Northwest of Peripignon there’s an infinite stretch of vineyards, rolling and sandy in chaotic rows, plump with this autumn’s grape harvest. The province of Languedoc produces half of Frances’ table wine. On the side of the road, daytrippers pull over for shaded picnics – a most popular summer pastime for the French, who love to enjoy the best of the region’s bread, sausages, fruits, vegetables and cheeses en plain air – and swipe a handful of grapes from the edges of the innumerable crops. These mazes nestle between steep rises in elevation – craggy peaks overlooking the valleys for kilometres. At the top of each is what, from a distance, looks like a barnacle – a jagged form carved directly from the stony mountain. These are the defensive castles of the former kings of Aragon and make up a dotted line of medieval castles along their old northern frontier. In the 13^th century a Christian sect called the Cathars took refuge in these castles. The Cathars (from the Greek katharos, meaning pure) were critical of the exploitation and corruption in the established church and considered the material world entirely evil. Also known as the Albigensians, the Cathars, in the effort to be truly pure, renounced the world, were nonviolent, vegetarian and sexually abstinent. Cathar dissent flourished in the then independent province of Languedoc and developed into an expression of separatism, led by Peter II of Aragon who was keen to annex. Consequently the rebellion was rapidly exploited for political purposes. In 1209 Phillip II of France joined forces with the pope to crush the Cathars in a viscous crusade that resulted in over a century of ruthless killing. The Cathar heretic’s land was promised to the crusaders by the pope, who assured forgiveness in advance of any "unchristian" measures. In the first year alone over 20,000 Cathars were massacred, tortured and burned to death in the cities of Beziers, Minerve and the surrounding fortresses.

Seville