms and torrential rains in late summer and early autumn. The Carcassonne region can be flooded in such events,

508-668: A "brothel of blaspheming Jews." Thanks to the preserved canons of the Council of Narbonne of 590, a good deal can be known about surviving Gothic Pagan beliefs and practices in Visigothic Septimania. The Council may have been responding in part to the orders of the Third Council of Toledo , which found "the sacrilege of idolatry [to be] firmly implanted throughout almost the whole of Iberia and Septimania." The traditional Roman practice of not working Thursdays in honour of Jupiter

635-501: A bit more than a third the width of a major wall in China. According to Philo the width of a wall had to be 4.5 metres (15 ft) thick to be able to withstand ancient (non-gunpowder) siege engines. European walls of the 1200s and 1300s could reach the Roman equivalents but rarely exceeded them in length, width, and height, remaining around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) thick. When referring to

762-473: A central keep. The walls consist of towers built over quite a long period. One section is Roman and is notably different from the medieval walls, with the tell-tale red brick layers and the shallow pitch terracotta tile roofs. One of these towers housed the Catholic Inquisition in the 13th century and is still known as "The Inquisition Tower". Carcassonne was demilitarised under Napoleon Bonaparte and

889-579: A city fully enclosed by walls was not fully developed in Southeast Asia until the arrival of Europeans. However, Burma serves an exception, as they had a longer tradition of fortified walled towns; towns in Burma had city walls by 1566. Besides that, Rangoon in 1755 had stockades made of teak logs on a ground rampart . The city was fortified with six city gates with each gate flanked by massive brick towers. In other areas of Southeast Asia, city walls spread in

1016-502: A column near the Narbonne Gate , is of modern invention. The name can be derived as an augmentative of the name Carcas. Carcassonne became strategically identified when the Romans fortified the hilltop around 100 BC and eventually made it the colonia of Julia Carsaco , later Carcaso , later Carcasum (by the process of swapping consonants known as metathesis ). The main part of

1143-486: A cost benefit hypothesis, where the Ming recognized the highly resistant nature of their walls to structural damage, and could not imagine any affordable development of the guns available to them at the time to be capable of breaching said walls. Even as late as the 1490s a Florentine diplomat considered the French claim that "their artillery is capable of creating a breach in a wall of eight feet in thickness" to be ridiculous and

1270-534: A cultural osmosis across the Gothic-Frankish frontier. A unique style of orange pottery was common in the 4th and 5th centuries in southern Gaul, but the later (6th century) examples culled from Septimania are more orange than their cousins from Aquitaine and Provence and are not found commonly outside of Septimania, a strong indicator that there was little commerce over the frontier or at its ports. In fact, Septimania helped to isolate both Aquitaine and Iberia from

1397-466: A historical monument. Later in the year the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc , already at work restoring the Basilica of Saints Nazarius and Celsus, was commissioned to renovate the place. In 1853, work began with the west and southwest walls, followed by the towers of the porte Narbonnaise and the principal entrance to the cité . The fortifications were consolidated here and there, but the chief attention

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1524-687: A line halfway between the Mediterranean and the river Garonne in the northwest; in the east the Rhône separated it from Provence ; and to the south its boundary was formed by the Pyrénées . Under Theodoric II, the Visigoths settled in Aquitaine as foederati of the Western Roman Empire (450s). Sidonius Apollinaris refers to Septimania as "theirs" during the reign of Avitus (455–456), but Sidonius

1651-737: A maximum thickness of 43 metres and an average thickness of 20–30 metres. Ming prefectural and provincial capital walls were 10 to 20 metres (33 to 66 ft) thick at the base and 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) at the top. In Europe the height of wall construction was reached under the Roman Empire , whose walls often reached 10 metres (33 ft) in height, the same as many Chinese city walls, but were only 1.5 to 2.5 metres (4 ft 11 in to 8 ft 2 in) thick. Rome's Servian Walls reached 3.6 and 4 metres (12 and 13 ft) in thickness and 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 ft) in height. Other fortifications also reached these specifications across

1778-472: A peace in 586 and Reccared undertook the only Visigothic invasion of Francia in response. However, Guntram was not motivated solely by religious alliance with the fellow Catholic Hermenegild, for he invaded Septimania again in 589 and was roundly defeated near Carcassonne by Claudius, Duke of Lusitania . It is clear that the Franks, throughout the sixth century, had coveted Septimania, but were unable to take it and

1905-771: A proud history, having played in the French Championship Final in 1925, and currently competes in Pro D2 , the second tier of French rugby . Rugby league is also played, by the AS Carcassonne club. They are involved in the Elite One Championship . Puig Aubert is the most notable rugby league player to come from the Carcassonne club. There is a bronze statue of him outside the Stade Albert Domec at which

2032-423: A purely military and defensive purpose, towers also played a representative and artistic role in the conception of a fortified complex. The architecture of the city thus competed with that of the castle of the noblemen and city walls were often a manifestation of the pride of a particular city. Urban areas outside the city walls, so-called Vorstädte , were often enclosed by their own set of walls and integrated into

2159-422: A response to gunpowder artillery, European fortifications began displaying architectural principles such as lower and thicker walls in the mid-1400s. Cannon towers were built with artillery rooms where cannons could discharge fire from slits in the walls. However, this proved problematic as the slow rate of fire, reverberating concussions, and noxious fumes produced greatly hindered defenders. Gun towers also limited

2286-543: A single "embassy district", enclosed by a fortified complex with walls and towers – this usually occurs in regions where the embassies run a high risk of being target of attacks. An early example of such a compound was the Legation Quarter in Beijing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of these modern city walls are made of steel and concrete. Vertical concrete plates are put together so as to allow

2413-472: A very thick wall in medieval Europe, what is usually meant is a wall of 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) in width, which would have been considered thin in a Chinese context. There are some exceptions such as the Hillfort of Otzenhausen , a Celtic ringfort with a thickness of 40 metres (130 ft) in some parts, but Celtic fort-building practices died out in the early medieval period. Andrade goes on to note that

2540-577: Is a historical region in modern-day southern France . It referred to the western part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septimania was ceded to their king, Theodoric II . During the Early Middle Ages , the region was variously known as Gallia Narbonensis , Gallia , or Narbonensis . The territory of Septimania roughly corresponds with

2667-422: Is intended to protect, elements of the terrain such as rivers or coastlines may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective. Walls may only be crossed by entering the appropriate city gate and are often supplemented with towers. The practice of building these massive walls, though having its origins in prehistory, was refined during the rise of city-states , and energetic wall-building continued into

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2794-670: Is now dedicated to Saint Nazaire . In A.D. 508 the Visigoths successfully foiled attacks by the Frankish king Clovis I . In Francia , the Arab and Berber Muslim forces invaded the region of Septimania in A.D. 719 and deposed the local Visigothic Kingdom in A.D. 720; after the Frankish conquest of Narbonne in 759 , the Muslim Arabs and Berbers were defeated by the Christian Franks and retreated to Andalusia after 40 years of occupation, and

2921-608: Is probably considering Visigothic settlement in and around Toulouse . The Visigoths were then holding the area around Toulouse against the legal claims of the Empire, though they had more than once offered to exchange it for the Auvergne . In 462, the Empire, controlled by Ricimer in the name of Libius Severus , granted the Visigoths the western half of the province of Gallia Narbonensis in which to settle. The Visigoths additionally occupied Provence (eastern Narbonensis) and only in 475 did

3048-404: Is spoken. Historically, the language spoken in Carcassonne and throughout Languedoc-Roussillon was not French but Occitan . In July 2021, Carcassonne was the finish city for stage 13, and the starting point of stage 14, of the 2021 Tour de France . It was at the finish in Carcassonne that Mark Cavendish tied the record for most Tour de France stage wins (34) held by Eddy Merckx . Carcassonne

3175-727: Is the Romanian Bran Castle , which was intended to protect nearby Kronstadt (today's Braşov ). The city walls were often connected to the fortifications of hill castles via additional walls. Thus the defenses were made up of city and castle fortifications taken together. Several examples of this are preserved, for example in Germany Hirschhorn on the Neckar, Königsberg and Pappenheim , Franken, Burghausen in Oberbayern and many more. A few castles were more directly incorporated into

3302-540: The Reconquista began in the early 8th century, when Andalusian Muslim forces managed to temporarily push into Aquitaine. In the wake of Narbonne's submission, Pepin took Roussillon , and then directed his effort against Toulouse , Rouergue , and Albigeois in Aquitaine, leading to the battle for Aquitaine . The region of Roussillon was taken by the Franks in 760. Pepin then diverted northwest to Aquitaine, triggering

3429-637: The Albigeois , but if so it was conquered by the time of Chilperic I . There is archaeological evidence that some enclaves of Visigothic population remained in Frankish Gaul, near the Septimanian border, after 507. The province of Gallia held a unique place in the Visigothic Kingdom, as it was the only province outside of Iberia, north of the Pyrénées , and bordering a strong foreign nation, in this case

3556-571: The Andalusian military commanders . It passed briefly to the Emirate of Córdoba , which had been expanding from the south during the same century, before its subsequent conquest by the Christian Franks in 759, who by the end of the 9th century renamed it as Gothia or the Gothic March ( Marca Gothica ). After the Frankish conquest of Narbonne in 759 , the Muslim Arabs and Berbers were defeated by

3683-789: The Canal du Midi . Carcassonne is also home to the MKE Performing Arts Academy. Carcassonne receives about three million visitors annually. In the late 1990s, Carcassonne airport started taking budget flights to and from European airports and by 2009 had regular flight connections with Porto , Bournemouth , Cork , Dublin , Frankfurt-Hahn , London-Stansted , Liverpool , East Midlands , Glasgow-Prestwick and Charleroi . The Gare de Carcassonne railway station offers direct connections to Toulouse, Narbonne, Perpignan, Paris, Marseille, and several regional destinations. The A61 motorway connects Carcassonne with Toulouse and Narbonne. French

3810-727: The Carolingian king Pepin the Short came up reinforced. A medieval fiefdom, the county of Carcassonne , controlled the city and its environs. It was often united with the county of Razès . The origins of Carcassonne as a county probably lie in local representatives of the Visigoths, but the first count known by name is Bello of the time of Charlemagne . Bello founded a dynasty, the Bellonids , which would rule many honores in Septimania and Catalonia for three centuries. In 1067, Carcassonne became

3937-551: The Frankish conquest of Narbonne in 759 , the Muslim Arabs and Berbers were defeated by the Christian Franks and expelled to their Andalusian heartland after 40 years of occupation, and the Carolingian king Pepin the Short came up reinforced. The siege remained as a key battlefield in the context of the Carolingian expedition south to Provence and Septimania starting in 752. The Iberian Christian counter-offensive known as

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4064-475: The Franks . The kings after Alaric II favoured Narbonne as a capital, but twice (611 and 531) were defeated and forced back to Barcelona by the Franks before Theudis moved the capital there permanently. Under Theodoric Septimania had been safe from Frankish assault, but was raided by Childebert I twice (531 and 541). When Liuva I succeeded to the throne in 568, Septimania was a dangerous frontier province and Iberia

4191-508: The Indus floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. The stone and mud brick houses of Kot Diji were clustered behind massive stone flood dykes and defensive walls, for neighboring communities quarreled constantly about the control of prime agricultural land. Mundigak ( c.  2500   BC ) in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks. The concept of

4318-464: The Restoration , and the fortified cité of Carcassonne fell into such disrepair that the French government decided that it should be demolished. A decree to that effect that was made official in 1849 caused an uproar. The antiquary and mayor of Carcassonne, Jean-Pierre Cros-Mayrevieille, and the writer Prosper Mérimée , the first inspector of ancient monuments, led a campaign to preserve the fortress as

4445-558: The Romans , who occupied its hilltop until the demise of the Western Roman Empire . In the fifth century, the region of Septimania was taken over by the Visigoths , who founded the city of Carcassonne in the newly established Visigothic Kingdom . Its citadel, known as the Cité de Carcassonne , is a medieval fortress dating back to the Gallo-Roman period and restored by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc between 1853 and 1879. It

4572-619: The Rouergue (507) and Toulouse (508). The attempt to take Carcassonne , a fortified site guarding the Septimanian coast, was defeated by the Ostrogoths (508) and Septimania thereafter remained in Visigothic hands, though the Burgundians managed to hold Narbonne for a time and drive Gesalec into exile. Border warfare between Gallo-Roman magnates, including bishops, had existed with the Visigoths during

4699-732: The Tang dynasty (618–907   AD). Sections of the Great Wall had been built prior to the Qin dynasty (221–207   BC) and subsequently connected and fortified during the Qin dynasty, although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodeling of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644   AD). The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example. Likewise, the walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in

4826-582: The Visigothic Kingdom , which became centred on Toledo by the end of the reign of Leovigild , the province of Gallia Narbonensis, usually shortened to just Gallia or Narbonensis and never called Septimania, was both an administrative province of the central royal government and an ecclesiastical province whose metropolitan was the Archbishop of Narbonne . Originally, the Goths may have maintained their hold on

4953-509: The proto-city of Jericho in the West Bank had a wall surrounding it as early as the 8th millennium   BC. The earliest known town wall in Europe is of Solnitsata , built in the 6th or 5th millennium BC. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples and defensive walls. Babylon was one of the most famous cities of the ancient world, especially as a result of

5080-446: The 16th and 17th century along with the rapid growth of cities in this period as a need to defend against European naval attack. Ayutthaya built its walls in 1550 and Banten , Jepara , Tuban and Surabaya all had theirs by 1600; while Makassar had theirs by 1634. A sea wall was the main defense for Gelgel . For cities that did not have city walls, the least it would have had was a stockaded citadel . This wooden walled area housed

5207-671: The 16th century. The bastion and star fort was developed in Italy, where the Florentine engineer Giuliano da Sangallo (1445–1516) compiled a comprehensive defensive plan using the geometric bastion and full trace italienne that became widespread in Europe. The main distinguishing features of the star fort were its angle bastions, each placed to support their neighbor with lethal crossfire, covering all angles, making them extremely difficult to engage with and attack. Angle bastions consisted of two faces and two flanks. Artillery positions positioned at

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5334-486: The 19th century, less emphasis was placed on preserving the fortifications for the sake of their architectural or historical value – on the one hand, complete fortifications were restored ( Carcassonne ), on the other hand many structures were demolished in an effort to modernize the cities. One exception to this is the "monument preservation" law by the Bavarian King Ludwig I of Bavaria , which led to

5461-649: The Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea has been known since the Neolithic era. The town's area is about 65 km (25 sq mi), which is significantly larger than the numerous small towns in the department of Aude. The rivers Aude, Fresquel, and the Canal du Midi flow through the town. The first signs of settlement in this region have been dated to about 3500 BC, but the hill site of Carsac —a Celtic place-name that has been retained at other sites in

5588-610: The Bald in 843, Bernat was apprehended at Toulouse and beheaded. Bernat's son, known as Bernat of Gothia , also served as Count of Barcelona and Girona , and as Margrave of Gothia and Septimania from 865 to 878. Septimania became known as Gothia after the reign of Charlemagne . It retained these two names while it was ruled by the counts of Toulouse during early part of the Middle Ages , but other names became regionally more prominent such as, Roussillon , Conflent , Razès or Foix , and

5715-460: The Christian Franks and retreated to their Andalusian heartland after forty years of occupation, and the Carolingian king Pepin the Short came up reinforced. Septimania became a march of the Carolingian Empire and then West Francia down to the 13th century, though it was culturally and politically autonomous from the northern France-based central royal government. The region was under

5842-726: The Duke of Aquitaine Odo the Great after he revolted against the Emirate of Córdoba , but the rebel lord was killed by the Arab Umayyad commander Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd Allah al-Ghafiqi . After capturing Bordeaux on the wake of Duke Hunald 's detachment attempt, the Carolingian king Charles Martel directed his attention to Septimania and Provence . While his reasons for leading a military expedition south remain unclear, it seems that he wanted to seal his newly secured grip on Burgundy , now threatened by Umayyad occupation of several cities lying in

5969-436: The Frankish king, invaded the Visigothic kingdom, whose capital lay in Toulouse, with the consent of the leading men of the tribe. Clovis defeated the Goths in the Battle of Vouillé and the child-king Amalaric was carried for safety into Iberia while Gesalec was elected to replace him and rule from Narbonne . Clovis, his son Theuderic I , and his Burgundian allies proceeded to conquer most of Visigothic Gaul, including

6096-513: The French "braggarts by nature". Very rarely did cannons blast breaches in city walls in Chinese warfare. This may have been partly due to cultural tradition. Famous military commanders such as Sun Tzu and Zheng Zhilong recommended not to directly attack cities and storm their walls. Even when direct assaults were made with cannons, it was usually by focusing on the gates rather than the walls. There were instances where cannons were used against walled fortifications, such as by Koxinga , but only in

6223-421: The Gauls, which was atypical for the kingdom as a whole. The Gauls commonly insulted the Goths by comparing the strength of their men to that of Gaulish women, though the Iberians regarded themselves as the defenders and protectors of the Gauls. It is only in the time of Wamba (reigned 672–680) and Julian of Toledo , however, that a large Jewish population becomes evident in Septimania: Julian referred to it as

6350-445: The Gothic laws and probably their own government, so garnering the allegiance of the Gothic nobility of Septimania. Narbonne capitulated to the Franks in 759 only after Pepin promised the defenders of the city to uphold the Visigothic law , and the county was granted to Miló, the Gothic count in Muslim times, thus earning the loyalty of Septimanian Goths against Duke Waifer , the independent ruler ( princeps ) of Aquitaine . After

6477-418: The Goths may have maintained their hold on the Albigeois , but if so it was conquered by the time of Chilperic I . There is archaeological evidence that some enclaves of Visigothic population remained in Frankish Gaul, near the Septimanian border, after 507. The region of Septimania was invaded by the Andalusian Muslims in 719, renamed as Arbūnah and turned into a military base for future operations by

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6604-553: The Islamic invasion, al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas, roughly corresponding to present-day Andalusia , Galicia , Lusitania , Castile and Léon , Aragon , and Catalonia , and the ancient province of Septimania. With Narbonne secure, and equally important, its port, for the Arab mariners controlled various areas of the Western Mediterranean, al-Samh invaded the remaining Septimanian cities, still controlled by their Gothic counts , taking Alet , Béziers , Agde , Lodève , Maguelonne , and Nîmes . By 721, al-Samh

6731-434: The Ostrogothic king Athalaric . The Frankish king of Paris, Childebert I , invaded Septimania in 531 and chased Amalaric to Barcelona in response to pleas from his sister, Chrotilda , that her husband, Amalaric, had been mistreating her. The Franks however, did not try to hold the province and under Amalaric's successor, the centre of gravity of the kingdom crossed the Pyrenees and Theudis made his capital in Barcelona. In

6858-416: The Pyrénées, the Basques defeated his forces in Roncesvalles (August 15, 778). The Frankish king found Septimania and the borderlands so devastated and depopulated by warfare, with the inhabitants hiding among the mountains, that he made grants of land that were some of the earliest identifiable fiefs to Visigothic and other refugees. Charlemagne also founded several monasteries in Septimania, around which

6985-498: The Septimanian border. These sarcophagi are made of locally quarried marble from Saint-Béat and are of varied design, but with generally flat relief which distinguishes them from ancient Roman sarcophagi . Their production has been dated to either the 5th, 6th, or 7th century, with the second of these being considered the most likely today. However, if they were made in the 5th century, while both Aquitaine and Septimani were in Visigothic hands, their existence provides no evidence for

7112-408: The Visigothic king, Euric , cede it to the Empire via a treaty whereby the emperor Julius Nepos recognised the Visigoths' full independence. The Visigoths , perhaps because they were Arian Christians , met with the opposition of the Catholic Franks in Gaul. The Franks allied with the Armorici , whose land was under constant threat from the Goths south of the Loire , and in 507 Clovis I ,

7239-687: The ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its ' cyclopean ' walls). In classical era Greece, the city of Athens built a long set of parallel stone walls called the Long Walls that reached their guarded seaport at Piraeus . Exceptions were few, but neither ancient Sparta nor ancient Rome had walls for a long time, choosing to rely on their militaries for defense instead. Initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar . The Romans later fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. Among these are

7366-434: The building program of Nebuchadnezzar , who expanded the walls and built the Ishtar Gate . The Persians built defensive walls to protect their territories, notably the Derbent Wall and the Great Wall of Gorgan built on the either sides of the Caspian Sea against nomadic nations. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were also fortified. By about 3500   BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted

7493-427: The case of small villages. During Koxinga's career, there is only one recorded case of capturing a settlement by bombarding its walls: the siege of Taizhou in 1658. In 1662, the Dutch found that bombarding the walls of a town in Fujian Province had no effect and they focused on the gates instead just as in Chinese warfare. In 1841, a 74-gun British warship bombarded a Chinese coastal fort near Guangzhou and found that it

7620-416: The circumvention of the city, through which many important trade routes passed, thus ensuring that tolls were paid when the caravans passed through the city gates, and that the local market was visited by the trade caravans. Furthermore, additional signaling and observation towers were frequently built outside the city, and were sometimes fortified in a castle-like fashion. The border of the area of influence of

7747-475: The city was often partially or fully defended by elaborate ditches, walls and hedges. The crossing points were usually guarded by gates or gate houses. These defenses were regularly checked by riders, who often also served as the gate keepers. Long stretches of these defenses can still be seen to this day, and even some gates are still intact. To further protect their territory, rich cities also established castles in their area of influence. An example of this practice

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7874-424: The city's teams in both codes play. In May 2018, as the project "Concentric, eccentric" by French-Swiss artist Felice Varini , large yellow concentric circles were mounted on the monument as part of the 7th edition of "IN SITU, Heritage and contemporary art", a summer event in the Occitanie / Pyrenees-Mediterranean region focusing on the relationship between modern art and architectural heritage. This monumental work

8001-421: The construction of the "European Rampart" alongside its border with Russia to be able to successfully apply for a visa-free movement with the European Union. At its simplest, a defensive wall consists of a wall enclosure and its gates. For the most part, the top of the walls were accessible, with the outside of the walls having tall parapets with embrasures or merlons . North of the Alps, this passageway at

8128-424: The defense of the city. These areas were often inhabited by the poorer population and held the "noxious trades". In many cities, a new wall was built once the city had grown outside of the old wall. This can often still be seen in the layout of the city, for example in Nördlingen , and sometimes even a few of the old gate towers are preserved, such as the white tower in Nuremberg . Additional constructions prevented

8255-432: The defensive strategy of the city (e.g. Nuremberg , Zons , Carcassonne ), or the cities were directly outside the castle as a sort of "pre-castle" (Coucy-le-Chateau, Conwy and others). Larger cities often had multiple stewards – for example Augsburg was divided into a Reichstadt and a clerical city. These different parts were often separated by their own fortifications. Septimania Septimania

8382-417: The early Middle Ages also saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only rarely protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches . From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, which very often obtained the right of fortification soon afterwards. Several medieval town walls have survived into

8509-402: The early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor . According to Tonio Andrade , the immense thickness of Chinese city walls prevented larger cannons from being developed, since even industrial era artillery had trouble breaching Chinese walls. Eupseongs (Hangul: 읍성), 'city fortresses', which served both military and administrative functions, have been constructed since the time of Silla until

8636-467: The economic heart of the city for centuries. Though once walled, most of the walls in this portion of the town are no longer intact. The Carcassonne Cathedral is in this part of the town. Another bridge, Pont Marengo , crosses the Canal du Midi and provides access to the railway station . The Lac de la Cavayère has been created as a recreational lake; it is about five minutes from the city centre by automobile. Further sights include: Carcassonne has

8763-422: The emir at Córdoba and declared their loyalty to the Frankish king—the Gothic count of Nîmes, Ansemund , having some authority over the remaining counts. The Gothic counts and the Franks then began to besiege Narbonne , where Count Miló was probably the count (as successor to Count Gilbert ). In 754, an anti-Frankish reaction, led by Ermeniard, killed Ansemund, but the uprising was without success and Radulf

8890-455: The empire, but all these paled in comparison to contemporary Chinese walls, which could reach a thickness of 20 metres (66 ft) at the base in extreme cases. Even the walls of Constantinople which have been described as "the most famous and complicated system of defence in the civilized world," could not match up to a major Chinese city wall. Had both the outer and inner walls of Constantinople been combined they would have only reached roughly

9017-477: The end of the Joseon dynasty . Throughout the period of the Joseon dynasty eupseongs were modified and renovated, and new eupseongs were built, but in 1910 Japan (the occupying power of Korea) issued an order for their demolition, resulting in most being destroyed. Studies of the ruins and reconstructions of the ancient city walls are currently being undertaken at some sites. In ancient Greece , large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece , such as

9144-552: The end of the thirteenth century Septimania evolved into the royal province of Languedoc . The name "Septimania" may derive from the Roman name of the city of Béziers , Colonia Julia Septimanorum Baeterrae , which in turn alludes to the settlement of veterans of the Roman Seventh Legion in the city. The name can also be an allusion to the seven cities ( civitates ) of the territory: Béziers, Elne , Agde , Narbonne , Lodève , Maguelonne , and Nîmes . Septimania extended to

9271-623: The energy of artillery shots. Walls were constructed using wooden frameworks which were filled with layers of earth tamped down to a highly compact state, and once that was completed the frameworks were removed for use in the next wall section. Starting from the Song dynasty these walls were improved with an outer layer of bricks or stone to prevent erosion, and during the Ming, earthworks were interspersed with stone and rubble. Most Chinese walls were also sloped rather than vertical to better deflect projectile energy. The defensive response to cannon in Europe

9398-404: The flanks could fire parallel into the opposite bastion's line of fire, thus providing two lines of cover fire against an armed assault on the wall, and preventing mining parties from finding refuge. Meanwhile, artillery positioned on the bastion platform could fire frontally from the two faces, also providing overlapping fire with the opposite bastion. Overlapping mutually supporting defensive fire

9525-455: The frontier. The Arab and Berber Muslim forces under al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani , wāli (governor-general) of al-Andalus , sweeping up the Iberian peninsula, by 719 had invaded the region of Septimania and deposed the local Visigothic Kingdom in 720. The region was renamed Arbūnah and turned into a military base for future operations by the Andalusian military commanders . Following

9652-406: The geometry of the circles on the towers and curtain walls of the fortifications. The work was visible from May to September 2018 only. Carcassonne is twinned with: Defensive wall Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry structures, although brick and timber-built variants are also known. Depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall

9779-554: The government of the Septimania region (and the Upper March , from the Pyrénées to the Ebro River ) was given to Umar ibn Umar . Umayyad rule collapsed by 750, and Umayyad territories in Europe were ruled autonomously by Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri and his supporters. In 752, the Carolingian king Pepin the Short headed south to Septimania. The Gothic counts of Nîmes , Melguelh , Agde , and Béziers refused allegiance to

9906-481: The influence of the people from the count territories of Toulouse , Provence , and ancient County of Barcelona . It was part of the wider cultural and linguistic region comprising the southern third of France known as Occitania . This area was finally brought under effective control of the French kings in the early 13th century as a result of the Albigensian Crusade , after which it was assigned governors. From

10033-406: The invasion of 589 was the last attempt. In the 7th century, Gallia often had its own governors or duces (dukes), who were typically Visigoths. Most public offices were also held by Goths, far out of proportion to their part of the population. The native population of Gallia was referred to by Visigothic and Iberian writers as the "Gauls" and there is a well-attested hatred between the Goths and

10160-436: The invention of gunpowder rendered walls less effective, as siege cannons could then be used to blast through walls, allowing armies to simply march through. Today, the presence of former city fortifications can often only be deduced from the presence of ditches, ring roads or parks. Furthermore, some street names hint at the presence of fortifications in times past, for example when words such as "wall" or "glacis" occur. In

10287-790: The largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople , together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln . In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements which the Romans called oppida , whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in the Mediterranean. The fortifications were continuously expanded and improved. Apart from these,

10414-509: The last of which happened on 14–15 October 2018. The newer part ( Ville Basse ) of the city on the other side of the Aude river (which dates back to the Middle Ages, after the crusades) manufactures shoes, rubber and textiles. It is also the center of a major AOC winegrowing region. A major part of its income comes from the tourism connected to the fortifications ( Cité ) and from boats cruising on

10541-597: The last phase of the Empire and it continued under the Franks. The Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great reconquered Narbonne from the Burgundians and retained it as the provincial capital. Theudis was appointed regent at Narbonne by Theodoric while Amalaric was still a minor in Iberia. When Theodoric died in 526, Amalaric was elected king in his own right and he immediately made his capital in Narbonne. He ceded Provence, which had at some point passed back into Visigothic control, to

10668-457: The least space in between them, and are rooted firmly in the ground. The top of the wall is often protruding and beset with barbed wire in order to make climbing them more difficult. These walls are usually built in straight lines and covered by watchtowers at the corners. Double walls with an interstitial "zone of fire", as the former Berlin Wall had, are now rare. In September 2014, Ukraine announced

10795-492: The lower Rhône, or maybe it provided the excuse he needed to intervene in this territory ruled by Visigothic and Roman law , far off from the Frankish centre in the north of Gaul. In 737, the Frankish king went on to attack Narbonne , but the local nobility of Gothic and Gallo-Roman stock had concluded different military and political arrangements to oppose the expanding Frankish realm . Charles Martel attempted to conquer

10922-464: The lower courses of the northern ramparts dates from Gallo-Roman times. In A.D. 462 the Romans officially ceded Septimania to the Visigothic king Theodoric II who had held Carcassonne since A.D. 453. He built more fortifications at Carcassonne, which was a frontier post on the northern marches. Traces of them still stand. Theodoric is thought to have begun the predecessor of the basilica that

11049-420: The medieval period and beyond in certain parts of Europe. Simpler defensive walls of earth or stone, thrown up around hillforts , ringworks , early castles and the like, tend to be referred to as ramparts or banks. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Uruk in ancient Sumer ( Mesopotamia ) is one of the world's oldest known walled cities. Before that,

11176-414: The modern French former administrative region of Languedoc-Roussillon that merged into the new administrative region of Occitanie . In the Visigothic Kingdom , which became centred on Toledo by the end of the reign of Leovigild , Septimania was both an administrative province of the central royal government and an ecclesiastical province whose metropolitan was the Archbishop of Narbonne . Originally,

11303-597: The modern age, such as the walled towns of Austria , walls of Tallinn , or the town walls of York and Canterbury in England, as well as Nordlingen , Dinkelsbühl and Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany. In Spain, Avila and Tossa del Mar hosts surviving medieval walls while Lugo has an intact Roman wall. The founding of urban centers was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in central and eastern Europe, were founded for this purpose during

11430-420: The name Gothia (along with the older name Septimania ) faded away during the 10th century, as the region fractured into smaller feudal entities, which sometimes retained Carolingian titles, but lost their Carolingian character, as the culture of Septimania evolved into the culture of Languedoc . This fragmentation in small feudal entities and the resulting fading and the gradual shifting of the name Gothia are

11557-507: The natives experienced great difficulty in uprooting European invaders. In China, Sun Yuanhua advocated for the construction of angled bastion forts in his Xifashenji so that their cannons could better support each other. The officials Han Yun and Han Lin noted that cannons on square forts could not support each side as well as bastion forts. Their efforts to construct bastion forts, and their results, were limited. Ma Weicheng built two bastion forts in his home county, which helped fend off

11684-658: The nearly complete preservation of many monuments such as the Rothenburg ob der Tauber , Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl . The countless small fortified towns in the Franconia region were also preserved as a consequence of this edict. Walls and fortified wall structures were still built in the modern era. They did not, however, have the original purpose of being a structure able to resist a prolonged siege or bombardment. Modern examples of defensive walls include: Additionally, in some countries, different embassies may be grouped together in

11811-646: The new cathedral . Carcassonne became famous for its role in the Albigensian Crusades when the city was a stronghold of Occitan Cathars . In August 1209 the crusading army of the Papal Legate , abbot Arnaud Amalric , forced its citizens to surrender. Viscount Raymond-Roger de Trencavel was imprisoned while negotiating his city's surrender and died in mysterious circumstances three months later in his dungeon. The people of Carcassonne were allowed to leave—in effect, expelled from their city with nothing more than

11938-470: The north of France, he made the error of using slate (when there was no slate to be quarried around) instead of terracotta tiles. The slate roofs were claimed to be more typical of northern France, as was the addition of the pointed tips to the roofs. The ville basse dates to the Late Middle Ages . Founded as a settlement of the expelled inhabitants of the town sometime after the crusades, it has been

12065-416: The one hand, cultural exchange is generally reputed to have been minimal, but the level of trading activity has been disputed. There have been few to no objects of Neustrian , Austrasian , or Burgundian provenance discovered in Septimania. However, a series of Germanic sarcophagi of a unique regional style, variously labelled Visigothic, Aquitainian, or southwestern Gallic, are prevalent on both sides of

12192-478: The people gathered for protection. Beyond Septimania to the south Charlemagne established the Hispanic Marches in the borderlands of his empire. The territory passed to Louis, king in Aquitaine, but it was governed by Frankish margraves and then dukes (from 817) of Septimania. The Frankish noble Bernat of Septimania was the ruler of these lands from 826 to 832. His career (he was beheaded in 844) characterized

12319-400: The period of Eastern settlement . These cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces. The fortifications of these settlements were continuously improved to reflect the current level of military development. While gunpowder and cannons were invented in China, China never developed wall breaking artillery to the same extent as other parts of the world. Part of

12446-575: The property of Raimond-Bernard Trencavel, viscount of Albi and Nîmes , through his marriage with Ermengard, sister of the last count of Carcassonne. In the following centuries, the Trencavel family allied in succession with either the counts of Barcelona or of Toulouse. They built the Château Comtal and the Basilica of Saints Nazarius and Celsus . In 1096, Pope Urban II blessed the foundation stones of

12573-504: The reason is probably because Chinese walls were already highly resistant to artillery and discouraged increasing the size of cannons. In the mid-twentieth century a European expert in fortification commented on their immensity: "in China ... the principal towns are surrounded to the present day by walls so substantial, lofty, and formidable that the medieval fortifications of Europe are puny in comparison." Chinese walls were thick. The eastern wall of Ancient Linzi , established in 859 BC, had

12700-593: The remainder of Septimania was left without any relevant commander in charge. Finally, the Gothic and Gallo-Roman defenders of Narbonne surrendered to the Frankish forces, proceeding to eliminate the Andalusian garrison after killing the Arab-Berber Muslim troops, and opening the gates of the stronghold to the investing forces of the Carolingian king. Previously, the Frankish king Pepin had promised to uphold and respect

12827-459: The rest of the Mediterranean world. Coinage of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania did not circulate in Gaul outside of Septimania and Frankish coinage did not circulate in the Visigothic Kingdom, including Septimania. If there had been a significant amount of commerce over the frontier, the monies paid had to have been melted down immediately and re-minted as foreign coins have not been preserved across

12954-614: The royal citadel or aristocratic compounds such as in Surakarta and Aceh . Large rammed earth walls were built in ancient China since the Shang dynasty ( c.  1600 –1050   BC), as the capital at ancient Ao had enormous walls built in this fashion (see siege for more info). Although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States (481–221   BC), mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until

13081-453: The shirts on their backs. Simon de Montfort was appointed the new viscount and added to the fortifications. In 1240, Trencavel's son tried unsuccessfully to reconquer his old domain. The city submitted to the rule of the kingdom of France in 1247. Carcassonne became a border fortress between France and the Crown of Aragon under the 1258 Treaty of Corbeil . King Louis IX founded the new part of

13208-526: The size and number of cannon placements because the rooms could only be built so big. Notable surviving artillery towers include a seven layer defensive structure built in 1480 at Fougères in Brittany , and a four layer tower built in 1479 at Querfurth in Saxony. The star fort, also known as the bastion fort, trace italienne , or renaissance fortress, was a style of fortification that became popular in Europe during

13335-408: The south—became an important trading place in the sixth century BC. The Volcae Tectosages fortified it and made it into an oppidum , a hill fort, which is when it was named "Carsac". The folk etymology —involving a châtelaine named Lady Carcas , a ruse ending a siege , and the joyous ringing of bells (" Carcas sona")—though memorialized in a neo-Gothic sculpture of Mme. Carcas on

13462-546: The top of the walls occasionally had a roof. In addition to this, many different enhancements were made over the course of the centuries: The defensive towers of west and south European fortifications in the Middle Ages were often very regularly and uniformly constructed (cf. Ávila , Provins ), whereas Central European city walls tend to show a variety of different styles. In these cases the gate and wall towers often reach up to considerable heights, and gates equipped with two towers on either side are much rarer. Apart from having

13589-636: The town across the river. He and his successor Philip III built the outer ramparts. Contemporary opinion still considered the fortress impregnable. During the Hundred Years' War , Edward the Black Prince failed to take the city in 1355, although his troops destroyed the lower town. In 1659, the Treaty of the Pyrenees transferred the border province of Roussillon to France, and Carcassonne's military significance

13716-604: The turbulent 9th century in Septimania. His appointment as Count of Barcelona in 826 occasioned a general uprising of the Catalan lords ( Bellonids ) at this intrusion of Frankish power over the lands of Gothia . For suppressing Berenguer of Toulouse and the Catalans, Louis the Pious rewarded Bernat with a series of counties, which roughly delimit 9th century Septimania: Narbonne, Béziers, Agde, Magalona, Nîmes and Uzés. Rising against Charles

13843-445: The upper walls of the fortress through square holes in the face of the wall, providing protection to defenders on the wall and allowing defenders to go out past the wall to drop projectiles on attackers at the wall beneath. The fortified city consists essentially of a concentric design of two outer walls with 53 towers and barbicans to prevent attack by siege engines. The castle itself possesses its own drawbridge and ditch leading to

13970-447: The wall. The morning came with most of our unit still behind us, but we were beyond the wall. Behind the gate great heaps of sandbags were piled up. We 'cleared them away, removed the lock, and opened the gates, with a great creaking noise. We'd done it! We'd opened the fortress! All the enemy ran away, so we didn't take any fire. The residents too were gone. When we passed beyond the fortress wall we thought we had occupied this city. As

14097-404: The walls of the marketplace of Chang'an were thicker than the walls of major European capitals. Aside from their immense size, Chinese walls were also structurally different from the ones built in medieval Europe. Whereas European walls were mostly constructed of stone interspersed with gravel or rubble filling and bonded by limestone mortar, Chinese walls had tamped earthen cores which absorbed

14224-457: The war against Waifer of Aquitaine . Albi , Rouergue , Gévaudan , and the city of Toulouse were conquered. In 777, the wali of Barcelona , Sulayman al-Arabi , and the wali of Huesca Abu Taur , offered their submission to Charlemagne and also the submission of Husayn , wali of Zaragoza . When Charlemagne invaded the Upper March in 778, Husayn refused allegiance and he had to retire. In

14351-685: The whole region of Septimania and besieged Narbonne in 737 but his forces were unable to take the city. However, when the Arabs sent reinforcements from Muslim-ruled Iberia, the Frankish Christian army intercepted them at the mouth of the River Berre (located in the present-day Département of Aude ) and achieved a decisive and significant victory, after which the Frankish army marched on Nîmes . Islamic burials have been found in Nîmes. Around 747,

14478-585: Was "almost impervious to the efforts of horizontal fire." In fact twentieth century explosive shells had some difficulty creating a breach in tamped earthen walls. We fought our way to Nanking and joined in the attack on the enemy capital in December. It was our unit which stormed the Chunghua Gate. We attacked continuously for about a week, battering the brick and earth walls with artillery, but they never collapsed. The night of December 11, men in my unit breached

14605-467: Was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997 because of the exceptional preservation and restoration of the medieval citadel. Consequently, Carcassonne relies heavily on tourism but also counts manufacturing and winemaking as some of its other key economic sectors. Carcassonne is located in the south of France about 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of Toulouse . Its strategic location between

14732-466: Was designated new count by the Frankish court. About 755, Abd ar-Rahman ibn Uqba replaced Umar ibn Umar. In 759, Narbonne was not receiving reinforcements from al-Andalus, rife as it was with internal fights. Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri , wali of al-Andalus, had to quash a rebellion in Zaragoza in 756, and immediately head south to fight Abd ar-Rahman I , who defeated him. Northeastern Iberia and

14859-677: Was done to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Carcassonne's inscription on the World Heritage List of UNESCO . Exceptional in its size and its visibility and use of architectural space, the exhibit extended across the western front of the fortifications of the city. The work could be fully perceived only in front of the Porte d'Aude at the pedestrian route from the Bastide . The circles of yellow colour consist of thin, painted aluminium sheets, spread like waves of time and space, fragmenting and recomposing

14986-474: Was paid to restoring the roofing of the towers and the ramparts, where Viollet-le-Duc ordered the destruction of structures that had encroached against the walls, some of them of considerable age. Viollet-le-Duc left copious notes and drawings upon his death in 1879 when his pupil Paul Boeswillwald and, later, the architect Nodet continued the rehabilitation of Carcassonne. The restoration was strongly criticized during Viollet-le-Duc's lifetime. Fresh from work in

15113-536: Was reduced. Its fortifications were abandoned and the city became mainly an economic center of the woollen textile industry, for which a 1723 source quoted by Fernand Braudel found it "the manufacturing center of Languedoc". It remained so until the Ottoman market collapsed at the end of the eighteenth century, then reverted to a country town. Carcassonne was the first fortress to use hoardings in times of siege . Temporary wooden platforms and walls would be fitted to

15240-608: Was reinforced and ready to lay siege to Toulouse , a possession that would open up the bordering region of Aquitaine to him on the same terms as Septimania. But his plans were thwarted in the disastrous battle of Toulouse in 721 ; the Aquitanian Christian army led by Odo the Great , Duke of Aquitaine defeated the Umayyad Muslim army and achieved a decisive and significant victory. The surviving Umayyad forces drove away from Aquitaine with immense losses, in which al-Samh

15367-570: Was ruling Narbonensis as a sub-king. Hermenegild died at Tarragona that year and it is possible that he had escaped confinement in Valencia and was seeking to join up with his Frankish allies. Alternatively, the invasion may have occurred in response to Hermenegild's death. Reccared meanwhile took Beaucaire (Ugernum) on the Rhône near Tarascon and Cabaret (a fort called Ram's Head), both of which lay in Guntram's kingdom. Guntram ignored two pleas for

15494-457: Was so seriously wounded that he soon died at Narbonne. Arab and Berber Muslim forces, soundly based in Narbonne and easily resupplied by sea, struck in the 720s, conquering Carcassonne on the north-western fringes of Septimania (725) and penetrating eastwards as far as Autun (725). In 731, the Berber lord of the region of Cerdagne , Uthman ibn Naissa , called Munuza by the Franks, was an ally of

15621-434: Was still prevalent. The council set down penance to be done for not working on Thursday save for church festivals and commanded the practice of Martin of Braga , rest from rural work on Sundays, to be adopted. Also punished by the council were fortunetellers , who were publicly lashed and sold into slavery . Different theories exist concerning the nature of the frontier between Visigothic Septimania and Frankish Gaul. On

15748-479: Was the finish city for stage 15, and the starting point of stage 16, of the 2018 Tour de France . Previously it was the starting point for stage 11 of the 2016 Tour de France , the starting point for a stage in the 2004 Tour de France , and a stage finish in the 2006 Tour de France . As in the rest of the southwest of France, rugby union is popular in Carcassonne. The city is represented by Union Sportive Carcassonnaise , known locally simply as USC. The club has

15875-431: Was the greatest advantage enjoyed by the star fort. As a result, sieges lasted longer and became more difficult affairs. By the 1530s the bastion fort had become the dominant defensive structure in Italy. Outside Europe, the star fort became an "engine of European expansion," and acted as a force multiplier so that small European garrisons could hold out against numerically superior forces. Wherever star forts were erected

16002-438: Was to build relatively low and thick walls of packed earth, which could both withstand the force of cannon balls and support their own, defensive cannon. Chinese wall-building practice was, by happenstance, extremely resistant to all forms of battering. This held true into the twentieth century, when even modern explosive shells had some difficulty in breaking through tamped earth walls. The Chinese Wall Theory essentially rests on

16129-413: Was wracked by revolts. Liuva granted Iberia to his son Leovigild and took Septimania to himself. During the revolt of Hermenegild (583–585) against his father Leovigild, Septimania was invaded by Guntram , King of Burgundy , possibly in support of Hermenegild's revolt, since the latter was married to his niece Ingundis . The Frankish attack of 585 was repulsed by Hermenegild's brother Reccared , who

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