MILITARY ROUTE

The viscountcy of Cabrera was articulated through a network of castles and fortified houses, which were the seats of politic and military power for the nobility in the Middle Ages. This defensive system was supplemented with a number of walled-in villages and watchtowers.

The oldest structures in Montsoriu castle date back to the late 10th century; at the time, it was set up as a rock castle. During the 12th and 13th centuries it was massively reworked, and Montsoriu was described by chronicler Bernat Desclot as “one of the world’s most beautiful and noble.” The general look of the castle as we see it today, is due to its last great transformation, undertaken by Viscount Bernat II of Cabrera during the mid-14th century, which left us with an impregnable castle made of concentric circles and with three main spaces: the upper ward (the highest, oldest and strongest part of Montsoriu), the place of arms (conceived as a true Gothic palace) and the lower ward (conceived as a bailey)