Palairac’s mysteries Part 1: The enigma of the Lacanal cave

 

For those who want to know more

On July 22, 2007, the Société Perillos organised a memorable outing to the small community that is Palairac, where we were hosted by its mayor, and our friend and member, Michel. On that day, we went on to visit Notre Dame de Faste and other nearby interesting sites. Though we managed to accomplish what was planned, we were nevertheless hungry for more, as it was clear that there was much more in – and to – Palairac than we had time to investigate on that day.
Hence, the visit to the church and one mine of Palairac could be seen as an appetizer, awaiting a main course, which was, in the end, not eaten in just one expedition, but in several. Each time, the history of Palairac became clearer to us, and we began to understand why some other authors had recently begun to highlight its past and importance.

A gift

At a most basic level, Palairac’s location is remote. In fact, when you compare its location with Perillos, the all-important question is why Perillos was ever abandoned, yet people continue to live in Palairac, its location being much more remote from civilisation than Perillos ever was, or could be.
Still, it might come as a surprise to learn that Palairac is one of the oldest territories in France that was given to a lord – thus noting the area had a close connection with the princes and royals of its time. An old document – and no doubt the oldest on the matter – details a gift of Charles the Bald, in 876, to one of his vassals, one Milon. 34 Years later, the abbey of Lagrasse became master of the territories, and their possession of the mines would last until the French Revolution.

What we see today as a very small, almost hidden village, is but a very small part of what was once the greatness that was Palairac. Its fame and power came from the exploitation of its mines, specifically those containing metal ore, which apparently were so plenty that they were highly desired, provided for much labour, and wealth. For example, we know that the mineral wealth of Palairac outweighs that of the two Rennes in the Razès together. But, of course, each hole and mine in the region of Rennes-le-Château is known and/or of interest because of a likely location for some treasure, whereas the subterranean activities of Palairac… well, no-one seems to be all that interested about any of them. Or is that actually not the case?

The diversity of the mines is great: from open cast, to extremely long and elaborate galleries, some of these we have visited as part of our further exploration of Palairac. The metals on offer are equally wide in diversity: iron, antimony, lead, silver, copper, barytine… and gold. With all this in the underground, no wonder that Palairac was a highly important and desired site – much more so than any of the two Rennes ever could be.
This territory is today dispersed over various communities, such as Davejean, Peyrecouverte, Talairan, Villerouge, Maisons, to name a few. The first exploitation of some of these mines occurred very early on in human history, as can be gleaned from the presence of Neolithic remains, some in the form of impressive dolmen. Afterwards, this mineral wealth was exploited by the Romans, who have left certain human remains in forgotten cavities – where the dead were indeed unlikely to be disturbed.
In medieval times, a new wave of exploitation was witnessed, with mine being reopened and further exploited, such as the mine of Lacanal, where the extraction of minerals has been occurring since Antiquity.

“Iron creates power”

It is estimated that the region has approximately one hundred mines, dating from all eras and types, 71 of which are in the sector of Monthaut (region of Peyrecouverte), which has been labelled as the richest deposit of the Corbières. This formidable amount of mines is at the origins of fortunes and power that would create this community, whose motto was “Ferrum Fortiam Ferrit”, which means “Iron creates power”, or “Iron created my power”.
A quick survey of toponyms underlines the subterranean richness: “La Caune des Causses”, “l’Abeilla”, “La Bousole”, “l’Aiguille”, “Lacanal” as well as others like “Las Corbos” and “le Caraillet”.

A precise action

We have to mention an action – an intervention – from the French state, which is, to say the least, perplexing. In 1991, the Ministry of Research and Industry, using the pretext that certain “orphaned sites” (those which no longer had an owner and exploitation) had to be secured. As they were responsible, they condemned all ancient exploitation sites systematically… to be destroyed.
The prevention of accidents is indeed a worthwhile cause, but we should note that the measure applied to no less than 130 sites, many of which were completely unknown to anyone, and hence were thus extremely unlikely to see any accidents befall them, except in the most extreme of circumstances, when a walker in the middle of nowhere were to get caught in one of these by complete accident. But, again, the chances of this occurring are almost infinitesimally small.
The action of intervention, furthermore, is often more dangerous afterwards, than before. For one, certain forgotten sites were now again “on the map” – locals saw what’s what where – and though it is often assumed that the use of explosives will destroy the entrance, in truth, that is seldom the case. Furthermore, the explosion might have damaged the roof of the structure, and once someone has negotiated the entrance to this mine, might find that the situation inside is no longer as stable as it was before. Indeed, the ceiling might have remained intact for millennia, but only in recent years, explosives were used in an effort to collapse the entrance. The explosion can fracture the ceiling in certain places, causing collapse, but near the collapse, the ceiling might merely have been cracked, rendering it unstable, and extremely dangerous. Furthermore, most of these endeavours only ever apply to the main entrance, which most consider to be the sole entrance. But, of course, many of the mines have secondary, smaller, entrances, either nearby or further along, and thus, once a mine has been located, some adventurers specifically will go looking for such entrances, in the hope of locating them, and gaining access to the underground realm. Abandoned mines are best treated like sleeping dogs…

A smokescreen and some speculation

Some of the mines were used during the Second World War, because of the minerals that they offer a most fragile economy. At the same time, the no longer used mines offered refuge for the local resistance. Indeed, perhaps the 1991 “security measures” had more to do with the realisation that some of these mines contained weapon depots from the Maquis, which were degrading rapidly and were posing a security risk, which was deemed to be best tackled by exploding the depot and the mines in which they were stored?
Still, we note that this “clean up operation” by the Ministry only occurred in this sector of the country, whereas there are both mines and stockpiles of weapons in other regions. Of course, if the Ministry were contacted, they would reply that one needs to start somewhere… and indeed, that is the case. It just seems that this area of the South of France is quite often used as a test, or is destined for “unique” or “one-off” measures.

Furthermore, there is a “rumour” that the measure was opposed by the communities that were affected by this measure. But those tasked with the execution of the order, nevertheless went ahead, in spite of the protests that had been logged. So, in the end, the appeals came to nothing, as the work had been carried out in the meantime. We can merely ask whether the Administration preferred not to live by the rules that it demands others to adhere to? Something which it, of course, has done elsewhere, at other times, such as, for example, in Perillos.
Or – of course, speculating without any evidence whatsoever – could it be that a certain authority all of a sudden became very worried about something – like, perhaps, some information it received, which warranted some form of “emergency measure”, which had to be translated into a rather mundane official action plan. Going even further down the path of speculation: perhaps it were the actions of a single man, or a small group of people, that were converging on a certain sector, and who might be able to uncover something, which the authorities would never have held possible? If indeed such a fear existed, the authorities surely will have acted, to make sure that this eventuality, which had become a distinct possibility, would be pushed into the realm of the impossible.

To make sure one doesn’t see the wood through the trees, all trees – mines – are attacked, leaving a veritable puzzle for anyone who wants to reconstruct what specific mine might be the one that was of primary, if not sole, interest. Because there is this sense of urgency – and we know there was, as the official procedures were not followed – the exercise is carried out as quickly as one can. By doing so, they know that once done, certain complaints and shouting will befall the authority in charge, but being the authority they are, they know that such complaints will disappear after a few weeks, months, or, in a worst case scenario, years.
Once the work of the explosives and the bulldozers is complete, nature will take its course and remove all signs of what once was, and is unlikely to ever be.

Of course, let us once again underline that this scenario is pure – if not wild – speculation and that there is no ground whatsoever for us to suppose that such abuse of power ever occurred. We know that the state always adheres to the letter of its laws, and is beyond reproach in anything it does. But we also note that in case of “force majeure” or a “state of emergency”, certain measures can be deployed that surpass all laws, for the greater good of the nation, and we should be glad that the state has enabled this loophole, so that a normal, slow process of law is bypassed by quick decisions, without consultation of the electorate, which is known to slow things down.

The legendary world of Lacanal

Take, for example, the cave of Lacanal, one of the better examples of mines in this area, which has been well-preserved. A bit too well, for the site still has numerous details that are, well, a bit enigmatic.
For example, there is still visible evidence of a type of installation that allows the entire mine to be flooded. We can only ask why this was required. Indeed, perhaps if some miner became caught, they felt that letting him drown was a far better solution than letting him die from other causes?
Then, there is a system to lock the mine – but this only works from the inside. And one can wonder why a mine is supposedly only to be locked from the inside, but not from the outside. Who needed this type of barricade? Were they miners who so loved their job that they wanted to stay inside, despite their bosses protesting that enough was enough, and that they should go home to their wife and children?

A legend of Louis XIV, King of France

One legend states that in 1660, Louis XIV, King of France, personally visited this site. Once there, he entered the galleries on horseback. The galleries are indeed high and wide, but unlikely to accommodate such a feat, unless the horse was very small and the king laid low on its back. Still, at one point, it is said that he threw a piece of gold, carrying his own face, in a subterranean lake.
Let us provide some brief comments on this remarkable story. It is hard to imagine that a king would ever consider entering a working mine. The story is even more remarkable when we note that such important persons – then and now – are always surrounded by a security detail, and yet in this case, it appears that the king was allowed to enter this cave alone, and apparently without proper illumination. As mentioned, for someone to enter on horseback, the king would have been in a rather “unroyal” position on his horse. We also need to mention that the relief of the floor is such that a pure-bread is not going to like his footing very much, so perhaps we need to imagine a working horse, a mule or a donkey being used – but we can only wonder whether a king would use such an animal – and why he, if he really wanted to go into this gallery, didn’t just do so on foot. But the most remarkable detail of the story is that this mine doesn’t have a lake. As such, the entire legend does not seem to hold water – pun intended – which nevertheless begs the question why this legend was created in the first place, seeing that there is not a single historical detail about this mine that might convince the listener to believe any of it!

The devil’s advocate

Let us now listen to the devil’s advocate, which is going to speak for the defence. First of all, a legend is based upon some detail, sometimes ill-defined or no longer perceptible. A king is a king and even today, it is bad practice – and much more so in those days – to say certain things about the man when the things said are blatant lies. Still, we know that this sector received several visitors – royalty at that – and that the visit of Louis XIV to Palairac is part of his official record. He came, we are told, to excuse the exactions of his troops that had occurred in 1655, five years earlier. To do so, he offered several worked pieces of gold to the church of the village.
As such, we know that the king came and that, it is clear, he came here in a humble mode, as it’s rare that kings have to say sorry for their actions – and even rarer when they do so!

Perhaps we should thus suppose that Louis XIV came here for other reasons than those officially listed, namely that the passage of his troops caused widespread destruction. We might even ask whether his troops caused such devastation elsewhere, and if so, why he did not apologise there either – or whether the devastation they did here, was with a certain purpose in mind – perhaps even on orders from Louis XIV, a man who is often woven into the mystery of Rennes-le-Château, because of his relationship with Nicolas Fouquet, a relationship that just happens to come to a head-on collision around the same time when Louis XIV comes to Palairac.

The strange mission of engineer César d’Arçons

In the 17th century, a certain César d’Arçons, who is none other than the engineer who visited the gold mines in the area of the two Rennes in 1668, launched himself into the study and exploitation of the Lacanal mine. It is known that at the end of these, he noted that he had not been able to “remove the collapse at the end which carries towards the upper levels of the mine”. Alas, he leaves it at that, without further details. But that is not all: we learn that he was sent by Colbert, to tackle the exploitation of minerals from Davejean, Peyrecouverte et Lacanal.
In the remainder of the report, he “forgets” to mention the location of the refinery workshops he built. No surprise therefore that these have since never been rediscovered! And we really should pose the question what precisely this engineer was searching or was interested to learn about the upper levels of this mine.

Let us note that as we know that the galleries can be flooded, any upper level, because of the water level, might therefore be out of reach – and above water. It would indeed mean that the flooded galleries – which can be closed from the inside – could protect whatever it was that was in these upper galleries. One would truly need to know that there is such an upper level, before the flooding – which one could claim was accidental – would raise any suspicions.
Let us note that by the 1660s, access to these upper levels is no longer possible – dixit the engineer who searched for it – and the collapse perhaps hides a lake, which Louis XIV may still have been able to access a few years previously.
Indeed, this is somewhat of a logical scenario: at the time of Louis XIV’s visit, the upper levels are still accessible, and he visits them. A few years later, César d’Arçons inspects the site, but finds part of the network has collapsed. Later, people forget about the upper areas of the network, and one finds that the legend is at odds with the reality. The devil’s advocate rests his case – and has likely won.
But with victory come certain questions, about the role of César d’Arçons. The collapse could have been accidental – or on purpose. Perhaps he was sent to investigate that the passage had indeed been blocked – or to find out whether and how the collapse could be removed, and the upper levels could be made accessible once again?

The Great Century

Let us note that the timeframe of these events is within one of the key periods of, and within the reach of those that played an important part in, the mystery of Rennes-le-Château and Perillos. In case the link with the latter is not too obvious, let us note that Palairac is in the border regions with the Languedoc-Roussillon, an area that became attached to France in 1659, nine years before the inspection carried out by the engineer César d’Arçons. Let us note that it is in 1660 that Louis XIV himself makes a site visit. Coincidence?
Let us also add that that Louis XIV died in 1681. He thus had a period of two decades to transfer or hide or do whatever he wanted to do with this mine, and about that period, at present, we have little to no information.

Let us note that the collapse of certain underground passages also brings to mind similar collapses under the village of Perillos. There too, we find an underground network of tunnels, linked with water (under the village and the church), which – like the mine of Lacanal – could easily be flooded, or not, whatever was desired.
As to the presence of such subterranean lakes: we note such things are common in the region, so to find one in the mine of Lacanal in Palairac, is really not an impossibility; indeed, it would be nothing out of the ordinary.

In short, it appears that whatever was happening, César d’Arçons, Colbert and the king might have been involved in a very private enterprise, which might explain why some of the workshops linked to this were never indexed, their location effectively remaining a state secret, whether that was intentional or not.

Collapse of an ancient secret

So, with this information available, it is now all of a sudden clear that the legend is based on fact. Noting that there were upper galleries which around the timeframe of the king collapsed, and are now no longer visible, we might even have to accept that the king rode into the mine on horseback. Of course, when we are talking about a lake, we shouldn’t perhaps see this as being one of an immense size. Other caves near Palairac – which we visited – also have water in them and they indeed form a body of water, which some might call a pond; perhaps a slightly larger body of water inside another gallery might indeed be called a lake – perhaps measuring ten by ten metres, or thereabouts.
If the king came here all the way just to throw some pieces of money – even though they carried his own effigy – into this lake, then this would be remarkable. It creates the impression as if there was a pagan tradition involved. And, indeed, the local saints do betray some remnants of a Roman cult. The church of Palairac is dedicated to St Saturnin, a saint of which no historical records exist. He is often believed to have been a Christian mask for Saturn, the Roman deity (very much like churches dedicated to Mary Magdalene masked sanctuaries devoted to the Roman goddess Venus). Saturn – the Roman equivalent of the Greek Chronos – was in medieval times especially important to the alchemists, who saw his Saturnalia as a period – located as it was between two years, and hence somewhat “outside of time” – as a timeframe when the Great Work could be accomplished.

Saturn was also seen as a “divine king”, someone of a previous age, whose influence was nevertheless still felt. Of course, for those familiar with the mystery of Perillos, it is clear that there is a specific role for a “divine king”, especially his tomb, as noted down by Courtade. His worship was also linked with water and gold, and hence – by coincidence – the gesture of the king is – no doubt by complete coincidence – fitting within the scheme of Saturn’s worship – with Saturnin just coincidentally – of course – being the local saint of Palairac.
Hence, the king’s visit to the mine of Palairac might not have been an accident, but may indeed have been a pilgrimage, to a Roman sanctuary. Though, indeed, we are confronted with a mine, let us note that this mine was ancient, and that this mine itself might have, by accident or design, incorporated a natural, or older, sanctuary, linked with Saturn. Or the Romans themselves might have adapted a mine into a sanctuary to this deity, and centuries later, when the good monks began exploitation of the mines in this region, they might merely have used the mine for its mineral purposes… Again, with the passage blocked since the 1660s, it is hard for anyone to know, and all options are possible. The only certainty we have is that until the 1660s, there was indeed an upper part of this underground network, and that it was Louis XIV himself who was personally interested in it. Why… is a different matter.

The lost king

If we talk about people who were interested in lost and abandoned mines, and this before 1991 and the intervention of the French authorities, aficionados of the mystery of Rennes-le-Château should come forward with just one name: Pierre Plantard. His interest in the old mines of the area of the two Rennes is well-documented, and we will merely pose the question whether his area of operation and interest was perhaps not somewhat wider than previously believed. Only God will know. But in the case that he wasn’t, let us note that when hunting for information, one often comes across information that is not primary to one’s quest. So noting that Plantard had an interest in ancient mines, some of the information he requested, though he may only have been interested in the area of the two Rennes, will have incorporated material on other ancient mines of the region… like those of Palairac. Let us therefore also note that it was Plantard and co. that highlighted the period of Louis XIV as being a “key period” of the so-called “Priory of Sion”. But that is surely but another coincidence.

V.I.T.R.I.O.L.

A royal visit to Palairac, to see the mine, therefore occurred, and it is indeed an exceptional event that the locals made it into a story – a legend – that would be recounted and handed down across the generations. As mentioned, an underground lake – though many people may never have seen one – is nothing uncommon and there are several in the region, and in the specific perimeter of Palairac itself. But if we give this story an alchemical twist, then we should remember the words of Marc Dem, namely that “the origins of alchemy are linked with the exploitation of the underworld by the person hoping to discover hidden riches”. Following this remark, we find the well-known motto of alchemists and apprentice masons:
"Visita interiora Terrae
Rectificando invenies occultum lapidem"
Which is normally translated as:
“Visit the interior of the Earth
While working, you will find the hidden stone.”

It is hard to be more precise when we note that the mining enterprise as such digs in order to find “the stones” that are hidden, and it are specific stones that will indeed enable one to accomplish greater things, whether it is iron, gold, silver, or any other mineral that is hidden in the earth. Serge Hutin too, in his book “Les Alchimistes”, noted that ancient alchemy probably had its roots in the art of metallurgy and that the Kabira, who worked with such ores, were seen as the entourage of Chronos/Saturn.
Hence, we find, in the mining industry, a clear and long line, from a group of expert miners, linked with Saturn. It would indeed be expected to find that these ancient miners would have installed a sanctuary to their deity Saturn near – if not in – the mines they were working in. And this might straightforwardly and easily explain the “mystery” of why there is a St Saturnin in Palairac.
Let us nevertheless note that in Rome, this deity was also in charge of the Public Treasury, this because in the “Golden Age”, this chained deity could not pillage the metals under his guard except during the Saturnalia, when his chains were removed.

César and Saturn

There is another curious coincidence. We know the date when César d’Arçons visited the mine: a Saturday in December, between Christmas and the New Year. How convenient that the day of the week – Saturday – is dedicated to Saturn, but, even more important, that the week before the New Year is that “week outside of time” when the Saturnalia were held. No doubt another fortunate coincidence? Perhaps not.
As to the alchemical practices that fall under Saturn, we should note that it involves – of course – the planet that has his name, as well as the metal lead. A star, a metal and a deity with a sombre colour, similar to the shadows of the mines are indeed the ingredients required to accomplish his Great Work.
A popular expression states that there cannot be smoke without fire. And hence, we will finish by quoting once again César d’Arçons, who wrote that the “upper galleries led to… the heart of the mine”. And perhaps not merely the heart of the mine, but the heart of the matter.

André Douzet