Cathar Wars - Medieval Warfare - Citadels, the third and last line of defense

The citadel was the final line of defence. It could stand alone - as at Beaucaire - even after the castle and its town had fallen.

There are few examples of citadels from the Cathar period surviving in Occitania, so the illustration on the left is Krak les Chevaliers - a castle build on the lands of the Counts of Tripoli - the family of St-Gilles, also Counts of Toulouse.

Krak most clearly shows the design of concentric rings of defense, the defenders falling back if necessary to the citadel shown on the top left of the illustration.

Krak can still be seen today. It was never taken by force, but its great weakness was its lack of water.