The Seat of Death

 

The “Siège de la Mort” is a specific location on the territory of Perillos. It is known by the people who grew up in and around Perillos, many of whom visited it in their youth. However, why it is known as “Seat of Death” is not known. One native speculated that it might be the location where someone was found death – e.g. a person found dead on that site many days after having gone missing.
Such speculation could be correct, were it not for the fact that it is not just one location that is named after “death”, but an entire area. The site sits on the flanks of a hill which is also called Seat of Death. It is therefore suggestive that the site is very old.

That is confirmed by an on-site inspection. The site is a prominent location: an ancient house with a style that suggests an origin between the 11th and 14th century. The masonry is of high quality, with intricate arches and carefully created walls. Its construction is visibly of a higher quality than the remains of the actual castle in the village. It is a large construction, the size of a house, with buttressed walls.
The building sits at the crossroads of the ancient road that connected the village of Perillos with the plateau of Salveterra. More importantly, it sits inside a valley, the side of which is known as “Coume de la Mourtre”, clearly suggesting that the valley in which it sits qualifies as a “Valley of the Dead”. If this were the case, that it might be the site where the ancient lords of Perillos were buried – or perhaps even the site where our earliest forefathers were buried – similar to the Valleys of the Dead that exist in Egypt and Crete.

As such, the valley might qualify as an ancient sacred valley. Other observations substantiate this possibility: from the house, there is a direct alignment with the La Caune cave, and onwards, skywards, towards the Montoillou de Perillos, clearly distinguishable these days because of the presence of the Meteo France radar station.
Returning to its position along the road between Perillos and Salveterra, we also do need to wonder whether it might be related to ancient mythology, whereby often people were said to have to pass through the Valley of the Dead to reach Heaven – Salveterra meaning the Land of the Saviour, which is quite similar to heaven.
The Valley of Dead is also a Christian concept, spoken about in Psalm 23:4: "Yea though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." When we bring Perillos into the equation, in its meaning of “perilous”, i.e. dangerous, we are definitely on a route that takes us from peril, via death, to heaven. Was this ancient, possibly pre-Christian imagery that is still present in the landscape and its names? And was this remembered in the landscape of Perillos? If so, then it might be that these specific locations, and others, date from pre-Christian origins, and might have once have had markers, e.g. standing stones or other Neolithic monuments.
At present, however, the only remains are somewhat enigmatic house in an intriguing location.