WEBVTT - generated by WebTV Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry
1
00:00:08.040 --> 00:00:10.320
When my window opened for the first time
2
00:00:10.600 --> 00:00:12.240
on the castle of Montferrand,
3
00:00:12.760 --> 00:00:15.920
the line of sight that appeared to me was that
of an Ariadne's thread
4
00:00:16.400 --> 00:00:17.960
between past and present.
5
00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:40.640
Montferrand through the ages
6
00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:49.240
The black silhouette on the rocky outcrop
7
00:00:50.480 --> 00:00:51.920
was probably much the same,
8
00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:55.800
if you had the same vantage point
9
00:00:56.480 --> 00:00:58.400
a few hundred years ago.
10
00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.000
I soon began to read up on the history of the
monument.
11
00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:04.000
The need to know more
12
00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.000
about the role of the castle that once stood
next the Saint-Loup Peak,
13
00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:11.000
and still rules the valley of Montferrand today,
14
00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:13.000
was almost visceral.
15
00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.000
The castle of Montferrand, near the Saint-Loup
peak,
16
00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.000
dominates the whole valley which extends
17
00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:22.000
between the Hortus and the Saint-Loup
peak,
18
00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.000
and on the Montpellier side what is historically
called
19
00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:28.000
the valley of Montferrand, and goes up to the
gates of Montpellier.
20
00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:32.000
The castle of Montferrand is a living site,
21
00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:35.000
because people have made it their own,
22
00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.000
they live with it every day,
23
00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:42.000
they have a constant view of it.
24
00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:45.000
It's a very popular site, the GR60 passes
right by it.
25
00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:48.000
At the moment, it has been closed, for security
reasons,
26
00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.000
but its environment is still frequented.
27
00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.000
Since 2018,
28
00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.000
the site has been the subject of an architectural
study,
29
00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.000
centred around Thomas Robardet-Caffin's PhD.
30
00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:06.000
It involves the Innovation Shapes Architectures
Environments laboratory
31
00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.000
of the Montpellier school of Architecture,
32
00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:11.000
the Centre for medieval studies of Montpellier
33
00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.000
and the Doctoral school 58 of the Paul-Valéry
University.
34
00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.000
Within the framework of the Masters,
35
00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:23.000
we have a certain policy,
36
00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.000
that is to say a policy of giving subjects
37
00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.000
that allow the students to be confronted with
reality,
38
00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.000
that is to say to go on the monument,
39
00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.000
outside, to meet the actors of the heritage,
40
00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:38.000
that is to say these people who take care of
the monuments,
41
00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.000
these people who protect them, these people
who restore them,
42
00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.000
and we are also quite happy with the results.
43
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.000
And of course within the framework of the theses,
44
00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:49.000
with very concrete subjects,
45
00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.000
like the subject of Thomas Robardet-Caffin,
on the castle of Montferrand,
46
00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.000
we associated our forces
47
00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:00.000
with the National school of Architecture of
Montpellier,
48
00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.000
so that Thomas had a CIFRE contract
49
00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:06.000
with the Community of Communes of the Great
Peak Saint-Loup,
50
00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.000
which also allowed him to finance part of his
studies.
51
00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:23.000
Other contributions were also solicited,
52
00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.000
as several building blocks were needed
53
00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.000
to give life to this multi-faceted project,
54
00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:31.000
with multiple challenges.
55
00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:36.000
Each year, the students of the Promotion
and mediation of heritage Master
56
00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:37.000
of the Paul-Valéry university
57
00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:39.000
are led to carry out a collective project,
58
00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.000
which takes place on the territory of a particular
commune,
59
00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.000
and it is also a very multidisciplinary project,
60
00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:50.000
because it will simultaneously involve skills
61
00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:53.000
in history, in art history, in ethnology,
62
00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.000
in geography and geomorphology,
63
00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:59.000
and also in biology and ecology.
64
00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.000
And we intervened, in 2020,
65
00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:06.000
on the territory of the commune of Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers.
66
00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.000
All the work that was carried out by the students,
67
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.000
both the discovery in the archives,
68
00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:17.000
and also a field survey,
69
00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.000
to touch the feelings of the inhabitants in
relation to their castle,
70
00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.000
well, all this gave rise to a weekend,
71
00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:28.000
which was a weekend of reporting at the end
of January 2020,
72
00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:32.000
the students animated a certain number of workshops-discovery,
73
00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:35.000
for example on the techniques of construction
of the castle,
74
00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:40.000
also workshops-discovery around the scrubland,
75
00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.000
around the fauna and the flora,
76
00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:44.000
they also set up various exhibitions,
77
00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:47.000
they organized several conferences,
78
00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.000
they also organised a hike,
79
00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.000
which is a discovery hike
80
00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.000
between the village of St-Mathieu-de-Tréviers
and the castle of Montferrand,
81
00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:59.000
to discover the scrubland and also to discover
the path,
82
00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:02.000
because there is a path which is an old medieval
path,
83
00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:04.000
with traces of ruts,
84
00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:06.000
which was redeveloped in modern times.
85
00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.000
They also listened to what the inhabitants
had to say to them
86
00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:15.000
about the feeling they had in relation to this
castle of Montferrand,
87
00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.000
and you can see that this project was co-constructed,
88
00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:23.000
and I think that this is the philosophy of
this Master's degree,
89
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.000
that is to say, not to impose an enhancement
of heritages
90
00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:31.000
but to try to "co-construct" it with the inhabitants
of these communes.
91
00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:33.000
About the castle of Montferrand,
92
00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.000
there have been local scholars interested in
this subject
93
00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:40.000
for dozens or even hundreds of years,
94
00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:46.000
and much more recently we are fortunate
95
00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.000
that Vivien Vassal has worked on it.
96
00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:55.000
He submitted a report in 2010 to the DRAC,
97
00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.000
and it was a very complete work
98
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.000
which allowed us to synthesise all the data
on Montferrand,
99
00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.000
so it is an essential support in the research
work.
100
00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:14.000
The architectural study is really intended
101
00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:16.000
to get to know the site,
102
00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:18.000
because it's a rather vast castle,
103
00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:22.000
which has been covered by vegetation for decades
now, or even longer,
104
00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.000
which has been ruined since the end of the
17th century
105
00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.000
and covered by its own fill,
106
00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.000
and which is not well known in terms of buildings,
107
00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:38.000
so the first purpose of this study is to reveal
these remains,
108
00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.000
to reveal the organisation of this site
109
00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:44.000
which we didn't even know in plan.
110
00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:47.000
Everything starts with this work,
111
00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.000
to get to know the site,
112
00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:54.000
to be able to scientifically develop its history,
113
00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.000
its architectural history, its architectural
evolution,
114
00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:01.000
and its history through texts,
115
00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:04.000
to link these two dimensions,
116
00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:07.000
and once this work has been done,
117
00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:10.000
I hope to open up archaeological operations
118
00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.000
that will be able to reveal
119
00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.000
what's hidden under the embankments.
120
00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:20.000
But before archaeology could resonate with
history,
121
00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:25.000
the architectural operations began by providing
an essential foundation
122
00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:27.000
for the castle's renovation project,
123
00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:31.000
launched by the Community of Communes of the
Great Saint-Loup Peak,
124
00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.000
which now owns the site.
125
00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:37.000
I knew the time
126
00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:39.000
when it was possible to walk freely among the
ruins,
127
00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:41.000
almost in naive carelessness.
128
00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:45.000
But when approaching the ramparts,
129
00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:47.000
caution should be exercised.
130
00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:49.000
Today,
131
00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.000
beware of the invitation from the new masters
of the place,
132
00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:56.000
who are much more experienced than we are in
the exercise of climbing.
133
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:06.000
Remember that the pacified fortress
134
00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:08.000
will only be able to take care of its visitors
135
00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:12.000
once the hand of man has taken care of it again.
136
00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.000
The stones are falling off the curtain walls,
137
00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:20.000
and entire sections of the walls threaten to
collapse.
138
00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.000
The most dangerous and fragile remains
139
00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.000
will soon be the subject of stabilisation
140
00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:36.000
and consolidation work.
141
00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:54.000
We had to start by clearing the brush from
the castle,
142
00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:57.000
which had been completely overgrown with vegetation,
143
00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:00.000
including many holm oaks.
144
00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:02.000
This clearing of the undergrowth
145
00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:04.000
will have to be repeated periodically,
146
00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.000
because we want to keep the possibility of
using it,
147
00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:12.000
for field surveys,
148
00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.000
which are particularly necessary for future
operations,
149
00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.000
and it will also be necessary
150
00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.000
for the excavations and operations
151
00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.000
to safeguard and stabilize the walls.
152
00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:29.000
The problems are linked to the three poles
of the castle,
153
00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.000
the lower parts that have a big instability
154
00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.000
in the central building that you can see right
there,
155
00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:40.000
which needs to be stabilised urgently
156
00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.000
because we have a façade that is completely
open,
157
00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:44.000
with a big breach,
158
00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:47.000
and all the interior facing that is loose and
has fallen down.
159
00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:50.000
So we can say that it is holding up almost
miraculously,
160
00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.000
but it can give way at any moment.
161
00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:53.000
So once this building is stabilised,
162
00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:55.000
all the lower parts of the castle will be secured,
163
00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:57.000
and after that,
164
00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:59.000
the two other major areas of intervention
165
00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:00.000
will be the "Little Montferrand",
166
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.000
in the middle part of the castle, at the top,
167
00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:06.000
and the "Old Montferrand", which is the old
castle at the top.
168
00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:09.000
So these two places have more or less the same
problems,
169
00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:12.000
with vaults that are open, that risk falling
down,
170
00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:13.000
the risk also being to pass through them,
171
00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:15.000
for someone who passes over them,
172
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:16.000
so they are quite dangerous places,
173
00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:18.000
and then of course high sections of walls,
174
00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:22.000
which have to be braced since all the buildings
behind them have disappeared,
175
00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:25.000
now they are "sail" walls, finally,
176
00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:27.000
which are subject to the constraints of the
wind,
177
00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:30.000
and which have stones on the bases that are
very unstable.
178
00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:32.000
So these are now dangerous areas,
179
00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.000
which is why the castle is fenced off,
180
00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:37.000
but these are the priorities for work to make
the site safe.
181
00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:41.000
The castle of Montferrand,
182
00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.000
on this beautiful territory of the Great Saint-Loup
Peak,
183
00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:45.000
it is our totem to all,
184
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:48.000
with the Saint-Loup peak, with the cliffs of
the Hortus,
185
00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:51.000
and obviously behind this renovation of the
castle of Montferrand,
186
00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.000
we expect a dynamics of territory,
187
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.000
but especially, to recall our history.
188
00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.000
If we do nothing, this heritage will crumble.
189
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.000
The stakes are high
190
00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:03.000
because renovating a castle,
191
00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:04.000
do you realise,
192
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:07.000
is no small operation for a community,
193
00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:11.000
but we are going to do it in the simplest way
possible.
194
00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:14.000
The idea is to show that this heritage existed,
195
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:17.000
that it is potentially rehabilitable,
196
00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:18.000
obviously in very reasonable proportions,
197
00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:21.000
because the financial stakes are very high,
198
00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.000
but above all it is a testimony to our history,
199
00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:27.000
and to what we must do today.
200
00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:30.000
the responsibility of the local authorities
in terms of heritage.
201
00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:33.000
We have many partners around us,
202
00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:36.000
and in particular the heritage association,
Pic Patrimoine,
203
00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:40.000
which has taken this mission very seriously.
204
00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:44.000
The Pic Patrimoine association
205
00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.000
intends to continue to play an important role
206
00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:48.000
in the Montferrand project,
207
00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:52.000
by setting up a stone-cutting workshop in Les
Matelles,
208
00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:56.000
with the help of a professional trainer, a
master craftsman,
209
00:11:57.000 --> 00:11:59.000
the volunteers of the association will provide
210
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:01.000
a certain number of materials,
211
00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:03.000
through this stone-cutting workshop,
212
00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:08.000
and these materials will be used for specific
renovation operations
213
00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:10.000
concerning the gates and archways
214
00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:12.000
of Montferrand Castle.
215
00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:01.000
The natural setting in which the site is located,
216
00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:05.000
in the immediate vicinity of the village of
Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers,
217
00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:08.000
is able to display all the colours of spring.
218
00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:14.000
But in winter, the abundant and thorny vegetation
219
00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:17.000
forms its first defensive rampart.
220
00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:20.000
Yesterday protective,
221
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.000
the silhouette of the castle becomes threatening.
222
00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:28.000
Sometimes, it hides from the observer's view
223
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.000
behind a heavy curtain of mist
224
00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:35.000
that seems to hide the preparations of some
evil intention.
225
00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.000
There are two ways to get to Montferrand.
226
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:02.000
If you follow the GR60,
227
00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:06.000
you will need thirty minutes to three quarters
of an hour to get to the castle.
228
00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:27.000
The hike lends itself to a Sunday outing,
229
00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:29.000
and offers many stops
230
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:32.000
inviting the walker to draw his camera.
231
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:53.000
When I arrived at the foot of the castle for
the first time,
232
00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.000
I remember my impression of going back in time,
233
00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:05.000
as if a drawbridge was going to open in the
wall
234
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.000
to let a medieval convoy pass.
235
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:18.000
And then also the perception of the gigantic
size of the site.
236
00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:24.000
The castle of Montferrand occupies the top
of a rocky outcrop,
237
00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.000
covering an area of about 6,500 square metres.
238
00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:31.000
Schematically, it extends over a length of
100 metres,
239
00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.000
ending in an arc to the west,
240
00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:37.000
and over a width of 65 metres.
241
00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:59.000
To the West,
242
00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:02.000
its multiple embrasures frame the Saint-Loup
peak,
243
00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:04.000
as if to give it pride of place.
244
00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:11.000
To the east,
245
00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:14.000
the view opens up to the village of Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers,
246
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:18.000
over which the fortress seems to be keeping
watch.
247
00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:20.000
To the south,
248
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:23.000
the eye of the watchman rests on the horizon
of the sea,
249
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:27.000
and its potential threats, throughout the medieval
period.
250
00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:33.000
Finally, facing the cliff of the Hortus,
251
00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:35.000
the northern slope of the castle is a sheer
drop,
252
00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:38.000
an impassable natural defence
253
00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:40.000
that the builders took advantage of
254
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:42.000
from the beginning of the construction.
255
00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.000
Like all large-scale buildings,
256
00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:51.000
the castle of Montferrand was not built in
a day.
257
00:17:25.020 --> 00:17:29.020
The jurisdiction of Montferrand dates back
to the end of the 11th century,
258
00:17:30.020 --> 00:17:33.020
when the county was donated to the Roman Church.
259
00:17:34.020 --> 00:17:36.020
In 1085,
260
00:17:36.020 --> 00:17:40.020
Count Peter undertook the bipolarisation of
the former county of Substantion,
261
00:17:42.020 --> 00:17:45.020
which then became the county of Mauguio
and Montferrand.
262
00:17:46.020 --> 00:17:49.020
The donation made to the Church was a political
choice.
263
00:17:50.020 --> 00:17:53.020
This choice allowed the count to protect himself
264
00:17:53.020 --> 00:17:56.020
against the growing power of certain threatening
lords,
265
00:17:56.020 --> 00:17:59.020
such as the counts of Toulouse or the Guilhem
of Montpellier.
266
00:18:00.080 --> 00:18:01.080
Thank you very much.
267
00:18:02.080 --> 00:18:06.080
The remodelling and the ecclesiastical destiny
of the old county of Substantion
268
00:18:06.080 --> 00:18:10.080
appear to be the ultimate mission or work of
Count Peter,
269
00:18:10.080 --> 00:18:13.080
because he died very shortly afterwards,
270
00:18:13.080 --> 00:18:15.080
probably in 1086.
271
00:18:17.080 --> 00:18:20.080
History has retained the name of Almodis,
272
00:18:20.080 --> 00:18:21.080
his widow,
273
00:18:22.080 --> 00:18:23.080
Countess of Montferrand.
274
00:18:37.080 --> 00:18:40.080
We have a castle which is at the head of a
county
275
00:18:41.080 --> 00:18:44.080
which we will find under several names,
276
00:18:45.080 --> 00:18:47.080
we will find it under the name of county of
Substantion,
277
00:18:48.080 --> 00:18:50.080
so there we are around the 10th century,
278
00:18:51.080 --> 00:18:53.080
then we will have the name of county of Melgueil,
279
00:18:54.080 --> 00:18:57.080
or county of Mauguio, Melgueil
being the Latin name,
280
00:18:57.080 --> 00:18:59.080
latinized name of Mauguio,
281
00:19:01.040 --> 00:19:02.040
so this county of Mauguio,
282
00:19:05.040 --> 00:19:08.040
which became very important from the 11th and
12th centuries,
283
00:19:10.040 --> 00:19:12.040
was in fact divided in two parts,
284
00:19:13.040 --> 00:19:16.040
which were more like administrative divisions,
285
00:19:17.040 --> 00:19:19.040
and at the head of each part there was a castle,
286
00:19:20.040 --> 00:19:22.040
the castle of Mauguio and the castle of Montferrand.
287
00:19:22.040 --> 00:19:25.040
When we talk about the county of Mauguio or
the county of Montferrand,
288
00:19:25.040 --> 00:19:27.040
it is the same thing.
289
00:19:27.040 --> 00:19:28.040
The archaeology of the building
290
00:19:28.040 --> 00:19:32.040
found a first point of concordance with the
donation of 1085,
291
00:19:32.040 --> 00:19:34.040
recorded in Rome.
292
00:19:35.040 --> 00:19:36.040
In the castle of Montferrand,
293
00:19:36.040 --> 00:19:39.040
the only wooden lintel still visible today,
294
00:19:40.040 --> 00:19:43.040
in the western part commonly known as the “Little
Montferrand”,
295
00:19:43.040 --> 00:19:45.040
was dated by carbon 14.
296
00:19:47.040 --> 00:19:49.040
This confirmed that the wood of this lintel
297
00:19:49.040 --> 00:19:51.040
was over 900 years old.
298
00:19:53.040 --> 00:19:56.040
The first handwritten mention of the castle,
on the other hand,
299
00:19:56.040 --> 00:19:57.040
dates back to 1132,
300
00:19:58.040 --> 00:20:00.000
in the cartulary of Guilhem de Montpellier.
301
00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:05.000
The first stone of the castle was therefore
laid at the end of the 11th century,
302
00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:08.000
or in the first 20 years of the 12th century.
303
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.000
Of the castle of Mauguio,
304
00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:15.000
or castle of Melgueil,
305
00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:18.000
only the castral clod remains today.
306
00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:21.000
In their early days,
307
00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:23.000
these two fortresses were used
308
00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:26.000
to represent and house the exercise of the
count's power.
309
00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:29.000
Among other etymological origins,
310
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:33.000
"Montferrand" could mean "Mount of Iron",
311
00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:36.000
referring to the strategic position of a military
place.
312
00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.000
These were centres
313
00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:46.000
that brought together most of the prerogatives
of the count's authority,
314
00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:48.000
with knights,
315
00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:49.000
soldiers,
316
00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:51.000
and depending on the period of history,
317
00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.000
a baile or a squire,
318
00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:55.000
that is, an estate agent of the count,
319
00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:59.000
with financial, judicial, administrative and
military powers.
320
00:21:01.060 --> 00:21:02.060
It's quite essential
321
00:21:03.060 --> 00:21:05.060
because a castle is not only a building,
322
00:21:05.060 --> 00:21:07.060
it's also a domain,
323
00:21:07.060 --> 00:21:08.060
it's a fiefdom,
324
00:21:09.060 --> 00:21:11.060
it's fiefs which are agglomerated around it,
325
00:21:14.060 --> 00:21:16.060
and the basic unit is the farmhouse,
326
00:21:16.060 --> 00:21:18.060
and in fact we're going to have a group of
farmhouses,
327
00:21:19.060 --> 00:21:21.060
which are dependent on the castle in feudal
terms,
328
00:21:21.060 --> 00:21:23.060
which are dependent on Montferrand castle,
329
00:21:24.060 --> 00:21:26.060
so we can see how the site is administered
330
00:21:26.060 --> 00:21:29.060
and from this we can deduce the uses of the
castle.
331
00:21:30.060 --> 00:21:33.060
These uses have evolved considerably over the
years.
332
00:21:34.060 --> 00:21:37.060
Some of the oldest buildings are still visible
today.
333
00:21:37.060 --> 00:21:41.060
1 - roundabout path,
2 - common room, 3 - jails, 4 - storage room,
5 - entrance way
334
00:21:43.060 --> 00:21:47.060
The upper part of the site, known as the “Old
Montferrand”,
335
00:21:47.060 --> 00:21:49.060
reveals the bases of the first enclosures.
336
00:21:52.060 --> 00:21:53.060
To the west,
337
00:21:54.060 --> 00:21:55.060
the “Little Montferrand” for its
part
338
00:21:55.060 --> 00:21:58.060
houses the first reception hall of the castle.
339
00:22:04.020 --> 00:22:08.020
12th century:
beginnings of the Little
Montferrand, first reception hall
340
00:22:18.020 --> 00:22:21.020
These buildings were extended and raised several
times.
341
00:22:22.020 --> 00:22:30.020
The Little Montferrand,
17th century aristocratic dwelling, in blue
the reconstructed parts
1 - hallway,
2 - reception room, 3 - bedroom, 4 - working
cabinet
342
00:22:35.020 --> 00:22:40.020
17th century:
the Little Montferrand,
aristocratic dwelling
343
00:22:52.020 --> 00:23:11.080
The Old Montferrand,
17th century barracks, in blue the reconstructed
parts
1 - watchtower, 2 - wine-making
unit, 3 - tower with clock, 4 - roundabout
path, 5 - jails,
6 - tanker, 7
- entrance way, 8 - kitchen & dining room,
9 - armoury, 10 - attic, 11 - guardroom
344
00:23:21.080 --> 00:23:25.080
17th century:
the Old Montferrand,
entrance to the barracks
345
00:23:27.080 --> 00:23:30.080
High courtyard of the
castle
346
00:23:41.080 --> 00:23:44.080
Kitchen and dining room
347
00:23:47.080 --> 00:23:50.080
Weapons room
348
00:24:10.040 --> 00:24:12.040
So we know that in 1085,
349
00:24:12.040 --> 00:24:16.040
Count Peter, who became Peter of Melgueil
and Montferrand,
350
00:24:16.040 --> 00:24:18.040
pledged allegiance to the Roman Church.
351
00:24:20.040 --> 00:24:22.040
He thus became a vassal of Pope Gregory VII,
352
00:24:23.040 --> 00:24:25.040
making this not only in his name,
353
00:24:26.040 --> 00:24:28.040
but also in the names of his successors.
354
00:24:29.040 --> 00:24:33.040
In 1172, Count Bertrand Pelet of Melgueil,
355
00:24:34.040 --> 00:24:35.040
a descendant of Peter,
356
00:24:35.040 --> 00:24:38.040
was disinherited by his mother in favour of
his sister,
357
00:24:39.040 --> 00:24:41.040
Ermessens Pelet, Countess of Melgueil,
358
00:24:42.040 --> 00:24:45.040
who married Raymond VI, future Count of Toulouse.
359
00:24:46.040 --> 00:24:48.040
The latter asserted his rights
360
00:24:49.040 --> 00:24:51.040
as Count of Melgueil and Montferrand,
361
00:24:51.040 --> 00:24:53.040
which triggered an armed conflict
362
00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:56.040
between the followers of Count Bertrand and
the House of Toulouse.
363
00:24:58.040 --> 00:25:01.000
This conflict turned to the advantage of the
House of Toulouse,
364
00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:04.000
and the squire holding the Castrum of Montferrand
365
00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:09.000
in the name of Bertrand of Melgueil
was forced to lay down his arms in 1174,
366
00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:11.000
in the face of the power of Raymond V,
367
00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:15.000
the current Count of Toulouse and father of
Raymond VI.
368
00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:22.000
Victory of the House
of Toulouse over
Bertrand Pelet, hereditary Count of Melgueil
Raymond VI becomes Count
of Melgueil and Montferrand
369
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:27.000
But the real turning point in the castle's
destiny
370
00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:30.000
came during the Albigensian crusade,
371
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.000
which began in 1209,
372
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:36.000
when the House of Toulouse showed its indulgence
for the Cathar cause.
373
00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:40.000
The Holy See reacted,
374
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:43.000
and Raymond VI, now Count of Toulouse and
Melgueil,
375
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:46.000
had to give up the castle of Montferrand,
376
00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:49.000
among other possessions that were confiscated
from him.
377
00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:57.000
The prescription is decreed by Pope Innocent
III, in 1211.
378
00:26:03.060 --> 00:26:06.060
Shortly before the confiscation of the castle,
379
00:26:07.060 --> 00:26:09.060
the Count of Toulouse had undertaken a vast
project
380
00:26:10.060 --> 00:26:12.060
to reconfigure the castle of Montferrand.
381
00:26:13.060 --> 00:26:17.060
The first phase of the work was the construction
of the castle,
382
00:26:17.060 --> 00:26:19.060
almost a hundred years earlier,
383
00:26:19.060 --> 00:26:21.060
and this was the second major project undertaken.
384
00:26:24.060 --> 00:26:26.060
So the Count of Toulouse was at a time
385
00:26:26.060 --> 00:26:29.060
when his relationship with the King of Aragon,
386
00:26:30.060 --> 00:26:33.060
his long-standing enemy, was changing,
387
00:26:34.060 --> 00:26:37.060
and so Raymond VI allied himself with the Crown
of Aragon,
388
00:26:38.060 --> 00:26:41.060
and wished to help him acquire the lordship
of Montpellier.
389
00:26:44.060 --> 00:26:45.060
It was during this period
390
00:26:46.060 --> 00:26:51.060
that the Count of Toulouse chose to fortify
and consolidate his castle of Montferrand,
391
00:26:51.060 --> 00:26:54.060
which was precisely opposite the lordship of
Montpellier.
392
00:26:55.060 --> 00:26:58.060
So what he did was to build the great enclosure,
393
00:26:58.060 --> 00:27:00.020
to enclose the buildings
394
00:27:00.020 --> 00:27:02.020
and the houses that had been built around the
first castle,
395
00:27:03.020 --> 00:27:04.020
and on top of the castle
396
00:27:05.020 --> 00:27:07.020
he totally reconfigured the spaces of power,
397
00:27:07.020 --> 00:27:10.020
we have a large building built entirely of
cut stone,
398
00:27:10.020 --> 00:27:12.020
sandstone, an imported stone,
399
00:27:13.020 --> 00:27:15.020
it's the first time that so much stone was
imported into the castle,
400
00:27:15.020 --> 00:27:18.020
it's stone that comes from Saint-Mathieu, two
kilometres below,
401
00:27:20.020 --> 00:27:22.020
and he will therefore build a large building,
402
00:27:22.020 --> 00:27:23.020
an aula,
403
00:27:24.020 --> 00:27:25.020
so a courtroom,
404
00:27:27.020 --> 00:27:28.020
large cellars
405
00:27:29.020 --> 00:27:33.020
for receiving foodstuffs and taxes in the castle,
406
00:27:34.020 --> 00:27:36.020
and here, for example, behind me,
407
00:27:37.020 --> 00:27:39.020
you can see a piece of the vault,
408
00:27:40.020 --> 00:27:42.020
this vaulted room which was on the first floor,
409
00:27:42.020 --> 00:27:46.020
and which was in direct communication with
the castle chapel,
410
00:27:46.020 --> 00:27:49.020
so a place obviously linked to power.
411
00:27:50.020 --> 00:27:53.020
The county was confiscated shortly after the
castle,
412
00:27:53.020 --> 00:27:56.020
and in 1215, it was Guillaume D'Autignac,
413
00:27:57.020 --> 00:27:58.020
as Bishop of Maguelone,
414
00:27:58.020 --> 00:28:01.080
who received the county and the castle as fiefs.
415
00:28:02.080 --> 00:28:04.080
He thus became Count of Melgueil,
416
00:28:04.080 --> 00:28:07.080
the first representative of a new status in
Languedoc,
417
00:28:08.080 --> 00:28:09.080
that of Count-Bishop.
418
00:28:12.080 --> 00:28:16.080
The bishops of Maguelone
became counts of Melgueil and Montferrand
419
00:28:19.080 --> 00:28:21.080
When the bishops took over the county,
420
00:28:23.080 --> 00:28:25.080
things were not as easy as they might have
thought.
421
00:28:26.080 --> 00:28:28.080
On the one hand they had strong rivalries
422
00:28:29.080 --> 00:28:31.080
with the local lords,
423
00:28:31.080 --> 00:28:34.080
who found it difficult to accept this transfer
of power
424
00:28:34.080 --> 00:28:36.080
and to accept this new count,
425
00:28:36.080 --> 00:28:38.080
those who were loyal to the Count of Toulouse.
426
00:28:40.080 --> 00:28:42.080
But also, they will have financial difficulties,
427
00:28:42.080 --> 00:28:45.080
and among other things, linked to the castle
of Montferrand.
428
00:28:46.080 --> 00:28:47.080
Finally, they got their hands on a castle
429
00:28:48.080 --> 00:28:50.080
that was in the midst of a colossal project,
430
00:28:51.080 --> 00:28:53.080
that was certainly beyond their means.
431
00:28:54.080 --> 00:28:55.080
We can really imagine a castle
432
00:28:55.080 --> 00:28:57.080
that is in the process of being reconfigured.
433
00:28:57.080 --> 00:28:58.080
So the bishops find themselves
434
00:28:59.080 --> 00:29:01.040
with this construction site that they are obliged
to finish,
435
00:29:02.040 --> 00:29:04.040
despite the debt they have to bear,
436
00:29:05.040 --> 00:29:08.040
and this is how we will find stone structures,
437
00:29:09.040 --> 00:29:11.040
undertaken under the counts of Toulouse,
438
00:29:11.040 --> 00:29:15.040
intermingled with constructions, we will say
much more rudimentary,
439
00:29:16.040 --> 00:29:18.040
with rubble, with stones that are not as well
worked
440
00:29:19.040 --> 00:29:20.040
and above all extracted on the spot,
441
00:29:21.040 --> 00:29:24.040
in order to come back to a less expensive construction.
442
00:29:36.040 --> 00:29:44.040
13th century:
construction of the great
wall and development of the “Old Montferrand”
443
00:29:58.040 --> 00:30:00.000
Since the donation of 1085,
444
00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:03.000
the county of Melgueil has been a pontifical
allegiance,
445
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:07.000
which means that, apart from the authority
of the Holy See,
446
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.000
its head had neither homage to pay to the King
of France
447
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:14.000
nor suzerainty from any lord to recognise.
448
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:18.000
These prerogatives allowed the county authority
449
00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:22.000
to mint its own currency, the Melgarian soil,
450
00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:25.000
a currency that circulated throughout Languedoc
451
00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:28.000
and the Mediterranean coast.
452
00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:34.000
The autonomy of the county of Melgueil
453
00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:38.000
explains the animosity of the royal crown towards
the bishopric of Maguelone.
454
00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:41.000
To counteract this local power,
455
00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:43.000
the castle of La Roquette,
456
00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:44.000
also called Viviourès,
457
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:48.000
was rebuilt in 1250 on a royal model,
458
00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:52.000
on the Hortus rock facing Montferrand.
459
00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:58.000
Reconstruction
of the castle of Viviourès,
symbol of the royal counter-power
460
00:31:01.060 --> 00:31:02.060
The castle of Viviourès,
461
00:31:02.060 --> 00:31:05.060
it is thus a castle built opposite the castle
of Montferrand,
462
00:31:05.060 --> 00:31:07.060
it is necessary to realize that it faces it.
463
00:31:08.060 --> 00:31:09.060
We have Montferrand which is on the Saint-Loup
Peak,
464
00:31:10.060 --> 00:31:12.060
Viviourès which is built a few hundred
metres
465
00:31:12.060 --> 00:31:14.060
as the crow flies on the cliff which faces
it,
466
00:31:15.060 --> 00:31:16.060
the cliff of Hortus.
467
00:31:16.060 --> 00:31:18.060
So on the one hand there is county power,
468
00:31:18.060 --> 00:31:20.060
on the other hand there is royal power,
469
00:31:21.060 --> 00:31:22.060
and so this castle,
470
00:31:22.060 --> 00:31:24.060
which already existed in the 12th century,
471
00:31:24.060 --> 00:31:26.060
is only there to assert this power.
472
00:31:26.060 --> 00:31:29.060
It will be bought by the seneschal of Carcassonne,
473
00:31:30.060 --> 00:31:31.060
therefore a royal officer,
474
00:31:31.060 --> 00:31:33.060
he will install his own court of justice,
475
00:31:33.060 --> 00:31:34.060
his own aula,
476
00:31:35.060 --> 00:31:36.060
and in fact we are in the 13th century
477
00:31:37.060 --> 00:31:39.060
in a period where the kings of France
478
00:31:39.060 --> 00:31:42.060
made a complete incursion into Languedoc,
479
00:31:43.060 --> 00:31:45.060
following the Albigensian crusade,
480
00:31:45.060 --> 00:31:47.060
and this county of Mauguio - Montferrand,
481
00:31:47.060 --> 00:31:49.060
with its somewhat privileged,
482
00:31:49.060 --> 00:31:50.060
somewhat particular status,
483
00:31:51.060 --> 00:31:52.060
which is attached to the Holy See,
484
00:31:53.060 --> 00:31:54.060
therefore attached to the papacy,
485
00:31:55.060 --> 00:31:57.060
in high suzerainty one would say,
486
00:31:57.060 --> 00:31:59.060
this county is disturbing
487
00:31:59.060 --> 00:32:02.020
and the royal officers will constantly make
incursions
488
00:32:03.020 --> 00:32:06.020
to undermine this countal power,
489
00:32:10.020 --> 00:32:13.020
it's a small guerrilla war if you like,
490
00:32:13.020 --> 00:32:15.020
hidden, concealed but not so much,
491
00:32:15.020 --> 00:32:17.020
and we will have complaints from the bishops
492
00:32:17.020 --> 00:32:20.020
who have recovered the countal crown, who are
count bishops,
493
00:32:21.020 --> 00:32:24.020
they will often complain to the pope,
494
00:32:24.020 --> 00:32:26.020
the pope will complain to the king of France,
495
00:32:26.020 --> 00:32:28.020
the king of France will agree with the pope,
496
00:32:29.020 --> 00:32:31.020
with the pope and the count bishops,
497
00:32:32.020 --> 00:32:33.020
but behind this
498
00:32:33.020 --> 00:32:37.020
the royal officers will continue to harass
the count power.
499
00:32:38.020 --> 00:32:40.020
This never-ending rivalry
500
00:32:41.020 --> 00:32:42.020
between royal power
501
00:32:42.020 --> 00:32:44.020
and the power of the Roman church
502
00:32:45.020 --> 00:32:47.020
was thus written in stone.
503
00:32:48.020 --> 00:32:52.020
With the reconstruction of the castle of Viviourès
in the middle of the 13th century,
504
00:32:53.020 --> 00:32:55.020
the verticalization appears as a revelation
505
00:32:55.020 --> 00:32:57.020
of the race for power.
506
00:33:00.080 --> 00:33:01.080
Yet, if there is one thing
507
00:33:02.080 --> 00:33:06.080
that the French crown and the Holy See will
agree on unfailingly,
508
00:33:07.080 --> 00:33:09.080
it is the fight against those they called heretics.
509
00:33:12.080 --> 00:33:14.080
The end of the Albigensian crusade in 1229
510
00:33:15.080 --> 00:33:17.080
did not signal the end of religious conflicts,
511
00:33:18.080 --> 00:33:21.080
but the omnipresence of the royal army in the
Mediterranean region,
512
00:33:22.080 --> 00:33:25.080
put them to rest for several centuries.
513
00:33:27.080 --> 00:33:30.080
As if one scourge were to take over from another,
514
00:33:30.080 --> 00:33:31.080
in the following century,
515
00:33:32.080 --> 00:33:35.080
the year 1337 marked the beginning of the Hundred
Years War,
516
00:33:36.080 --> 00:33:39.080
the major conflict between the kingdoms of
France and England.
517
00:33:41.080 --> 00:33:44.080
From the middle of the 14th century,
518
00:33:44.080 --> 00:33:47.080
probably preoccupied by the military and economic
disasters
519
00:33:48.080 --> 00:33:50.080
that were devouring the Languedoc in the west,
520
00:33:50.080 --> 00:33:54.080
the county of Melgueil gradually abandoned
its autonomy
521
00:33:54.080 --> 00:33:57.080
and entered the kingdom of France.
522
00:33:58.080 --> 00:34:02.040
The conflict reached the county at the beginning
of the 15th century,
523
00:34:02.040 --> 00:34:06.040
in particular through the incursions of mercenaries
in the pay of the English.
524
00:34:07.040 --> 00:34:09.040
This war changed the doctrines of defence,
525
00:34:10.040 --> 00:34:13.040
and contributed to the formation of the village
communes
526
00:34:13.040 --> 00:34:15.040
as we know them today.
527
00:34:16.040 --> 00:34:17.040
The villages of the county
528
00:34:18.040 --> 00:34:20.040
were surrounded by more modern fortifications
529
00:34:20.040 --> 00:34:22.040
than those of the 12th and 13th century castles,
530
00:34:23.040 --> 00:34:26.040
and Montferrand, like many other strongholds
in the kingdom,
531
00:34:26.040 --> 00:34:29.040
was deprived of its role as a collective refuge.
532
00:34:30.040 --> 00:34:33.040
Thus, militarily and politically,
533
00:34:33.040 --> 00:34:35.040
from the 14th to the 15th centuries,
534
00:34:36.040 --> 00:34:38.040
the fortress lost its strategic importance.
535
00:34:39.040 --> 00:34:42.040
It remained the symbol of the count's authority,
536
00:34:42.040 --> 00:34:46.040
but was hardly considered by the inhabitants
of the administered fiefs
537
00:34:46.040 --> 00:34:49.040
as anything other than a place of incarceration.
538
00:34:49.040 --> 00:34:52.040
The social and economic life of the territory
539
00:34:52.040 --> 00:34:55.040
gradually moved away from its centre.
540
00:34:57.040 --> 00:35:00.000
The castle took on the appearance and role
of a prison,
541
00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:02.000
certainly inspiring fear,
542
00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:04.000
as evidenced by the nicknames
543
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:07.000
that the villagers attributed to its dungeons:
544
00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:09.000
the Marquise, the Countess
545
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:12.000
and especially, the Devil.
546
00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:16.000
More than a century after the end of the Hundred
Years War,
547
00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:19.000
the emergence of new religious antagonisms,
548
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:21.000
everywhere in the kingdom,
549
00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:24.000
brutally awakened the castle of Montferrand.
550
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:32.000
In the 16th and early 17th centuries,
551
00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:35.000
its history bears the scars
552
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:38.000
of the wars between Protestants and Catholics.
553
00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:43.000
In 1562,
554
00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:48.000
Montpellier, Lattes and Maguelone fell to the
Reformed.
555
00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:51.000
Faced with the political and military tensions,
556
00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:56.000
Guillaume Pélicier II, Count-Bishop and nephew
of his predecessor,
557
00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:59.000
took refuge with his family in the castle of
Montferrand.
558
00:36:01.060 --> 00:36:04.060
This prelate is known as a humanist thinker
559
00:36:04.060 --> 00:36:07.060
and ambassador of François I to Venice.
560
00:36:08.060 --> 00:36:10.060
Particularly attached to the castle,
561
00:36:10.060 --> 00:36:13.060
he wrote his will in 1567
562
00:36:14.060 --> 00:36:18.060
in which he asked that the building be restored
using the county's revenues.
563
00:36:26.060 --> 00:36:28.060
He died a few months later.
564
00:36:30.060 --> 00:36:31.060
In 1574,
565
00:36:32.060 --> 00:36:35.060
the Protestants took the place by surprise,
566
00:36:35.060 --> 00:36:38.060
striking once again at the heart of the episcopal
power.
567
00:36:38.060 --> 00:36:40.060
The castle of Montferrand
fell to the Protestants
568
00:36:41.060 --> 00:36:42.060
But the victory was short-lived,
569
00:36:43.060 --> 00:36:46.060
as the fortress was retaken in 1575 by the
Catholics
570
00:36:46.060 --> 00:36:48.060
under the command of Antoine de Cambous.
571
00:36:48.060 --> 00:36:50.060
Montferrand is retaken
by the Catholic army
572
00:36:50.060 --> 00:36:52.060
In 1584,
573
00:36:52.060 --> 00:36:55.060
Antoine de Cambous and his son-in-law, Jean
de Ratte,
574
00:36:56.060 --> 00:37:00.020
were jointly entrusted by the county and royal
authorities
575
00:37:00.020 --> 00:37:04.020
with the administration of the castle of Montferrand
as squires.
576
00:37:04.020 --> 00:37:07.020
Agreement between the
county authority and the royal authority on
the choice of
the administration of the place
577
00:37:07.020 --> 00:37:10.020
The Protestant threat seemed to be receding
from the county,
578
00:37:10.020 --> 00:37:13.020
and this period of relative calm made it possible
to undertake new project.
579
00:37:23.020 --> 00:37:27.020
It's 1605, the squire to whom the fortress
is entrusted
580
00:37:28.020 --> 00:37:31.020
is making estimates to strengthen the castle
581
00:37:32.020 --> 00:37:34.020
and to carry out fairly major work on it.
582
00:37:34.020 --> 00:37:36.020
There are things that we will observe in the
field
583
00:37:37.020 --> 00:37:38.020
that will allow us to understand the text,
584
00:37:39.020 --> 00:37:41.020
but conversely there are things that we read
in the text
585
00:37:42.020 --> 00:37:44.020
that will allow us to understand what has happened
in the field.
586
00:37:45.020 --> 00:37:48.020
I'll take an example, there is a cellar in
Montferrand
587
00:37:48.020 --> 00:37:51.020
which is completely plastered from floor to
ceiling,
588
00:37:51.020 --> 00:37:53.020
it's the only one of its kind,
589
00:37:53.020 --> 00:37:55.020
and against this cellar, which is in fact half-buried,
590
00:37:56.020 --> 00:37:59.020
there's a pipe that looks like a buttress from
the outside,
591
00:37:59.020 --> 00:38:02.080
but when you slide your arm inside you see
that there's a terracotta pipe.
592
00:38:02.080 --> 00:38:04.080
It was a bit incomprehensible,
593
00:38:04.080 --> 00:38:06.080
and in fact we see that in this estimate,
594
00:38:06.080 --> 00:38:10.080
it is requested to wall up this cellar and
simply transform it into a cistern.
595
00:38:12.080 --> 00:38:13.080
So immediately the observation of the ground
596
00:38:14.080 --> 00:38:15.080
that was not really explained,
597
00:38:16.080 --> 00:38:18.080
because the door is open, we don't see that
it was walled up,
598
00:38:18.080 --> 00:38:19.080
well it's not obvious,
599
00:38:20.080 --> 00:38:21.080
we have the explanation in the texts.
600
00:38:22.080 --> 00:38:24.080
In 1610,
601
00:38:24.080 --> 00:38:28.080
the bishop-count, Pierre Fenouillet, decided
to put an end to the squire's lease,
602
00:38:29.080 --> 00:38:33.080
because with the arrival of Louis XIII, the
political context was changing.
603
00:38:35.080 --> 00:38:37.080
He took the fortress in hand himself,
604
00:38:37.080 --> 00:38:40.080
and launched the construction of fortifications
605
00:38:40.080 --> 00:38:43.080
to modernise its defence system.
606
00:38:44.080 --> 00:38:44.080
In addition,
607
00:38:45.080 --> 00:38:48.080
the bishop undertook to equip the fortress
with artillery.
608
00:38:49.080 --> 00:38:50.080
- Monique Teissier, good morning.
609
00:38:51.080 --> 00:38:52.080
- Good morning, sir.
610
00:38:52.080 --> 00:38:53.080
- In a few words,
611
00:38:54.080 --> 00:38:55.080
how did this cannonball from Montferrand
612
00:38:56.080 --> 00:38:57.080
come into your possession?
613
00:39:00.040 --> 00:39:02.040
- It was my father who told me about it, of
course,
614
00:39:02.040 --> 00:39:03.040
and he tells it in his book.
615
00:39:04.040 --> 00:39:07.040
He was a child, he was twelve, twelve or thirteen
years old,
616
00:39:07.040 --> 00:39:09.040
his father was a teacher at the school,
617
00:39:10.040 --> 00:39:12.040
and he was playing in the village square.
618
00:39:13.040 --> 00:39:15.040
And opposite, there was a blacksmith at the
time,
619
00:39:16.040 --> 00:39:17.040
who was a cousin of ours,
620
00:39:18.040 --> 00:39:21.040
and under a stone bench, which he had in front
of his house,
621
00:39:22.040 --> 00:39:24.040
there were two cannonballs.
622
00:39:25.040 --> 00:39:27.040
And my father was very intrigued.
623
00:39:27.040 --> 00:39:29.040
He asked him, - "But what are they?
624
00:39:29.040 --> 00:39:31.040
- Well, they are cannonballs!
625
00:39:31.040 --> 00:39:32.040
- And where did they come from? - From the
castle!
626
00:39:32.040 --> 00:39:33.040
- What castle?
627
00:39:33.040 --> 00:39:35.040
- Well, the castle of Montferrand!
628
00:39:36.040 --> 00:39:37.040
They were making war with these.
629
00:39:38.040 --> 00:39:39.040
- What war?
630
00:39:39.040 --> 00:39:40.040
- The war of the lords!"
631
00:39:41.040 --> 00:39:43.040
And that made a huge impression on him,
632
00:39:44.040 --> 00:39:47.040
and he begged his father, who was a teacher,
633
00:39:47.040 --> 00:39:49.040
to take him to Montferrand.
634
00:39:50.040 --> 00:39:51.040
And in the face of his pleas,
635
00:39:52.040 --> 00:39:56.040
my grandfather went with him, and he was fascinated
by this castle,
636
00:39:57.040 --> 00:39:59.040
and since then, it has been this passion.
637
00:40:01.000 --> 00:40:03.000
There were two cannonballs.
638
00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:04.000
The other one, I don't know where it is.
639
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:06.000
- It's a clue that suggests,
640
00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:09.000
with two very different calibres of cannonballs,
a priori...
641
00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:11.000
- The other one was much bigger.
642
00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:14.000
- ...that the castle of Montferrand, at the
beginning of the 17th century,
643
00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:17.000
was equipped with at least two different types
of artillery.
644
00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:20.000
- Yes, that's for sure, yes.
645
00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:29.000
Bullhorns (1677) corresponding
to the calibres of the cannonballs found
646
00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:36.000
Pierre Fenouillet re-armed
the castle of Montferrand
647
00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:38.000
Montferrand was to go beyond the Middle Ages,
648
00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:41.000
as it underwent a third phase of construction,
649
00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:46.000
the feudal castle was transformed into a real
barracks during the Wars of Religion,
650
00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:50.000
and a whole project of modern fortifications,
651
00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:53.000
bastioned fortifications, was undertaken in
the castle.
652
00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:55.000
All of this was stopped during construction,
653
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:57.000
but we will find some very interesting parallels
654
00:40:58.000 --> 00:40:59.000
with all the fortifications
655
00:41:00.060 --> 00:41:03.060
built at the same time by the Huguenots around
Montpellier,
656
00:41:04.060 --> 00:41:07.060
where we will have, similarly, bastions that
were built in the same way,
657
00:41:08.060 --> 00:41:09.060
so all of this no longer exists,
658
00:41:10.060 --> 00:41:14.060
but we can see it through representations of
the siege of Montpellier, in particular,
659
00:41:15.060 --> 00:41:18.060
so here we have a third phase of development
of the fortress.
660
00:41:19.060 --> 00:41:20.060
It is a mimicry,
661
00:41:21.060 --> 00:41:24.060
in the military preoccupation of the Reformed
and Orthodox camps
662
00:41:25.060 --> 00:41:28.060
that shows that they feared each other.
663
00:41:29.060 --> 00:41:31.060
At the beginning of the 17th century,
664
00:41:31.060 --> 00:41:34.060
the city of Montpellier was still Protestant.
665
00:41:35.060 --> 00:41:37.060
Its religion was protected by the Edict of
Nantes,
666
00:41:37.060 --> 00:41:40.060
promulgated by Henry IV in 1598.
667
00:41:42.060 --> 00:41:45.060
However, Henri IV was assassinated in 1610,
668
00:41:46.060 --> 00:41:47.060
and the regency of his widow,
669
00:41:48.060 --> 00:41:49.060
Queen Marie de Médicis,
670
00:41:50.060 --> 00:41:53.060
gave way to the reign of Louis XIII, four years
later.
671
00:41:57.060 --> 00:41:59.060
His policy towards the Protestants
672
00:41:59.060 --> 00:42:01.020
was the opposite of that of his father,
673
00:42:02.020 --> 00:42:07.020
and many Reformed refused to recognise the
sovereignty of this Catholic king.
674
00:42:08.020 --> 00:42:10.020
The spectre of war was revived,
675
00:42:10.020 --> 00:42:12.020
particularly in Languedoc.
676
00:42:17.020 --> 00:42:18.020
In 1622,
677
00:42:18.020 --> 00:42:20.020
the Duke of Rohan and his Huguenots
678
00:42:21.020 --> 00:42:22.020
laid siege to the castle of Montferrand,
679
00:42:22.020 --> 00:42:26.020
while the bastioned fortification was not yet
completed.
680
00:42:26.020 --> 00:42:29.020
Siege of Montferrand
by the Protestants Siege
of Montpellier by the Catholics
681
00:42:29.020 --> 00:42:31.020
The bishop had anticipated the danger,
682
00:42:32.020 --> 00:42:35.020
and did not order the immediate demolition
of the medieval enclosure.
683
00:42:36.020 --> 00:42:40.020
On the contrary, it was reinforced by adding
earth,
684
00:42:40.020 --> 00:42:42.020
in order to widen the defensive terraces
685
00:42:43.020 --> 00:42:45.020
and increase its resistance to enemy fire.
686
00:42:47.020 --> 00:42:48.020
The siege lasted three days,
687
00:42:49.020 --> 00:42:51.020
during which the castle garrison,
688
00:42:51.020 --> 00:42:53.020
under the command of Bishop Fenouillet,
689
00:42:53.020 --> 00:42:55.020
pounded the enemy army
690
00:42:55.020 --> 00:42:57.020
with the fire of its newly deployed artillery.
691
00:43:04.080 --> 00:43:08.080
17th century shooting
terrace
692
00:43:08.080 --> 00:43:12.080
The Duke of Rohan gave up trying to take the
castle, and withdrew.
693
00:43:14.080 --> 00:43:18.080
The army of the Duke
of Rohan fails to take Montferrand
694
00:43:19.080 --> 00:43:23.080
At the end of the same year, the city of Montpellier
fell to the Catholic army
695
00:43:23.080 --> 00:43:25.080
after a siege lasting more than a month.
696
00:43:33.080 --> 00:43:37.080
This episode was the last crossroads of guardianship
in Montferrand,
697
00:43:37.080 --> 00:43:41.080
as Pierre Fenouillet and Louis XIII agreed
that Jacques de Valat,
698
00:43:42.080 --> 00:43:45.080
an officer who had distinguished himself during
the siege of Montpellier,
699
00:43:45.080 --> 00:43:48.080
would be appointed chatelain for life as a
reward.
700
00:43:58.080 --> 00:44:03.040
Modelling of the modern
fortification as
it should have been completed in the 17th century
701
00:44:14.040 --> 00:44:20.040
Abandonment of the construction
project
702
00:44:23.040 --> 00:44:32.040
End of 1622 The victory of Catholicism
in Languedoc puts
an end to the Fenouillet project The modern fortification remains
unfinished The
large medieval enclosure escapes demolition
703
00:44:43.040 --> 00:44:46.040
The death of Jacques de Valat, in 1659,
704
00:44:47.040 --> 00:44:49.040
marked the beginning of the decline of the
fortress.
705
00:44:54.040 --> 00:45:00.000
Death of Jacques de Valat,
last squire of Montferrand
706
00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:08.000
François du Bosquet seems to be the last bishop
to maintain the site,
707
00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:10.000
even though it remains uninhabited.
708
00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:15.000
In 1677, his successor, Charles de Pradel,
709
00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:19.000
commissioned a survey to make the castle more
habitable.
710
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:23.000
“...the walls are very old,
711
00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:26.000
both externally and internally,
712
00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:28.000
and being in poor condition,
713
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.000
we estimate that to repair the said castle
714
00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:39.000
and make it a little more habitable than it
is now,
715
00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:41.000
will cost the sum of a thousand livres.”
716
00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:44.000
The recommended work was never carried out,
717
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:47.000
and the building began to fall into ruin.
718
00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:00.060
At the dawn of the 18th century,
719
00:46:00.060 --> 00:46:05.060
after a second survey and on the proposal of
Bishop Colbert de Croissy,
720
00:46:06.060 --> 00:46:10.060
Louis XIV gave his approval for the castle
of Montferrand to be dismantled.
721
00:46:11.060 --> 00:46:13.060
“As the said castle
is of no use at present
722
00:46:13.060 --> 00:46:16.060
and that it would be
necessary, to rebuild and repair it,
723
00:46:16.060 --> 00:46:20.060
of great expenditure
and mainly for its guard and its maintenance,
724
00:46:20.060 --> 00:46:23.060
we do not make any estimate
for the said repairs
725
00:46:23.060 --> 00:46:25.060
because they are useless.”
726
00:46:34.060 --> 00:46:40.060
At the request of
Charles Colbert de Croissy,
Louis XIV authorised
the dismantling of
the castle of Montferrand.
727
00:46:44.060 --> 00:46:47.060
We may owe the survival of the site of Montferrand
728
00:46:48.060 --> 00:46:50.060
to the economic concern
729
00:46:50.060 --> 00:46:52.060
that underpinned the demolition methods.
730
00:46:53.060 --> 00:46:55.060
To finance the work to be carried out,
731
00:46:56.060 --> 00:46:59.060
it was proposed to recover and sell the materials
of the castle.
732
00:47:01.020 --> 00:47:02.020
In 1708 and 1709,
733
00:47:03.020 --> 00:47:04.020
Colbert de Croissy thus had the deeds
734
00:47:05.020 --> 00:47:07.020
establishing the sale of these materials
735
00:47:07.020 --> 00:47:10.020
published in the neighbouring communes.
736
00:47:12.020 --> 00:47:14.020
It is likely that these proposals were not
very successful,
737
00:47:14.020 --> 00:47:18.020
and what remains of Montferrand, 300 years
later,
738
00:47:18.020 --> 00:47:21.020
suggests that the dismantling operation
739
00:47:21.020 --> 00:47:24.020
was ultimately content to make the place uninhabitable.
740
00:47:39.020 --> 00:47:41.020
There are two ways to get to Montferrand.
741
00:47:43.020 --> 00:47:45.020
I found the second one by chance.
742
00:47:46.020 --> 00:47:47.020
Narrower,
743
00:47:48.020 --> 00:47:49.020
with its entrance hidden by the scrubland,
744
00:47:50.020 --> 00:47:52.020
it plays at misleading the silhouette of the
castle,
745
00:47:53.020 --> 00:47:54.020
along its detours.
746
00:47:55.020 --> 00:47:58.020
Like a legend that wanders into the meanders
of the past,
747
00:47:58.020 --> 00:48:02.080
opening up a confrontation between imagination
and reflection,
748
00:48:03.080 --> 00:48:05.080
inviting the mind to split history
749
00:48:06.080 --> 00:48:08.080
between myth and reality.
750
00:48:12.080 --> 00:48:15.080
Amongst the legends that can be linked to the
county,
751
00:48:15.080 --> 00:48:18.080
if there is one that has caused a lot of ink
to flow,
752
00:48:18.080 --> 00:48:21.080
it is that of the advent of the Republic of
Montferrand.
753
00:48:22.080 --> 00:48:25.080
A republic far ahead of its time,
754
00:48:25.080 --> 00:48:27.080
if it had deserved its name.
755
00:48:28.080 --> 00:48:30.080
The question of the Republic of Montferrand,
756
00:48:30.080 --> 00:48:33.080
which constantly comes back...
757
00:48:35.080 --> 00:48:36.080
I think that it is...
758
00:48:38.080 --> 00:48:40.080
Well, there is a part of myth behind all that,
759
00:48:42.080 --> 00:48:44.080
which is certainly born of the 19th century
760
00:48:45.080 --> 00:48:46.080
and the beginning of the 20th century,
761
00:48:47.080 --> 00:48:49.080
with the scholars who worked at the time...
762
00:48:50.080 --> 00:48:51.080
They did a colossal work,
763
00:48:51.080 --> 00:48:55.080
far from me pretending to neglect it,
764
00:48:55.080 --> 00:48:59.080
but they did a colossal work on the cartularies...
765
00:49:00.040 --> 00:49:02.040
I will think of Julien Rouquette
766
00:49:02.040 --> 00:49:04.040
or Germain,
767
00:49:06.040 --> 00:49:08.040
Germain, who worked on the cartulary of Montpellier,
768
00:49:09.040 --> 00:49:12.040
through these authors, and I think that they
are a bit at the origin of this idea,
769
00:49:13.040 --> 00:49:15.040
we see them writing "Republic of Montferrand",
770
00:49:16.040 --> 00:49:19.040
it's a way, perhaps for Rouquette,
771
00:49:19.040 --> 00:49:22.040
who is also a man of the cloth in addition
to being a researcher,
772
00:49:23.040 --> 00:49:25.040
a scholar-researcher,
773
00:49:27.040 --> 00:49:29.040
it’s a way to defend...
774
00:49:29.040 --> 00:49:33.040
to defend the politics of the past, of the
bishops,
775
00:49:34.040 --> 00:49:38.040
in a period when there was a conflict in the
19th and early 20th centuries,
776
00:49:38.040 --> 00:49:40.040
quite strong between the church and the state,
777
00:49:41.040 --> 00:49:45.040
and to show a certain avant-gardism on the
part of the bishop.
778
00:49:46.040 --> 00:49:48.040
In fact we are not at all in this idea,
779
00:49:49.040 --> 00:49:51.040
the term which will be the closest to the Latin
term,
780
00:49:52.040 --> 00:49:53.040
in fact it is Community,
781
00:49:53.040 --> 00:49:54.040
Community of the Montferrand valley,
782
00:49:55.040 --> 00:49:56.040
these are privileges which are granted,
783
00:49:57.040 --> 00:49:58.040
as many lords do,
784
00:49:59.040 --> 00:50:01.000
that is to say temporal lords who do it at
this time
785
00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:04.000
and have done it since the 12th and 13th centuries,
786
00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:07.000
they grant their subjects
787
00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:09.000
who are the inhabitants of the valley of Montferrand,
788
00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:11.000
some privileges,
789
00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:14.000
to help a region which remained very rural,
790
00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:16.000
a little removed from the development of Montpellier,
791
00:50:18.000 --> 00:50:21.000
and so they granted certain privileges which
were for example,
792
00:50:22.000 --> 00:50:25.000
a person who was arrested for a crime other
than murder
793
00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:30.000
would not be incarcerated in the prisons of
the castle of Montferrand,
794
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:32.000
if he could pay a deposit, that's it.
795
00:50:32.000 --> 00:50:33.000
There is this kind of thing...
796
00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:36.000
The poor can go and have their wheat
797
00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:39.000
milled at the bishop's mill, free of charge,
798
00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:42.000
this is help for the poorest.
799
00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:45.000
For example, the inhabitants of the county
800
00:50:46.000 --> 00:50:49.000
will be exempted from inheritance tax
801
00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:52.000
on the property of their father or mother.
802
00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:55.000
So we'll have three acts during the Middle
Ages,
803
00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:58.000
which will be spread out, which will grant
different privileges
804
00:50:58.000 --> 00:51:00.060
to these inhabitants of the valley of Montferrand.
805
00:51:00.060 --> 00:51:02.060
It is a community...
806
00:51:02.060 --> 00:51:06.060
which will lead to a village identity,
807
00:51:06.060 --> 00:51:08.060
and we will say between the villages,
808
00:51:09.060 --> 00:51:10.060
a strong identity,
809
00:51:10.060 --> 00:51:12.060
villages which will recognise each other within
these privileges
810
00:51:12.060 --> 00:51:13.060
and within this community,
811
00:51:14.060 --> 00:51:16.060
and which will structure themselves, which
will create syndics
812
00:51:17.060 --> 00:51:20.060
to defend their interests with the lord bishop-count,
813
00:51:21.060 --> 00:51:23.060
and then even with the States General,
814
00:51:24.060 --> 00:51:25.060
and with the king,
815
00:51:25.060 --> 00:51:27.060
and the seneschals.
816
00:51:28.060 --> 00:51:31.060
For example, we know that when all the villages
817
00:51:31.060 --> 00:51:33.060
were fortified during the Hundred Years' War,
818
00:51:33.060 --> 00:51:34.060
at the beginning of the 15th century,
819
00:51:34.060 --> 00:51:36.060
there were three representatives in the community
820
00:51:36.060 --> 00:51:39.060
who were appointed to monitor the fortification
work.
821
00:51:41.060 --> 00:51:44.060
So we have a real entity, how can I put it,
a community,
822
00:51:45.060 --> 00:51:48.060
which has its own identity, which recognises
itself as such,
823
00:51:50.060 --> 00:51:53.060
and which knows how to unite its villages
824
00:51:53.060 --> 00:51:55.060
to defend their common interests.
825
00:51:57.060 --> 00:51:59.060
Whatever the panache of this community,
826
00:52:00.020 --> 00:52:01.020
the conviction and energy
827
00:52:02.020 --> 00:52:04.020
that its villages and farmhouses devoted to
it,
828
00:52:04.020 --> 00:52:07.020
Montferrand was never a Republic before its
time.
829
00:52:09.020 --> 00:52:11.020
So it's still a myth,
830
00:52:11.020 --> 00:52:14.020
and these privileges were not an exception
in France.
831
00:52:14.020 --> 00:52:15.020
No, far from it.
832
00:52:17.020 --> 00:52:19.020
Generally speaking, privileges were at the
level of the commune,
833
00:52:19.020 --> 00:52:22.020
all the big cities asked for them very early
on,
834
00:52:23.020 --> 00:52:24.020
with the development of merchants,
835
00:52:27.020 --> 00:52:29.020
sought to have a certain autonomy in relation
to the lords
836
00:52:29.020 --> 00:52:31.020
and therefore to obtain privileges.
837
00:52:32.020 --> 00:52:34.020
There were going to be constant tensions
838
00:52:34.020 --> 00:52:37.020
between the lords, the inhabitants and the
bourgeois,
839
00:52:37.020 --> 00:52:38.020
and there,
840
00:52:39.020 --> 00:52:42.020
within the territory, in the Montferrand valley,
841
00:52:43.020 --> 00:52:47.020
we don't have a town, in any case in the 13th
century, worthy of the name,
842
00:52:48.020 --> 00:52:51.020
we have a territory which is very fragmented,
843
00:52:51.020 --> 00:52:53.020
with farmhouses and villages,
844
00:52:53.020 --> 00:52:56.020
which are perhaps the beginnings of the current
villages,
845
00:52:57.020 --> 00:53:00.080
and so, these privileges were granted to the
whole,
846
00:53:00.080 --> 00:53:03.080
to this territory, not to a specific town.
847
00:53:04.080 --> 00:53:12.080
Castrum of Montverd
in the 13th and 14th
centuries (Towers
of Sale)
848
00:53:14.080 --> 00:53:16.080
It is also difficult, today,
849
00:53:17.080 --> 00:53:19.080
to establish a definitive link
850
00:53:19.080 --> 00:53:22.080
between the reliquary of Maguelone and the
castle of Montferrand.
851
00:53:23.080 --> 00:53:26.080
Several scholars have followed the journey
of this object,
852
00:53:27.080 --> 00:53:28.080
around the world.
853
00:53:29.080 --> 00:53:30.080
The first episode of this quest
854
00:53:31.080 --> 00:53:34.080
was mentioned in Edmond Teissier's 1936 book,
855
00:53:35.080 --> 00:53:38.080
and then reported in more detail in an article
he subsequently wrote,
856
00:53:39.080 --> 00:53:43.080
which appeared in the magazine Montpellier,
in 1976.
857
00:53:45.080 --> 00:53:46.080
In the 19th century,
858
00:53:46.080 --> 00:53:51.080
an antique dealer in Toulouse bought the furniture
of a priest who had lived in Avignonet,
859
00:53:51.080 --> 00:53:55.080
but had long served in Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers.
860
00:53:55.080 --> 00:53:56.080
In one of these pieces of furniture,
861
00:53:57.080 --> 00:53:59.080
he discovered an oxidised metal box.
862
00:54:01.040 --> 00:54:03.040
Legend has it that the reliquary of Maguelone,
863
00:54:04.040 --> 00:54:07.040
made in the highly reputed workshops of Limoges,
in the 13th century,
864
00:54:08.040 --> 00:54:10.040
was the shrine of Montferrand.
865
00:54:14.040 --> 00:54:16.040
It is easy to understand that the bishops of
Maguelone,
866
00:54:17.040 --> 00:54:19.040
as soon as they became Counts-bishops of Montferrand,
867
00:54:20.040 --> 00:54:22.040
made a habit of sheltering their most precious
treasures
868
00:54:23.040 --> 00:54:25.040
behind the walls of the castle.
869
00:54:25.040 --> 00:54:26.040
On the other hand,
870
00:54:27.040 --> 00:54:30.040
it is more difficult to understand how the
last guardian of the temple,
871
00:54:31.040 --> 00:54:33.040
Bishop Charles de Pradel,
872
00:54:33.040 --> 00:54:37.040
could have failed to recover an object of such
symbolic value,
873
00:54:38.040 --> 00:54:39.040
before the site was abandoned.
874
00:54:42.040 --> 00:54:43.040
One can always imagine,
875
00:54:43.040 --> 00:54:45.040
in anticipation of the dismantling project,
876
00:54:46.040 --> 00:54:47.040
at the beginning of the 18th century,
877
00:54:48.040 --> 00:54:51.040
that the authorities could have evacuated a
few rare objects or furniture
878
00:54:51.040 --> 00:54:53.040
still present in the fortress.
879
00:54:54.040 --> 00:54:55.040
And if it was still there,
880
00:54:56.040 --> 00:54:57.040
the shrine of Montferrand
881
00:54:57.040 --> 00:55:00.000
could have been entrusted to the presbytery
of Saint-Mathieu.
882
00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:03.000
But the object did not just pass
883
00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:06.000
from the hands of the former priest of Saint-Mathieu
884
00:55:07.000 --> 00:55:09.000
to those of the Toulouse antique dealer.
885
00:55:13.000 --> 00:55:14.000
It was found in England
886
00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.000
and honoured at the Manchester exhibition in
1857.
887
00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:22.000
In 1888,
888
00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:26.000
Lord Hasting bought the Montferrand shrine
in London,
889
00:55:26.000 --> 00:55:28.000
to add to his private collection.
890
00:55:29.000 --> 00:55:32.000
However, the shrine crossed the Channel again.
891
00:55:33.000 --> 00:55:36.000
It was included in the catalogue of the exhibition
of art objects
892
00:55:36.000 --> 00:55:40.000
at the Hôtel of Sagan, in Paris, in 1913.
893
00:55:41.000 --> 00:55:45.000
Then, a sale at the Drouot Hôtel, in 1929,
894
00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:48.000
made a certain Mr Harst its new owner.
895
00:55:51.000 --> 00:55:54.000
It was not until about fifty years later
896
00:55:54.000 --> 00:55:55.000
that Jean Arnal,
897
00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.000
who gave his name to the municipal media library
of Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers,
898
00:55:59.000 --> 00:56:03.060
put forward the hypothesis of a return to Anglo-Saxon
lands.
899
00:56:04.060 --> 00:56:07.060
According to his book published in 1986,
900
00:56:07.060 --> 00:56:09.060
the shrine could have followed the journey
901
00:56:10.060 --> 00:56:14.060
of some of the works of the great library of
Guillaume Pellicier II,
902
00:56:15.060 --> 00:56:16.060
dispersed after his death,
903
00:56:16.060 --> 00:56:19.060
and ended up in the British Museum in London.
904
00:56:21.060 --> 00:56:23.060
However, the institution, which was subsequently
contacted,
905
00:56:24.060 --> 00:56:26.060
did not find any trace of the object in its
collections,
906
00:56:26.060 --> 00:56:28.060
even though it did hold some of the bishop's
works,
907
00:56:29.060 --> 00:56:30.060
for a time.
908
00:56:38.060 --> 00:56:40.060
Finally, in 2008,
909
00:56:40.060 --> 00:56:43.060
Jean-Claude Richard managed to locate the elusive
shrine,
910
00:56:44.060 --> 00:56:45.060
again in Paris,
911
00:56:45.060 --> 00:56:47.060
in the hands of an antique dealer.
912
00:56:47.060 --> 00:56:50.060
He informed the Community of Communes of the
Saint-Loup Peak,
913
00:56:51.060 --> 00:56:53.060
which immediately offered to buy it.
914
00:56:53.060 --> 00:56:54.060
But the sale price,
915
00:56:55.060 --> 00:56:56.060
set at 500 000 euros,
916
00:56:57.060 --> 00:57:01.020
was not in keeping with the budgetary reality
of the young community.
917
00:57:02.020 --> 00:57:05.020
The shrine was finally sold to an American
collector,
918
00:57:06.020 --> 00:57:07.020
in New York.
919
00:57:08.020 --> 00:57:11.020
Is it still there today?
920
00:57:11.020 --> 00:57:15.020
Since then, the story of the shrine has remained
a mystery.
921
00:57:16.020 --> 00:57:18.020
A mystery that becomes even thicker
922
00:57:19.020 --> 00:57:21.020
when we go back to the origins of its exile.
923
00:57:23.020 --> 00:57:26.020
Why and how was it kept in the castle of Montferrand,
924
00:57:27.020 --> 00:57:28.020
for almost half a century
925
00:57:28.020 --> 00:57:31.020
after the death of the feudal lord Jacques
de Valat?
926
00:57:32.020 --> 00:57:34.020
Why was it not recovered
927
00:57:34.020 --> 00:57:35.020
by one or other of the last bishops
928
00:57:36.020 --> 00:57:38.020
in charge of the administration of the place?
929
00:57:40.020 --> 00:57:43.020
Was it really transported from Maguelone to
Montferrand
930
00:57:43.020 --> 00:57:45.020
by one of the count-bishops,
931
00:57:45.020 --> 00:57:48.020
anxious to keep it from the vagaries of religious
unrest?
932
00:57:49.020 --> 00:57:51.020
And what relic did this shrine contain?
933
00:57:55.020 --> 00:57:56.020
The list of questions
934
00:57:56.020 --> 00:57:59.020
surrounding the legends and history of Montferrand
is not closed,
935
00:58:00.080 --> 00:58:03.080
but it is time for me to suspend the overview
of this chapter,
936
00:58:04.080 --> 00:58:08.080
at a time when night is about to plunge the
rocky peak into darkness.
937
00:58:11.080 --> 00:58:13.080
It is also time for researchers
938
00:58:13.080 --> 00:58:16.080
to explore the ruins of the castle further,
939
00:58:16.080 --> 00:58:18.080
and to move on from the architectural study
940
00:58:19.080 --> 00:58:21.080
to an in-depth archaeological study,
941
00:58:22.080 --> 00:58:24.080
which will again and undoubtedly add new lines
942
00:58:25.080 --> 00:58:30.080
to the medieval book of the county of Melgueil
and Montferrand.