In the far south of France, there lies a hidden gem of a city, complete with a castle and ancient fortified walls. This city, named Carcassonne, has been used for its strategic location for hundreds of years, and has a fascinating history. While I don’t have time to explicate every tale of the city, I will tell how the city received it’s interesting name.
*Deep history documentary narrator voice*
During the eighth century, a lady called Dame Carcas ruled a fortified city in the south of France. However, Charlemagne’s army came across the conveniently located city during the Muslim-Christian wars taking place that century. Charlemagne saw the city and proclaimed something along the lines of “I want it” and proceeded to order a siege. But seeing as his armies weren’t able to penetrate through the walls (remember these were the days of catapults and ladders) the soldiers decided to sit down and rest. Oh, and starve the city by surrounding it. During this, Dame Carcas was stuck in the city surrounded by complaining people and screaming children, and was left with the difficult task of doling out food rations. To solve this issue, she chose the best solution: feed it all to a single pig, obviously. You may be thinking, “why the hell…? and “wow, she was an idiot,” and I must admit that those things crossed my mind at first as well. But surprisingly, her pig-fattening decision worked! Not only did she feed the pig, but she eventually had the pig catapulted over the wall to the soldiers. Thinking that the city still had a large food supply after five years of sitting, the soldiers said “fuck this we’re done” and left. It is said that Dame Carcas was so happy with her success that she ordered every bell in the city to be rung. With the root “sonne” meaning “to sound,” the city was henceforth known as Carcassonne: “Carcas sounds.”
For never even having heard of this city before, I know the story can be hard to comprehend, and it leaves much to be desired (am I the only one who wants to know what became of the pig?). But you have to agree, it’s a pretty damn good story with a great overarching lesson: when in doubt, throw a pig over a wall. Anyways, we should all get back to running our castle cities. Until next time – cheers!
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