The Château de Termes is a ruined castle near the village of Termes in the Aude département of France. It is one of the so-called Cathar castles.
History
Built on a promontory, defended on three sides by formidable deep ravines, the crumbling ruins of the castle cover an area of 16 000m². Held by the Cathar heretic Ramon (Raymond) de Termes, the castle only fell to Simon de Montfort after a siege lasting four months, from August to November 1210, the hardest siege of the first period of the Albigensian Crusade. Following an exceptionally dry summer and autumn, the empty water tanks led Raymond to offer surrender. However, as the crusaders advanced to possess the castle, they were met with a hail of arrows. A heavy storm overnight had replenished the cisterns and the defenders were able to hold out a little longer. Later, weakened from dysentery, and exposed to the fire of numbers of siege weapons, the garrison attempted unsuccessfully to creep out at night. The alarm was raised, the fugitives caught and killed, and Raymond surrendered the castle. After de Montfort's death, Raymond regained possession of the castle but was soon forced to give it up again, this time to the King of France.
Rebuilt in the 13th century as a royal garrison, the castle was one of the "sons of Carcassonne" (five castles defending the border with Aragon and later Spain). When the border moved further south in the 17th century, the castle lost its function. It was taken over by a band of brigands who used it as a base from which to terrorise and pillage the surrounding country. To stop this, it was demolished by royal decree - a master mason from Limoux spent 1653 and 1654 blowing up the walls with gunpowder and reducing them to piles of rubble. The bill for this work exists today: 14,922 livres and 10 sous.
The castle today
Steps to preserve the site were taken in the 20th century. It has been classified as a monument historique since 1942. Since 1989, it has been the property of the commune of Termes. It is a 15 to 20 minutes walk from the village and open to visitors.
The site offers impressive views of the Terminet Gorges.

Château de Termes

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Le château de Villerouge-Termenès is a medieval château situated in the Corbières in the département de l'Aude in the Languedoc-Roussillon.
The castle, in the middle of the present village, had belonged to the Archbishops of Narbonne until it was seized by Simon de Montfort and given to one of his lieutenants when nearby Termes was taken in 1210.
It was here that the last known Cathar parfait, Guilhem Belibaste, was burnt alive in 1321 on the orders of the archbishop.
http://www.catharcastles.info/villerouge.php

Château de Villerouge-Termenès

Peyrepertuse is a ruined fortress and one of the Cathar castles of the Languedoc located in the French Pyrénées in the commune of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse, in the Aude département.
It was associated with the Counts of Barcelona, later kings of Aragon.
The name Peyrepetuse is derived from Pèirapertusa, Occitan, meaning Pierced Rock.
The lower part of the castle was built on a strategic location by the kings of Aragon in the 11th Century and the higher part by the French King Louis IX later on, after the area was annexed to France. The two castles are linked together by a staircase. The castle lost importance as a strategic castle when the border between France and Spain was moved in 1659, causing the castle to be abandoned.
The castle ruins are impressive, set high on a defensive crag.  From the approach road it is difficult to see where the rock stops and the castle starts. 
The castle was built in the 11th century on a site dominating the Corbières and the sea.  The main part, resembles the prow of a ship, running along the top of an 800m (2,600 ft) high crag.  It houses the church of Sainte-Marie and the governor's residence.
It was never subjected to attack during the Crusade against the Cathars.  Nevertheless, it was surrendered to the French Crusaders 22nd of May 1217, reclaimed again as the balance of power changed. Guilhem de Peyrepertuse, was excommunicated in 1224 because of his refusal to submit to the Catholic Crusaders. He surrendered after the siege of Carcassonne (the Viscount of Carcassonne, Guilhem's suzerain, having failed to retake Carcassonne from the French invaders in 1240). Peyrepertuse became a French possession the same year.
In 1258, the Treaty of Corbeil defined the border between France and Aragon for four centuries : Peyrepertuse became a royal French fortress at the southern border of the French kingdom. At the end of the 13th century, it was a powerful stronghold with strong defences. During the winter of 1367-1368, Peyrepertuse was the refuge of Henri de Trastamare, claimant to the crown of Castille.

Château de Peyrepertuse

The Château d'Arques is a ruined 14th-century castle in the commune of Arques in the Aude département of France. It is one of the so-called Cathar castles.
History
In the 12th century, there was a conflict between the viscount of Carcassonne and several seigneurs, including Arques and Lagrasse. The estates at Arques became the property of the seigneurs of Termes.
In 1217, Béranger d'Arques was one of the associates of Guillaume de Peyrepertuse.
In 1210, after the defeat of the Château de Termes during the Albigensian Crusade, Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, attacked Arques. After having burned the village (Villa de Arquis), situated on the banks of the Rialsès, he gave this part of Razès to one of his lieutenants, Pierre de Voisins.
In 1284, Gilles de Voisins bagan work on building a castle, with the intention of defending the Rialsès valley and controlling the transhumance routes leading to the Corbières.
In 1316, Gilles II de Voisins, known as "Gilet", altered and completed the castle.
In 1518, Françoise de Voisins, the last of the Voisins, married Jean de Joyeuse who took the baronny of Arques. The castle was abandoned in favour of Couiza.
In 1575, the castle was besieged by Protestants and only the keep managed to resist the assault.
By the start of the French Revolution the castle had fallen into ruin. It was sold as a national asset and subsequently suffered severe damage.
Architecture
The castle consists of an enceinte and a high square keep with four turrets. It was built after Albigensian Crusade of the 13th century on lands given to Pierre de Voisins, one of Simon de Montfort's lieutenants.
The almost square enceinte (51m by 55m) encircles the castle with a gateway furnished with machicolation and surmounted with a keystone bearing the arms of the Voisin famil ("De gueules à trois fusées d'or en fasce, accompagnées en chef d'un lambel à quatre pendant de même"). Numerous buildings must have existed the length of the enceinte. Two well-preserved residential towers remain.
The square keep, 25 m high, is a work of military architecture inspired by castles in the Ile de France. It has four levels served by a spiral staircase. The various rooms were constructed with extreme care. The top floor was given over to defence of the castle. Forty soldiers could defend it thanks to numerous murder holes and rectangular bays set symmetrically into the walls.
It is a good example of the progress in military construction in a strategically important region.
Today
The castle is owned partly by the commune and partly privately. It has been listed since 1887 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. It has been renovated and, in part, recosntructed. It is open to visitors.

Château d’Arques

The Château de Quéribus (in Occitan Castèl de Queribús) is a ruined castle in the commune of Cucugnan in the Aude département of France. It has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1907.
Queribus is one of the "Five Sons of Carcassonne", along with Aguilar, Peyrepertuse, Termes and Puilaurens: five castles strategically placed to defend the French border against the Spanish, until the border was moved in 1659.
It is sometimes regarded as the last Cathar stronghold. After the fall of Montségur in 1244 surviving Cathars gathered together in another mountain-top stronghold on the border of Aragon (the present border between the Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales).
In 1255, a French army was dispatched to deal with these remaining Cathars, but they slipped away without a fight, probably to Aragon or Piedmont - both regions where Cathar beliefs were still common, and where the Occitan language was spoken.
Quéribus is high and isolated. It stands on top of the highest peak for miles around. In 1951 restoration work on the turret began, and between 1998-2002 a complete restoration of the castle was undertaken: the castle is now accessible to visitors.

Château de Quéribus

The Château d'Aguilar is a 12th-century castle, one of the so-called Cathar castles, located in the commune of Tuchan in the Aude département of France.
Architecture
The design of the castle witnesses the practical military thinking of the 12th century. The castle consists of an inner keep built in the 12th century, surrounded by an outer pentagonal fortification from the 13th century. This fortification is oriented such that its point guards the side most favourable to attackers. The keep and the inner hexagonal fortification is flanked at each corner with semi-circular guard towers, each equipped with archery outlooks. The strategic location of the castle on a hill overhanging the plain of Tuchan allows supervision of the Corbières. Despite this, the castle is easily accessible from the plains because of its relatively low elevation of 321 metres.
There is a small underground chapel of Saint-Anne below the keep.
History
The earliest building at this location belonged to the count of Fonnollède since 1021. In the 13th century, the keep that had replaced earlier buildings was bequeathed by the viscounts of Carcassonne to their vassal, the Ternes.
In 1210, it was invaded and occupied by Simon de Montfort, whose soldiers took and held the owner Raymond de Termes in a dark dungeon in the Carcassonne. Militarily, the castle lay dormant for the next 30 years, until Raymond's son Oliver de Termes took back the castle in the brief revolt against the crusaders. Aguilar became the refuge of many faydits, Cathar knights and lords without strongholds. In 1246, a royal garrison was installed to supervise the Aragon frontier.
Olivier, however, eventually made an alliance with king Louis IX, who purchased the castle from him in 1260. Despite the heavy fortifications, the castle would be continually under siege by opposers to the French or Spanish rulers until the 16th century.
When the border was pushed back to the south of Roussillon by the treaty of the Pyrenées, the castle gradually lost its strategic importance, and was eventually abandoned in 1569. Today it is in decrepit condition. Since 1949, it has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.