Lavaur - Cathédrale Saint-Alain

Lavaur was a bastion of the Cathars in the 12th century. In 1211, after a siege, it was taken by Catholic troops, lead by Simon de Montfort. Dame Guiraude de Laurac, lady of Lavaur at the time, was thrown down a well and stoned to death. About 400 Cathars perished in the flames of one of the largest stakes of the Crusade. The Albigensian Crusade had so many cruelties.

A priory was founded by monks from the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Pons-de-Thomieres was founded here in 1098. At that time a ruined church, dedicated to Saint-Alain, a legendary local monk, existed already. The Benedictines rebuilt that church, that got destroyed in 1211 during the siege of the Montfort´s Catholic armee.

The present church was rebuilt from the monks in the second half of the 13th century. When in 1317 Pope John XXII founded the diocese of Lavaur this church became a cathedral. At that time a couple of small dioceses were founded (eg. Mirepoix, Saint-Papoul, Alet, Rieux..) to increase the presence of Catholic "control" in the former Cathar area.

It is claimed locally, that the Cathédrale Saint-Alain is one of the oldest gothique méridional churches. Younger than the Church of the Jacobins and the Cathédrale Saint Etienne in Toulouse and Notre-Dame-du-Bourg in Rabastens, but older than Sainte-Cecile in Albi.