Carcassonne

Book of Marvels

Have you ever dreamed what it would be like to live in the Medieval Ages? I have, and I think that it would be a very exiting life. In a little town called Carcassonne, in southern France, Medieval lifestyle reached its peak. Brave knights, beautiful damsels, they all lived in Carcassonne! For about three hundred years, the Visigoths held it. Then, the Saracens took hold of it for about fifty more years. However, in the 1280’s, France officially claimed Carcassonne for themselves. Would you like to go and see this amazing medieval town? Let’s go! As we approach Carcassonne, we can see two strong, tall walls, crowned with fifty turrets for the knights and defenders of the castle to keep watch on. Also, in the walls there are little holes for the knights to pour arrows, stones, and boiling pitch through, at their enemy. We enter the castle through the open drawbridge and portcullis. Where are the guards, waiting to question us at the doors? We walk through the lonely streets that no one but ghosts walk through, now. Where are the merry townspeople, waiting to meet us with glad cheer? They are all gone, for after the cannon was invented, Carcassonne’s mighty walls did no good. Most of the people in the city escaped to the valley below, and lived there. Now as we walk through the lonely streets, that once were filled with so much splendor, our minds run wild, and we can see how this old, falling-apart city could once have been the most fought for, envied, town of all times.