LA CERDAGNE
Col de Puy Morens--Etang de Lanous--Many lakes--Dreary country--
River of Carol--Dam of Quès--County of Cerdagne--Divided at the
Peace of the Pyrenees--Llivia--Ceretani--Bourg-Madame--Paradise
of botanists--Relics of the Flood--Mont Louis--General Dagobert
--Church of Planès--Font-Romeu--Image, object of Pilgrimage--
Story of Othman and Lampagia.
From Ax-les-Thermes a good carriage road crosses the Col de Puy Morens
to the Cerdagne and to Puygcerda in Spanish territory. It passes
through most bald and weariful uplands, under the Pic de Carlitte,
which is the highest point of the watershed between the Atlantic and
the Mediterranean. The height of this peak is 9580 feet, and its flanks
are starred with lakes, many of which are frozen through a great part
of the year, more than are found in any other part of the Pyrenees.
The Etang de Lanous is three kilometres long and from 500 to 600 yards
across, pinched in the middle so as to form two basins. It is covered
with ice for about nine months. It swarms with red-fleshed _Salmo
alpinus_, which is excellent eating.
“A frame of lofty mountains, reaching above 7500 feet surrounds
this lake. Behind this barrier are other sheets of water; the
most extensive lie on the north side, in the department of
Ariège. Among these is the Etang d’En-Beys, whence issues the
Oriège; the Etangs of Peyrisse from which the water descends
in a series of cascades to form the large and beautiful Lake
of Naguilles, a reservoir to be utilized some day for the
irrigation of the plain of Pamiers, and any number of others
lying asleep at the bottom of valleys, in which, with the
exception of a few shepherds, no other face is seen.”
All this portion of the chain is almost barren and sad. The road leads
through a dreary country, where the snow lies long, and the scanty
grass is burnt with the frozen streams, and heaped with granitic blocks
thrown up by moraines of glaciers that no longer exist. A few miserable
villages are passed till the ruins are reached of the Castle of Carol,
of which two towers remain. This was at one time the chief place of the
valley, and it maintained independence in the midst of the county of
Cerdagne.
At Quès the river of Carol, flowing south, is arrested by a barrier
of rocks, formed to serve for irrigation by means of a canal, as far
as Puygcerda. It is, perhaps, the earliest recorded instance, at
least in medieval times, of such an economic undertaking. This canal
was constructed in 1318, by virtue of a charter of Sanchez, King
of Majorca. It was so well constructed that it serves its purpose
admirably to the present day, fertilizing the fields below it, whereas
above the life-giving stream the mountain side is barren. When the
Treaty of the Pyrenees was drawn in 1659 it was stipulated that this
barrier and the canal from it, though on territory ceded to France,
should be maintained in good order.
The Cerdagne became an independent state soon after the Moorish
invasion of 731. It was governed by a Berber chief, Munuza by name,
who threw in his lot with the Franks against the Yemenite Arabs of the
South, and even married a daughter of Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine. But he
was killed near Puygcerda; his head was salted, and sent to the Caliph
of Damascus.
About 928 Miro, Count of Barcelona, gave Cerdagne to his son Oliba
Cabréta, and it was ruled by its own counts till 1117, when the last
died childless, and then it was reannexed to the county of Barcelona,
and later went to Aragon. Finally, by the peace of 1659, it was
divided, much to the indignation of the inhabitants, who protested
ineffectually--half went to France, and half remained to Spain. France
thrust her frontier down the Spanish slope of the mountains, taking
in the rivers that flow south to feed the Ebro, just as Spain carried
her frontier beyond the highest crests of the range to include the Val
d’Aran and the head waters of the Garonne. But this acquisition on the
part of France was not as unreasonable as it would seem, for the object
was to secure communication between Foix and the Conflant and Valespir
valleys that opened unto the plain of Roussillon, which had also become
incorporated into the kingdom of France.
There is, however, a curious little _enclave_ of twelve square
kilometres, about the town of Llivia, completely surrounded by French
territory, that remains Spanish. The explanation of this anomaly is
as follows: At the Peace of the Pyrenees Spain agreed to surrender
to France thirty-three villages in Cerdagne. But Llivia haughtily
protested that she was not a village, but a town, once a city with
a bishop of her own, consequently did not come within the terms
of the agreement. This was admitted, and Llivia remains Spanish,
much to the inconvenience of the custom-house officers, who have to
maintain a cordon of douaniers about the petty territory. Now Llivia,
that possesses 330 inhabitants, regrets the past. Spain exacts of
her taxes to the amount of 30,000 francs, and gives her nothing in
return--neither a post office, nor telegraph, nor roads. The post
office has to be kept up by the citizens, so also the roads till they
reach the frontier. Llivia was a Roman town founded in honour of the
wife of Augustus, and some remains of the Roman walls exist. It is a
poor, decayed place. A castle in ruins occupies the highest point of
the hill on which it is built; the large church is planted on a terrace
above the cold, slated roofs of the sordid houses and narrow streets of
the town.
Cerdagne is the country of the Ceretani of Pliny, and the same people
occupied the Valespir, and have left their name in the town of Ceret.
The race was not Iberic, but purely Celtic, and their name is the same
as that given to Ceretica, or Ceredigion, Cardigan in Wales.
Whilst Llivia decays malodorously under Spanish neglect, a little
hamlet on French soil, Bourg-Madame, is growing into vigorous and fresh
life. Not many years ago it was nothing but a cluster of a couple of
taverns and a station of the customs, and it was called Guinguettes
d’Hix. But the situation favoured it, standing on the frontier at the
point where the high road from Barcelona is linked on to a network of
French main roads. Moreover, Barcelona derives much of its butter and
cheese from the French Cerdagne, and the trade consequently passes
through the place. In 1815 the Duke of Angoulême entered France by this
door on the frontier, and the inhabitants obtained from him leave to
alter the name of the growing town to Bourg-Madame.
The Pyrenees of this part of the chain is one of the most barren
mountain systems in Europe. The passes into Spain are mere notches cut
to a depth of 600 to 900 feet in the ridge, that rises to a height of
about 8000 feet above the sea. Even the mountain peaks have little
individual character, and from the high land whence seen do not show
their true elevation.
Nevertheless this portion of the range is a paradise for botanists;
plants are found here that are discoverable in no other part of the
Pyrenees. The granitic elevated plateau is strewn with lakes, already
alluded to, which are the sources of the Ariège, the Aude, the Segre,
and the Têt. The peasants believe that these are relics of Noah’s
flood, patches of water that loitered and were left behind when the
Deluge was past and the flood was engulfed. And they are further
convinced that the ark rested on the Puyg Péne. North and east of the
plateau the ground falls away in a series of terraces cleft by ravines;
the finest and best known of these latter is that of the Aude, visited
from the baths of Cascanières.
In this upland region is a fortress created by Vauban, Mont Louis, in
which a couple of companies are quartered, and spend a joyless time,
where the winter lasts ten months out of the twelve. The fortifications
enclose but a handful of houses. It stands at the height of 5280 feet
above the sea, and is commanded by mountains that rise to 6685 feet, as
the Pic de la Tausse, but they do not impress one with sense of height.
Mont Louis stands at the point of suture of the three little provinces
out of which Louis XIII formed that of Roussillon--the Conflent, the
Capcir, and Cerdagne.
In Mont Louis there is nothing to be seen of particular interest. The
church was built from designs of Vauban. On the terrace is the monument
of General Dagobert, who died in 1794. It consists of a pile of granite
surmounted by a bomb. Dagobert was, however, not a native of this
place, but of Saint Lô, in Manche. He had been sub-lieutenant in the
regiment of Touraine in the Seven Years’ War, and when the Revolution
broke out he was sent as General of Division with the army of Italy,
and met with some success. He was less fortunate when commanding an
army in the Pyrénées Orientales; he met with defeat at Trouillas, and
was relieved of his charge and arrested. But he succeeded in justifying
himself, before the Committee of Public Safety, by showing that his
failure was due to the jealousy and disobedience of the generals placed
under his orders. He was re-established in his position and allowed
to carry on the campaign according to a plan proposed by himself to
the Convention. He reached Perpignan in March, 1794, but could not
obtain from Dugommier more than a few battalions in place of the 12,000
infantry and 600 cavalry that had been ordered to be placed at his
disposal. At the head of a small body of men he went to Puygcerda and
invaded Catalonia, took the strong position of Monteska, and surrounded
Urgel. On 10 April he entered that city, which redeemed itself from
sack by paying a contribution of 10,000 francs. Then he attempted to
besiege the citadel, but found it to be too strong to be taken, and he
retreated on the morrow. He was conveyed ill to Puygcerda on 17 April,
where he died.
To the south-east of Mont Louis is Planès, where there is a curious
church, some suppose of Moorish constructure, by others attributed
to the tenth century, by others again set as late as the twelfth. It
consists of an equilateral triangle, surmounted by a cupola, and each
angle rounded off. That this curious monument should be of Moorish
origin is most improbable. The Arabs in France destroyed much, but
built nothing.
The hermitage of Font-Romeu is a pilgrimage resort with a Calvary,
situated at the height of 5330 feet, and commanding a wide panorama.
The way to it is through a pine wood, the old trees bearded with grey
lichen. A hermit takes charge of the shrine--a real hermit, one of the
rare survivals; they are now almost as extinct as the dodo and the
great auk. The sanctuary is the very Mecca of Cerdagne and Capcir. On 8
September as many as three thousand pilgrims assemble here; the place
is like a disturbed ant-heap. The visitors do not restrain themselves
to devotional exercises; they also dine, drink, sing. Then may be
seen the white caps, laced, of Conflent and Roussillon; the kerchief
of glaring colours--red, yellow, and blue--of the women of Cerdagne;
men wearing the red _barretina_ and the cord-soled _spadrillos_,
Catalonians these who have not abandoned their old costume. The
miraculous image is a seated Madonna, with head and hands out of all
proportion to the body. It spends the winter in the church of Odeillo,
but revisits Font-Romeu as soon as the rhododendrons begin to flush the
mountain sides.
In winter Mont Louis is a cold and wretched prison. Clouds envelop the
mountain-tops, cold rain and heavy falls of snow alternate with furious
and icy gales. In summer the vapours often fill the valley, and from
the ramparts of Mont Louis is seen the spectacle of a vast plain of
snow, recalling the scenes of winter; but the snow now is the surface
of cloud lying low, silvered by the light from above.
This wild country saw the end of Othman abu Nessu, the Moorish Governor
of Narbonne.
In 725 Ambessa, Moslem Governor of Spain, crossed the Pyrenees.
Cascassonne and Nîmes vainly endeavoured to resist him. In the midst
of his successes, however, death surprised him. But he left the Arabs
masters of Septimania, where they established themselves in force and
made Narbonne their capital. The struggle between Moslem and Christian
for the possession of the soil of France now became a struggle
desperate in its earnestness.
Eudes, Duke of Aquitania, was at the time hampered by an attack from
the North by Charles Martel, Duke of the Franks. In his extremity he
made overtures to Othman, Governor of Narbonne, who was not a Saracen,
but a Moor. The Moors were Berbers from Northern Africa, of the same
blood as the Iberians of Spain; they had been conquered by the Arabs
and forced to become Mahomedans. Eudes gave his beautiful daughter
Lampagia to Othman, who became deeply attached to his Christian wife,
and promised his assistance against the new Emir, Abderahman. This
latter came over the Col de Perche and threatened Narbonne. Othman
was deserted by his men, and fled to Llivia with his wife and a few
attendants. He soon perceived that it was not possible to defend the
little town, and he escaped and attempted to cross the Col de Morens.
In his flight he was entreated to halt by Lampagia, to slake her
thirst at a spring and rest on the turf by it. Othman and she were
surrendering themselves to the pleasing hope that they were safe, when
they saw a detachment of Saracens in full pursuit.
The servants took to flight, but Lampagia was too weary to join
them, and Othman would not abandon his wife. In a moment they were
surrounded, and Othman, rather than fall into the hands of his enemies,
flung himself down the precipice and perished. His head was cut off
and sent to Abderahman along with Lampagia. She was so lovely in the
eyes of the Emir that he sent her to Damascus to the Commander of the
Faithful.
Abderahman pursued his successes, but met with discomfiture on the
fields of Poitiers in October, 732, and he himself was among the slain.