Prepare the boiling tar! (Oil is too expensive)

(Jack)

The inner walls of the Keep

Hi all, things are great here in Carcassonne.  Today Alex, Dad, and I went to the "Chateau Comtal." It was very interesting to see the so called " murder holes" and the hoardings. The title is a fact: Oil was too expensive to be used as a weapon, so they used boiling tar or water, or just dropped stones as a defense against invaders.  The first line of defense was a barbican wall, a U-shaped wall facing the city so that if the citizens rebelled they couldn't swarm in and take the fortress by storm.  After that, potential enemies had to cross a mobile death bridge divided into three parts, two of which could be raised and lowered with the use of hinges, all of this in full view of archers.  If anyone crossed the bridge alive, they had to batter down two iron portcullises under fire from the "murder holes", holes leading to the first floror where defenders could drop rocks and weapons on the attackers.  Then attackers had to run 50 feet in full view of archers to get to the first floor. The hoardings were wooden covers that defenders could shoot arrows and throw stones in full cover.

On the walls

Carcassonne was run by lords, not by the French king.  Lord Trencavel of Carcassonne tolerated Cathars, people who were considered heretics by the Pope.  When Pope Innocent III (not very well named) ordered a crusade against the Cathars and people who sheltered them, many atrocities took place.  The people of the town of  Beziers were told that they would be pardoned if they surrendered.  Once they did the crusaders burned everyone at the stake.  In Carcassonne, the people were spared but their lord was imprisoned.  He didn't survive long. That was the only time that Carcassone fell after it was fortified.

"None shall pass!"