The musicians of Puivert

The mission

In 2014, the PRIAE (Pôle de Recherche, d'Interprétation et d'Archéologie Expérimentale) undertook a mission to digitise the instrumentarium of Puivert Castle (Aude), with the support of Arnaud and Aurore Mignard, the owners of the castle.

Puivert Castle was built in the 12th century and was held by the Cathar family of the Congost. It was taken in the 13th century by Pons de Bruyère on the orders of Simon de Montfort during the Albigensian Crusade. Its so-called Musicians' Hall, at the top of the keep, one of the tallest of the 13th century, welcomed several famous troubadours and trobairitz of the Middle Ages, such as Peire Vidal, Jaufré Rudel and Aliénor de France.

The Musicians' Hall has three trefoil windows with window seats and a rib-vaulted ceiling, whose corbels depict eight musical instruments: the bagpipe, the fiddle, the gittern, the pipe and tabor, the lute, the portative organ, the rebec and the psaltery.

A first inventory, followed by reconstructions, had been carried out between 1989 and 1991 by a Pro-Lyra team; most of the reconstructed instruments are now on display at the Musée du Quercorb.

The surveys

The PRIAE mission set out to digitise these 8 instrumental representations in order to make them accessible to researchers, students, professionals and a wide public. This work also preserved a digital copy of these representations which, despite the owners' efforts to conserve and promote the site, remain vulnerable to damage caused by time or by nature, as shown by the lute player struck by lightning.

The PRIAE mission also examined 4 previously unknown representations on the outer walls of the keep, which the PRIAE team digitised during a perilous abseil descent, with the help of professional climbers.