Perillos its history and its legends

Perillos is an abandoned village with a grand past. Though remote, its lords were once the closest advisors of the counts of Barcelona and the kings of Aragon ; from 1697 till 1720, Ramon Perellos y Roccaful was even the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, a remarkable honor in its own right. Though abandoned by people, it is not abandoned by mystery. One lord of Perillos battled against an enigmatic beast, Babaos, slaying it and putting its bones on display in three places across the South of France. Another lord went on pilgrimage to Ireland, to St Patrick’s Purgatory, where he endured visions of hell and wrote a remarkable account of his voyage. And there is a mysterious cave of the Caune, said by one lord to be the entrance to the “otherworld”, as well as many gold mines, which explains the presence of St Barbara, the saint of the miners. This might explain why a “Perillos chapel” is mentioned in the Grail legends, and why the castel of Opoul-Perillos is built on a hill named “Monsalvaeche”, the Mount of Salvation, also named in the Grail chronicles as the hill on which the Grail castle was built. This guide will take you by the arm through the various locations of Perillos, from its history to its legends and myths, both ancient and modern.