History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 121, the Crusade against the Cathars, the fall of Carcason.

Hello again.

Last week we saw King Peter II of Aragon arrive at the siege of Carcasson.

King Peter was in a bit of a bind.

He was a staunch Catholic and Vassal to Pope Innocent the Third, and so had no interest in taking

up arms against the Crusaders.

However, he was also overlord to Raymond Roger Trunk of El,

and with Raymond Rogers lands providing a link between the Spanish Kingdom of Aragon and his

land holdings in the counties of Montpellia and Provence, King Peter was keen to ensure that the Trunk of El Lands stayed in Trunk of El Hands.

So he was here to broke a peace between the church and Raymond Roger.

King Peter, unarmed and accompanied by only three similarly unarmed Spanish knights rode up to the Western Toulouse

gate of the city of Carcasson. Upon gaining admittance into the city, he realized that the siege was not going well for

the people of Carcasson.

The problem lay with the water supply.

Since the Crusaders had taken and occupied the suburb of Saint Vincent some five days ago,

the city had no access to its main water supply, the river Hood.

There were wells inside Carcasson, but they had only ever been used to supplement the supply from the river.

Now, with the population of the city swollen with refugees from outlying areas, the world were being overused. They were being overused.

And in the heat of high summer,

the wells were being overused.

They were beginning animals. The city was filled with the animals.

...