La cité de Carcassonne

A vivid chronicle opens with the birth of Carcassonne as a Roman outpost in the 7th century BC, tracing how the settlement grew under local laws before slipping into obscurity after the empire’s decline. The narrative then follows the turbulent centuries of invasions—Visigoths, Franks, and Goths—highlighting how each power reshaped the town’s defenses. By the 5th century, the Visigoths erected a new inner enclosure, re‑using Roman foundations and creating the iconic oval wall that still defines the city today.

The book’s strength lies in its detailed, almost tactile description of the fortifications: cylindrical towers with stone and brick courses, lofty crenellations, wooden staircases, and the narrow arrow‑slits that once guarded the ramparts. It also paints a clear picture of Carcassonne’s strategic perch above the Aude valley, a natural corridor between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Listeners will come away with a richer sense of how geography and successive cultures forged one of France’s most celebrated citadels.