Crusade Against the Grail - Rennes-le-Chateau Research and ...

98 PART TWO
In epic poems of the Grail, the Grail King Amfortas is described as the "King
of the fishermen." Chretien de Troyes calls him the "Rois Pesciere." This name
probably has its origin in Christ's words, "I will make men into fishermen."
In the ancient poem Huon de Bordeaux, to which we will return, the "tunic" of
Mallabron, (a "powerful monk" and, according to another version, a fisherman), is
transformed into a dolphin, who takes both Huon and Esclarmonde to the
marvelous world of Oberon.
We should remember that after receiving the consolamentum in the Occitan
Church of Love, a Cathar would dress in a new tunic and cape—symbolic new
garments in place of old clothing, which represented Lucifer's intrigues and the
imprisonment of the soul.
Trevrizent's cell was salvasche (rugged) and at the same time salvat (saved,
secure). The Cathars, as spiritual brothers of the ascetic, would have also
considered themselves safe in the rugged caves of Sabarthes. When the Inquisitors
became lords over the cathedral of Lombrives and the hermit's cave, the Cathars
still managed to resist the besiegers in their spulgas until well into the fourteenth
century. (A spulga is a fortified cave, from Latin, spelunca = cave.)
The spulgas of Sabarthes—two exist—were authentic subterranean fortresses.
Unfortunately, only a few of their galleries and rooms have been explored. Over
hundreds of years, their walls have been converted into steep embankments by the
constant leaking of chalky water. They continue to guard the secrets that still sleep
behind them.
Until now, science has largely forgotten about the spulgas of Sabarthes. 6 And
yet, once past the small springs of Ornolac-Ussat-les-Bains on the Toulouse-
Barcelona highway near the pass of Puymorens, you cannot miss, halfway up to
the right on an embankment carved out with pickaxes, the impressive entrance to a
number caves surrounded by walls that are crowned with parapets. That is where
the best-preserved spulga can be found: the fortified cave of Bouan. In it, you find
all the fundamental elements of a medieval castle: keep, water tank, stairways,
casemates, and watchtowers. The spulga of Bouan is only different from other
castles in that it is composed exclusively of subterranean galleries.
On the opposite bank of the Ariege river, between the hermitage and the
Fontanet, is the spulga of Ornolac (located not far from the houses of the half-
demolished baths of Ussat, which are teeming with snakes).