In
those uncertain times, because alliances often changed
for advantage, the feudal lords were alternately enemies
or allies of the neighbouring Spanish armies. The armies
of the more powerful lords, unoccupied and unpaid, gathered
in mercenary bands (routiers) and turned upon local populations,
plundering, massacring and holding to ransom without
pity. At this time, about 1091, one of the abbots of
Alet, the Abbé Pons d'Amely, put the abbey and
adjoining borough in a good defensive state by funding
the construction of fortified enclosing walls and gateways
in stone.
Thus protected, the Abbey continued in its prosperity and
became even more powerful and influential until the time
of the crusade against the heretic Cathars from 1208. At
this time, the local populations chose to remain loyal to
their lords, the Viscounts Trencavel, of Beziers, and of
Carcassonne against the Northern troops, the “Etrangers
du Nord”,
When the Northern armies of Simon de Montfort were victorious,
the monks took she1ter at the court of the Count of Foix,
and 40 years later when peace returned, the survivors of
the monastery put forward their case for permission to reinstate
their abbey. But the monks failed, as they were seen as rebels
and were still suspect in the eyes of their superiors in
the Church.
This is certainly one of the reasons why the Pope, John XXII,
considered that the Bishopric of Narbonne, of which Alet
was a part, was far too large to be effectively administered,
and, importantly, controlled. He decided to divide it into
three new bishoprics, as had been done at Limoux. Limoux
had always been the most important city in the High Valley
of the Aude, and thus achieved the tide of episcopal city.
Because the Pope had given preference to the basilica of
St Martin of Limoux as a new cathedral, his choice was disputed
by the monks of Lassere de Prouilles whose basilica was a
previous foundation, by St Dominic in person. These monks
took legal action against the Pope, and were (amazingly)
successful. John XXII had to retract his decision and transfer
the episcopal see from Limoux to Alet, the Abbey of Our Lady
of Aleth becoming jointly in 1318 the Cathedral of Our Lady
of Aleth.
The disastrous Wars of Religion, between the Catholics and
the Protestants 'in the Name of God', enveloped the whole
of Western Europe in blood and fire. Alet was a Calvinist
city and was subjected to seven or eight assaults by the
Catholic troops. In one of these, a misdirected cannon-ball
destroyed part of the Cathedral roof.
The countryside was ruined and impoverished by the repeated
battles, the Cathedral roof was never repaired and eventually
collapsed. Also, the last of the 35 bishops in succession
at Alet, shortly before the French Revolution in 1789, finding
himself with a roofless, empty and partially ruined Cathedral,
decided to sell the stone in order to construct the new Royal
road, which was laid out to pass through the site. This project
was carried out much later, under Napoleon 1st. It was the
construction of the road (the present D 118) which sealed
the fate of the Abbey, in that four of the five bays of the
Gothic apse were demolished, and shortly after the lateral
wall also collapsed.
bibliography:
Les
templiers des pays d'oc et du roussillon de Simon JEAN
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