Carcassone

Carcassone, chief town of the French department of Aude, is situated on both sides of the river Aude and on the Canal du Midi. It comprises an old town and a new town, parts of the former dating back to the eleventh century, while the latter is well and uniformly built. Among its ecclesiastical buildings the first is the cathedral of St. Nazaire. There are also public buildings of considerable architectural merit. The staple industry is in woollens. In the thirteenth century Simon de Montfort and his followers burned 400 Albigenses in Carcassone and committed severe depredations upon the town.