The villages of Corbières and Minervois, typically southern, are the result of centuries of history. Their form and their organization still speak today of ancient times and the testimonies of past activities are often scattered here and there around the bends of the alleys and squares.

From prehistory to the Roman period

Human occupation in Corbières Minervois is very old. For prehistoric periods, traces are fleeting, except for dolmens (massac) or sets of type oppidum like that ofOrnaments (Mourrell).
The Romans occupant la Narbonne province From -118 and begin to organize, manage and use the space. In the Lézignan plain, the ideal place of passage for the Via Aquitania, over the course of agricultural work, came to the surface, pottery, tegulae, fragments of funerary stelae, lamps ... evidence of the past organization of the land within the framework of the " Villa ", whose etymological root is found in our famous village.

The castle village

The villages that you will visit during your travels each have their own history. The first historical traces go back between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries for the majority. The first nuclei of occupation are then created, the first foundations.

Le castral village is the village par excellence of our territory. It is built on a rocky eminence ( Laroque de Fa), a promontory (Albieres which controlled the Orbieu valley), or a hill (Conilhac-Corbieres is built on a small mound, as well as Tourouzelle).

Laroque-de-Fa
Laroque de Fa


It is judiciously placed near a river or at confluences, on a communication axis and favorably oriented due south.


At the top of the mound was the seigniorial castle, which was surrounded by the houses of the peasants who had come to take shelter. The houses were staged around, themselves forming ramparts. If today you are looking for these ancient castles, you will only discover a few elements of fortifications, or the old castle church, which over time has become the village church (Crusades, cascastel).


Fabrezan still proudly displays its stately tower. AT Lanet, the painter Max Savy made the imposing castle his favorite home. AT Argens-Minervois, the imposing mass of the castle is reflected in the green waters of the Canal du Midi. And if you are looking for a little trip back in time, go through the door of the snail district of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, nucleus of the old castral village in its XNUMXth century juice.

Fabrezan
Fabrezan

Ecclesial origins

Other villages have more ecclesial origins. The habitat, instead of being organized around a castle, will concentrate around the church. This is the case of Lezignan-Corbieres, Mouthoumet, Saint-Andre-de-Roquelongue, a quintillian.

Lézignan-Corbières


Have as their origin of foundation, a church or the presence of a priory (Saint-Martin-des-Puits) does not prevent these villages from keeping traces of fortifications identical to those of the seigniorial “castrums”. This is the case of Mouthoumet who has a "Strong" corresponding to primitive nucleus of the village.

There are also several special cases in Corbières Minervois. The village of Lagrasse develops in mirror of the abbey on the opposite bank. AT Villerouge-Termenes, the village is built around the seigniorial castle. But in this case of seigniorial castrum, the lord was the archbishop of Narbonne. This important politician and religious man demonstrated his secular power through a castle with four large imposing towers.
Finally, at Terms, the castrum of Olivier de Termes was destroyed by the King of France and the entire population moved to the site of the current village. Space was needed to build the military fortress that can be visited today.

Extinct habitats

All these villages correspond to habitats that “succeeded” in lasting over time. At the heart of scrubland and maquis, toponymy and archeology can reveal traces of ancient settlements, deserted at different times: either when medieval settlements were organized, such as davejean ou Montjoi, or later from the XNUMXth century, for example the village and the castle of La Bouisse in Montseret, or Luc-sur-Orbieu.

La Bouisse Montséret
the ruins of the château de la bouisse in montséret

Constantly evolving villages.

Strolling through the alleys of the villages in Corbières and Minervois, you will no longer be challenged by the mass of a castle, a fortified gate or the presence of a church in the heart of an ancient network of alleys. However, you will quickly realize that these villages certainly have a medieval birth, but have known how to grow and evolve over the centuries. Very often medieval settlements were razed or abandoned and it is the barris or suburbs that were more successful. In the XNUMXth century, the cartography of our villages evolved in front of the modern necessities and development of viticulture.

On the old ditches, are built wide avenues planted with plane trees… The obsolete fortifications disappear, the village opens, expands and is organized around the public school and the town hall… when it is not the dead that we move.
For some villages, the wine culture brings a new demographic boom, new districts are emerging along the freshly cut avenues, putting the spotlight on Mansion, winegrowers' houses and cellars (Fabrezan, Moux, Canet, Boutenac, Saint-Laurent -de-la-Cabrerisse). A new living together is being organized in this way.

Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse
village of Saint Laurent de la Cabrerisse