Editing Carcassonne (section)

== History ==
The first signs of settlement in this region have been dated to about 3500 BC, but the hill site of ''Carsac''—a [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] [[toponymy|place-name]] that has been retained at other sites in the south—became an important trading place in the sixth century BC. The [[Volcae Tectosages]] fortified it and made it into an ''[[oppidum]]'', a hill fort, which is when it was named "Carsac".<ref name=Rospond>Explanation about "Carsac" in Appendix VI of [https://books.google.com/books?id=ebK-CwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Julia+Carsaco%22&pg=PT443 The Gallic Wars] by Julius Caesar, edited by Vincent Rospond: ''Carsac was [the] Celtic place-name [of a settlement] which became an important trading place in the 6th century BCE. The Volcae Tectosages fortified it as an [[oppidum]]. The Latin name for this place was Carcaso, which today is called Carcassonne. Carsac became strategically identified when [the] Romans fortified the hilltop around 100 BCE and eventually made it the colonia of Julia Carsaco, later Carcasum. The main part of the lower courses of the northern ramparts dates from Gallo-Roman times.''</ref><ref name=Cowper>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oFq1CwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Julia+Carsaco%22&pg=PA17 |title=Cathar Castles: Fortresses of the Albigensian Crusade 1209–1300 - Marcus Cowper - Google Books |date=2012-06-20 |isbn=9781849080545 |accessdate=2022-08-04|last1=Cowper |first1=Marcus |publisher=Bloomsbury }}</ref>

The [[folk etymology]]—involving a [[châtelain]]e named [[Lady Carcas]], a ruse ending a [[siege]], and the joyous ringing of bells ("{{lang|fr|Carcas}} sona")—though memorialized in a [[Gothic Revival architecture|neo-Gothic]] sculpture of ''Mme. {{lang|fr|Carcas}}'' on a column near the [[:File:Narbonne-carcas.png|Narbonne Gate]], is of modern invention.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} The name can be derived as an [[augmentative]] of the name Carcas.
[[File:cathars expelled.JPG|thumb|230px|left|[[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|Miniature]] depicting [[Cathars]] being expelled from Carcassonne in 1209]]

Carcassonne became strategically identified when the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] fortified the hilltop around 100 BC and eventually made it the {{Lang|la|[[Colonia (Roman)|colonia]]}} of ''Julia Carsaco'',<!--Carsaco is correct--> later ''Carcaso'', later ''Carcasum'' (by the process of swapping consonants known as [[metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]]). The main part of the lower courses of the northern [[defensive wall|ramparts]] dates from [[Gallo-Roman culture|Gallo-Roman]] times.<ref name=Rospond/><ref name=Cowper/> In AD 462 the Romans officially ceded [[Septimania]] to the [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] king [[Theodoric II]] who had held Carcassonne since AD 453. He built more [[fortification]]s at Carcassonne, which was a frontier post on the northern marches.{{clarify|of what?|date=August 2023}} Traces of them still stand.

Theodoric is thought to have begun the predecessor of the [[basilica]] that is now dedicated to [[Nazarius and Celsus|Saint Nazaire]]. In AD 508 the Visigoths successfully foiled attacks by the [[Frankish kingdom|Frankish king]] [[Clovis I]]. In [[Francia]], the Arab and Berber Muslim forces [[Umayyad invasion of Gaul|invaded]] the region of [[Septimania]] in AD 719 and deposed the local [[Visigothic Kingdom]] in AD 720;<ref name="Deanesly 2019">{{cite book |last=Deanesly |first=Margaret |author-link=Margaret Deanesly |year=2019 |title=A History of Early Medieval Europe: From 476–911 |chapter=The Later Merovingians |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=20ufDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT244 |location=[[London]] and [[New York City]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |series=Routledge Library Editions: The Medieval World |pages=244–245 |isbn=9780367184582}}</ref><ref name="Collins 1998">{{cite book |last=Collins |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Collins |year=1998 |title=Charlemagne |chapter=Italy and Spain, 773–801 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05IVoPSfb48C&pg=PA66 |location=[[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[London]], and [[Toronto]] |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]/[[University of Toronto Press]] |pages=65–66 |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-26924-2_4 |isbn=978-1-349-26924-2}}</ref> after the [[Siege of Narbonne (752–759)|Frankish conquest of Narbonne in 759]], the Muslim Arabs and Berbers were defeated by the [[Christianity in the Middle Ages|Christian]] [[Franks]] and retreated to Andalusia after 40 years of occupation, and the [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian king]] [[Pepin the Short]] came up reinforced.<ref name="Deanesly 2019"/><ref name="Collins 1998"/>

A medieval fiefdom, the [[county of Carcassonne]], controlled the city and its environs. It was often united with the [[county of Razès]]. The origins of Carcassonne as a county probably lie in local representatives of the Visigoths, but the first count known by name is [[Bello of Carcassonne|Bello]] of the time of [[Charlemagne]]. Bello founded a dynasty, the [[Bellonids]], which would rule many ''[[honores]]'' in Septimania and [[Catalonia]] for three centuries. In 1067, Carcassonne became the property of Raimond-Bernard Trencavel, [[viscount]] of [[Albi]] and [[Nîmes]], through his marriage with Ermengard, sister of the last count of Carcassonne. In the following centuries, the [[Trencavel]] family allied in succession with either the counts of Barcelona or of Toulouse. They built the ''Château Comtal'' and the [[Basilica of Saints Nazarius and Celsus]]. In 1096, [[Pope Urban II]] blessed the foundation stones of the new [[Carcassonne Cathedral|cathedral]].

Carcassonne became famous for its role in the [[Albigensian Crusade]]s when the city was a stronghold of Occitan [[Catharism|Cathars]]. In August 1209 the crusading army of the [[Papal legate|Papal Legate]], abbot [[Arnaud Amalric]], forced its citizens to surrender. Viscount [[Raymond-Roger de Trencavel]] was imprisoned while negotiating his city's surrender and died in mysterious circumstances three months later in his dungeon. The people of Carcassonne were allowed to leave—in effect, expelled from their city with nothing more than the shirts on their backs. [[Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]] was appointed the new viscount and added to the fortifications.

[[File:Empire carolingien 768-811.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Expansion of the [[Frankish Empire]]:<br />Blue = realm of [[Pepin the Short]] in 758;<br />Orange = expansion under [[Charlemagne]] until 814;<br />Yellow = [[March (territory)#Frankish Empire and successor states|Marches]] and dependencies;<br />Red = [[Papal States]].]]
In 1240, Trencavel's son tried unsuccessfully to reconquer his old domain. The city submitted to the rule of the kingdom of France in 1247. Carcassonne became a border fortress between France and the [[Crown of Aragon]] under the 1258 [[Treaty of Corbeil (1258)|Treaty of Corbeil]]. [[King Louis IX]] founded the new part of the town across the river. He and his successor [[Philip III of France|Philip III]] built the outer ramparts. Contemporary opinion still considered the fortress impregnable. During the [[Hundred Years' War]], [[Edward the Black Prince]] failed to take the city in 1355, although his troops destroyed the lower town.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Crecy War |last=Burne |first=A.H. |author-link=A.H. Burne|year=1999 |orig-year=1955|publisher=Wordsworth |location=Ware, Herts|isbn=1-85367-081-2 |pages=254–255}}</ref>

In 1659, the [[Treaty of the Pyrenees]] transferred the border province of [[Roussillon]] to France, and Carcassonne's military significance was reduced. Its fortifications were abandoned and the city became mainly an economic center of the [[wool]]len textile industry, for which a 1723 source quoted by [[Fernand Braudel]] found it "the manufacturing center of Languedoc".<ref>Fernand Braudel, ''The Wheels of Commerce'' 1982, vol. II of ''Civilization and Capitalism'', Brian Anderson.</ref> It remained so until the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] market collapsed at the end of the eighteenth century, then reverted to a country town.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Faroqhi | first = Suraiya N. | author-link = Suraiya Faroqhi | year = 2006 | chapter = Introduction | title = ''In Suraiya N. Faroqhi, ed.,'' The Cambridge History of Turkey, Volume 3: The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839'', pp.&nbsp;3–17'' | location = Cambridge | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | isbn = 978-0-521-62095-6 }} See p.&nbsp;4.</ref>