France · 14th century
Château de Miglos ranks #6,034 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #536 of the 787 mapped in France. Founded 1320, it is older than 59% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 758 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. It is one of the 23 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Cathar Country. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
Château de Miglos, also known as Château d'Arquizat, is a ruined castle in the commune of Miglos in Ariège, Occitanie, France. The castle overlooks the Vicdessos Valley and was a defensive structure for the County of Foix in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is a listed national historic monument of France.
The castle stands atop a limestone outcrop overlooking the village of Capoulet-et-Junac and the valleys of Miglos and Vicdessos.
The elliptical platform on which the castle was built is approximately 100 meters long and 30 meters wide. The base of the castle is 22 by 24 meters. The southeast tower was a rectangular keep of four floors that stood 19 meters in height. It retains its north and east walls, built to 1.4 meters thick. The other walls collapsed sometime between the summer 1948 and autumn 1949; photos taken at the turn of the century show an intact tower with a large visible crack.
The second tower in the northwest stood 15 meters and was embattled. It has a ground floor with a dungeon. The walls connecting both towers are pierced with rectangular openings, and contained at least two rooms.
As far back as the 12th century, the rock was covered with fortifications protecting Foix.
The castle was part of a major defense system in Foix. It was connected by a signaling system with the Château de Montréal-de-Sos in Auzat, with the Château de Quié and Château de Génat, and with the fort at Castel Merle.
The first mention of the castle in documentation was in the year 1213, in a document of allegiance to the Church of Rome and the King of Aragon, as among the fortifications belonging to Raymond-Roger, Count of Foix. The Lords of Miglos resided in the castle. After the Siege of Montségur in 1244, Arnaud de Miglos was convicted of heresy and imprisoned at Carcassonne. Gaston I, Count of Foix gave the castle and valley to Bernard de Son (or Usson) to punish the Miglos family for its support of the Cathar cause, though the Miglos family regained some property in the area.
Bernard de Son restored the castle in 1320. The castle then passed into the hands of the Rabat family (in 1343), the d'Arnave family (in 1380), the du Léon family, (1400), the Louvie family (in 1450), the de Béon family (in 1510), the de Goth family (in 1575) and finally the de Montauts (in 1610).
Text adapted from “Château de Miglos” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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