above the curtains. These, like the towers of the Romans, are circular
to the exterior and square next the city, on which side they are also
open, both for the purpose of admitting of munitions being easily
hoisted up to them from below, and also to render them useless in the
hands of an enemy as against the town. Externally they are furnished
with embrasures at the top, which were provided with a swinging wooden
shutter for defence, to support the pivots of which stone hooks are
inserted at the eaves. The top is covered with a pointed roof (_see_
Fig. 110).
The towers were detached from the curtains by
[Illustration: FIG. 110. CARCASSONNE--TOWERS AND CASTLE.]
a pit or gap in the parapet walk where it adjoined them, so that each
tower might form a separate post, and be defended independently. The
lower part of the walls, being below the interior level of the ground,
was peculiarly liable to be attacked by mining and battering, against
which the defenders could make no direct resistance. The besiegers, as
they knocked out parts of the wall, supported the superstructure in a
temporary manner with wooden props, and when they had completed their
mining operations, they set fire to the props, and the wall above fell
and formed a breach.
Like the Roman permanent camps, these fortified cities had a castle or
citadel, which was almost invariably placed on the highest point of the
site, and adjoined the enceinte so as to command and defend the town,
and, at the same time, be in a position to receive supplies and
reinforcements from without. Within the castle, again, was a still
further security in the donjon, or redoubt, which was detached from the
other works, and often had a ditch and an enclosing wall, or _chemise_,
of its own, and could be held after all the other defences had
succumbed. Such walls as those of the Visigoths at Carcassonne were
sufficient to resist the means of attack employed from the fifth to the
eleventh century. At that period of revival a great improvement took
place all round, and there can be no doubt that the early Crusaders
learned much in the East with regard to the science of attack and
defence of strongholds. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, towers
like those of the Normans were erected, which depended for their
security on the natural strength of the site, and the great height and
thickness of the walls--their height protecting them against assault by
scaling, and their mass and position against the mine and battering ram.
They were further strengthened with outer walls and ditches.
[Illustration: FIG. 111. CARCASSONNE--OUTER AND INNER WALLS, N. SIDE.]
A very interesting description, illustrative of the manner of carrying
on and resisting siege operations, is quoted by Viollet-le-Duc from a
report rendered by Guillaume des Ormes, Seneschal of Carcassonne, to
Queen Blanche, on the raising of the siege of that town by Trenceval in
1240. The report details how the besiegers and defenders battered one
another with mongonneaux; how they mined and countermined; how part of
the wall was sapped, and a breach formed, inside of which the defenders
raised a wooden _bretêche_, crowned with hoards, and armed with archers.
On St Louis’ return from his first crusade, he was desirous to
strengthen his position in the newly-acquired dominions of the Count of
Toulouse. He, therefore, resolved to make a strong citadel of
Carcassonne. For this purpose the houses in the suburbs were cleared
away, and a new town, or bastide, was established, as above mentioned,
for the ejected inhabitants on the opposite side of the river, where the
new town now stands.
Under King Louis the outer enceinte of Carcassonne was rebuilt (Fig.
111). Between this and the inner wall of enceinte a space is left,
called the “lices,” in which troops can circulate, and patrols and
sentries move in safety. The ground of the “lices” is nearly on the same
level as the present parapet of the outer wall, while the wall is about
thirty feet above the soil outside. The towers are built with an open
side next the “lices,” so that, even if taken by the enemy, they could
not be held by him against the inner walls. St Louis also erected an
immense barbican, or round redoubt, at the base of the hill, between
Carcassonne and the Aude, so as to command the river, and allow of
sorties being made on the level ground adjoining it.
Philippe le Hardi continued the works of the fortifications
[Illustration: FIG. 112. CARCASSONNE--PORTE NARBONNAISE.]
till his death in 1285, his operations being chiefly on the east and
south sides.
There are two principal gateways in the walls, the Porte de l’Aude and
the PORTE NARBONNAISE (Fig. 112), both strongly defended with towers and
other works. There are also six posterns, all placed in angles so as to
be masked by the towers, and generally several feet above the level of
the ground. These were useful for relieving sentries, and for the
movement of troops in the “lices.” Opposite some of the posterns the
outer walls are provided with large barbicans (Fig. 113), in which
soldiers might be concentrated for sorties. As above mentioned, the
great circular barbican at the base of the hill was also employed for
this purpose. Nothing could give a better idea of the multiplicity and
complication of the means of defence then employed than the mode of
connection between this barbican and the castle. The rampart or passage
which led to the castle above was especially well fortified. It was
steep, and the ascent was interrupted with several cross walls with
doors, approached by steps which were all commanded from the walls and
curtains above, and from a great tower at the top, all armed with
_bretêches_ or hoards. Towards the upper end the passage turned to the
right, and was flanked by the defences above. A small gate was then
reached, within which the passage doubled back again to the left, and
was stopped by another gate, beyond which it entered a narrow covered
way of three storys in height, each commanding the one below by means of
machicolations or apertures in the floor, so that, if the first floor
was gained, the assailant found himself in a trap, and was battered from
above. If all these defences were surmounted, the besieger was only the
length of the “lices,” and had still above him the lofty walls and
towers of the castle, and the strongly-fortified
[Illustration: FIG. 113. CARCASSONNE--WESTERN WALLS AND BARBICAN.]
postern, with its movable bridge, double machicolations, loop-holes,
portcullis, and gates. Even within this, the entrance to the castle was
impeded by a sloping and turning passage, furnished with numerous doors,
and rising for twenty-three feet before the level of the courtyard was
reached.
Such defences were almost impregnable, and are a good illustration of
the intricacy of the fortifications adopted at that period. At a later
time such contrivances were found to be a mistake, as they impeded the
movements of the garrison. They proved a weakness rather than a strength
by preventing men from being moved rapidly to a critical point at the
required time. The leading idea, at this period, was to render every
point of the defences independent of the rest. Each tower is, therefore,
a separate fort; the castle and barbican are independent of the city
walls, and could hold out although the town was in the hands of the
enemy; and within the castle there are two independent towers or
donjons, which might still form a refuge for the garrison for some time
after the castle was taken.
The lofty square tower (_see_ Fig. 110), which was crowned with a
_bretêche_, was carried up to a sufficient height to dominate the town
and the whole surrounding country. This structure and some of the
adjoining walls date from the twelfth century. The other buildings on
the north side of the castle are of the time of St Louis. The inner
enceinte of the castle with its towers and gates built by Philippe le
Hardi (the latter part of the thirteenth century) are splendid examples
of the military works of the period.
The walls of the towers surrounding the town are built with solid
masonry in regular courses, with the face left rough. The lower part of
the curtains is pierced with the long loops, sometimes 11 or 12 feet in
length, then in use, and the top was fortified with hoardings or
projecting wooden galleries, from the floor of which the defenders could
drop stones and other missiles on the assailants, so as to keep them off
from the base and prevent mining. All the walls and towers were
furnished with these hoardings. The square holes in which the beams were
inserted for carrying the galleries are still visible both in the outer
and inner walls (Figs. 110-113).
The towers are placed at suitable intervals to enable the curtains to be
defended from them by lateral fire, and some of them are strengthened
with a projecting beak to prevent the sappers from approaching when the
angle could not be well commanded from the adjoining parapets, as is the
case in the tower at the N.W. angle of the walls seen in Fig. 111. One
large square tower (shown in Fig. 111) called the “Tour de l’Evêque”
joins the outer and inner enceintes together by bridging over the space
between them. It has thus complete control over the lices both from
apertures in the vault, and from the hoardings which were projected on
the flanks. This tower derives additional interest from having been used
by Viollet-le-Duc as his studio while superintending the work of
restoration, and it contains a number of fine plaster casts prepared by
him.
The parapet walk of the inner wall runs all round the battlements. In
some cases it is interrupted by the towers (Fig. 114), and passes
through them; in other cases it is carried round the exterior of the
towers on the side next the town,--the former towers being posts for
guards and sentinels, and the latter being intended to serve as
independent posts for defence. Access to the walls is provided by good
open stairs on the side next the town, as shewn in Fig. 114, which
represents the interior of the walls at the same place, as Fig. 113
shews the exterior.
[Illustration: FIG. 114. CARCASSONNE--INTERIOR OF WALLS.]
The ramparts of Carcassonne have been to a large extent restored within
recent years; but still remain untouched on the eastern side (_see_ Fig.
112), where houses have been erected against the inner and upon the top
of the outer walls, so as to convert the “lices” into a street. On this
side the walls of the town are separated from the surrounding land,
which here is rather high, by a wide and deep ditch. The high ground
beyond the ditch was originally fortified with a large round tower (now
destroyed) which is supposed to have communicated with the town by a
subterranean passage.
Above the old houses on the walls are seen rising the great towers of
the Porte Narbonnaise, each strengthened with a salient beak. Between
these towers is the gateway. It had no drawbridge, but was defended in
front by a great chain, a wide machicolation, a portcullis, and folding
gates. In the centre of the vault over the archway there was a large
opening, and the inner gateway was strengthened with a wide
machicolation, a second portcullis, and a second gate. Besides these the
towers were of course provided with their hoardings and a _bretêche_
projected over the gateway. The great angle tower, called the “Trésau,”
and a large angle bartizan further protected the approach of the
gateway, as seen in the sketch.
Such were the fortifications of Carcassonne, the chief frontier fortress
on the side of Aragon, and there can be little doubt that against the
means of attack then employed, they were practically impregnable.
The ancient Church of St Nazaire at Carcassonne may be taken as an
example of the ruder form which the Romanesque style assumed in a
district not far removed from Provence. It occupies the highest point of
the height on which stands the ancient fortified _cité_ of Carcassonne.
[Illustration: FIG. 115. ST NAZAIRE, CARCASSONNE.]
The church is placed near the walls of the city, and the west end is
elevated and fortified so as to form part of the defences. The entrance
to the nave is by a twelfth century doorway in the north aisle. The
building consists of two portions, which form a striking contrast with
one another (Fig. 115); the nave of the eleventh century, and the
Romanesque choir of the fourteenth, the former of a massive and gloomy
design, the latter of the lightest and most elegant Gothic.
The older portion consists of a central nave and two side aisles,
separated by enormous piers, which are alternately plain cylinders and
squares with an engaged column on each face. The bases of the piers vary
greatly in form--none of them being of Roman design, but all set upon a
great square block. The caps of the cylindrical piers differ
considerably, but consist of large mouldings, with corbels and billet
ornaments. The pier arches are circular, and the aisles lofty, and
vaulted with round arches. Rising from the caps of the cylindrical piers
are short columns, the caps of which carry the pointed transverse ribs
of the tunnel vault of the nave, which is also pointed, and probably
belongs to the twelfth century. The caps of these short columns, and of
the attached shafts of the square piers, are all very large and bold,
and seem to be founded on Roman designs.
The light Gothic work of the choir, with its tall slender shafts, and
walls composed almost entirely of mullions and stained glass, forms a
brilliant termination to the vista of the ponderous nave. It belongs to
a much later period than the latter, having been erected by Bishop
Pierre de Rochefort, 1320-30. It is a palpable instance of the extension
of the Gothic style of the Royal Domain along with that of the Royal
Power, having been erected shortly after Carcassonne was united to
France.
Viollet-le-Duc considers this choir one of the most instructive
instances of the scientific method of construction adopted by the Gothic
architects of the fourteenth century; and he points out that the
architect has endeavoured to keep up the idea of the ancient nave in the
new work by preserving in the choir the plan of the nave piers--those of
the central compartments being square, with attached shafts, while the
others are round on plan.
We shall now return to Aigues Mortes, which, it will be remembered, was
reserved for consideration along with Carcassonne.
AIGUES MORTES is another town of the age of St Louis and his son Philip
the Bold, the fortifications of which have, by great good fortune, been
preserved almost untouched since the date of their erection. This
probably arises from the fact that Aigues Mortes presents one of the
most striking instances of the “villes mortes,” whose history is so
feelingly depicted by M. Lenthéric. It stands in the midst of the
lagunes and marshes which here cover a large extent of country connected
with the delta of the Rhone. The origin of the town dates from the time
of St Louis. At that period the Kingdom of France had not as yet
extended to the Mediterranean, but King Louis, being a devoted Crusader,
was very desirous that his country should possess a port on that sea,
from which his armies might embark in their expeditions against the
Infidels. This there was some difficulty in obtaining, the harbours on
the coast being almost wholly subject to the Count of Béziers or the
Count of Provence. It happened, however, that a small portion of the
sea-coast, including a lagune and a navigable canal, which belonged to
the ancient and wealthy Abbey of Psalmodi was available, and this King
Louis secured from the monks in the year 1248, in exchange for other
lands near Sommière. At
[Illustration: FIG. 116. AIGUES MORTES--“TOUR DE CONSTANCE.”]
this place there existed an ancient tower, called the “Tour de
Matafère,” said to be of the time of Charlemagne, who had bestowed it on
the abbey.
The Tower of Matafère was rebuilt by St Louis, and renamed the “Tour de
Constance” (Fig. 116). It is of great size, and was designed to form the
citadel of the projected town of Aigues Mortes. It has frequently been
supposed that, in the time of St Louis, this tower was washed by the
waters of the Mediterranean, and that the sea, which is now some miles
distant, has receded since then. But M. Lenthéric shews most distinctly
that this is a complete mistake, and that the coast line was, in the
thirteenth century, precisely where it now is. At that time, however,
the town was surrounded with the waters of an inland lagune, through the
shallows and marshes connected with which a canal had to be kept open
for access to the sea, as was formerly the case at Narbonne, and still
is in the lagune of Venice. The canal by which St Louis embarked on his
crusades was called the Canal Viel. It was about five miles in length
from the town to the opening in the sand dunes, called the “Grau Louis,”
where it debouched into the sea. Since that time the canal from the town
to the sea has three times changed its course. For about a century after
the time of St Louis this port was greatly frequented by merchants from
Genoa, but it has long been little used, and all the commerce of Aigues
Mortes has now died away.
The walls of Aigues Mortes were traced out by St Louis, but the
superstructure was executed by his son, Philip the Bold. The latter in
1272 took possession of the country of Toulouse and arranged with the
Genoese Boccanera to construct the walls of Aigues Mortes for a sum
equal to 88,500 francs. The town is laid out as a regular parallelogram
with streets at right angles,
[Illustration: FIG. 117. AIGUES MORTES--WALLS ON EAST AND NORTH SIDES.]
like the bastide of Carcassonne on the north side of the Aude. The walls
are built with solid masonry, having the natural surface left rough or
bossy. Fifteen towers surround the city and strengthen the curtains at
the angles and on the flanks. There are nine gates, two principal ones,
and the others smaller.
Being only a fortification of the second order the defences of Aigues
Mortes are not nearly of so complete a type as those of the important
fortress of Carcassonne. The towers are generally round, though some of
them, following the Southern fashion, are square and project only
slightly (Fig. 117). The gateways pass directly through the square
towers, which, as we have seen at Avignon, was a decidedly Southern
custom; and none of the circular towers have strengthening beaks. The
towers are so placed with reference to the walls that some of them, as
at Carcassonne, interrupt the parapet walk, while in others it is
carried round the outside of the inner face of the tower, and is
supported on large mouldings which form a continuous corbelling. This is
shewn in the view of one of the towers above a gateway taken from within
the walls (Fig. 118). The stairs giving access to the walls and the
interior of the loopholes are also seen in this view.
The walls of the town, which are about 30 feet high, are all provided
with a crenellated parapet, having long loops in the merlons between the
embrasures. The wall heads have also been defended with wooden
hoardings, the holes for the beams which carried them being very
distinctly visible all round the fortress. The lower part of the wall is
perforated with very long narrow slits. The interior recesses connected
with these are formed with wide splays like window bays, and are
provided with stone seats for the defenders (_see_ Fig. 118). Probably
the great
[Illustration: FIG. 118. INTERIOR OF SOUTH SIDE OF WALLS.]
length of the loops was to enable bowmen to operate both while standing
on the floor and on the seats, or even on temporary wooden platforms at
different heights, and also to aim their arrows either high or low. The
open staircases leading to the walls are carried up on the side next the
town in the same way as those of Carcassonne.
In approaching the town from the north the PORTE DE NIMES (Fig. 119) is
first seen in front, while a long vista of the northern wall with its
towers stretches to the left, and the Tour de Constance terminates the
view to the right. This gateway has as usual a large strengthening round
tower on each side, containing guardrooms, &c., and is so arranged as to
form an independent post.
Till the fourteenth century, gateways of this description were defended
with folding gates, portcullis, machicolations (or apertures in the
vault over the entrance passages), and with _bretêches_ or hoardings
projecting over the entrance, pierced with single, double, or even
triple tiers of loopholes from which to attack the assailants. But there
were as yet no drawbridges. At the Porte de Nimes evidences may be
observed of a drawbridge, wrought with long balanced beams or levers
passing through the wall, having been used; but it has evidently been
introduced at a later time.
The walls of Aigues Mortes were entirely surrounded with a wet ditch (a
few indications of which still remain), but it has for the most part
been filled up and converted into a promenade. The ditch would be
crossed with moveable wooden bridges which could be easily removed or
destroyed.
A projecting stone balcony is corbelled out from one of the round towers
of the Porte de Nimes. This was no doubt a station from which audience
could be given to heralds or others wishing to communicate with the
[Illustration: FIG. 119. PORTE DE NIMES, AIGUES MORTES.]
town without the necessity of opening any of the gates or other
defences. The fortifications present on plan a right angled
parallelogram about 600 yards from east to west, by 150 yards from north
to south, with a curved portion cut out of the north-west angle. At this
point stands the donjon, or Tour de Constance (_see_ Fig. 116), built by
St Louis, as above mentioned, on the site of the ancient Tour de
Matafère in order to form the citadel of the town. This tower is of the
simplest possible design, being a plain cylinder about 70 feet in
diameter, with a talus or slope near the base. It is about 100 feet
high, and was no doubt originally crowned with overhanging hoardings,
and when fully equipped would present an appearance not unlike the well
known great Keep of Couci Castle.
The Tour de Constance was surrounded with a special ditch, and was
connected with the town walls by means of narrow wooden gangways, which
could be easily removed. The top has been altered in the sixteenth
century, and made into a platform, and provided with a parapet suitable
for guns. Above the circular staircase in the thickness of the wall the
watch turret rises to a considerable height, and is crowned with the
iron grille which for long contained the fire which illumined the canal,
and served as a beacon to the ships.
Simple as is the exterior of this keep, its interior is full of interest
and beauty. The walls, as high as the first floor, are 20 feet in
thickness. The basement contains the storage and has a well in the
centre, over which an eye in the vaults above allows water to be raised
to every floor.
The entrance door is on the first floor on the side next the town, and
there is also a postern on this floor on the side next the country. From
the landing at the former, a staircase leads to the second floor, and is
so contrived that the lower part is completely overlooked and commanded
from the upper part. At the landing where the staircase gives access to
the great apartment on the upper floor, a beautifully arched and groined
lobby is constructed, and is decorated with Gothic shafts and enriched
caps.