Hub of the Cabardès since the height of the Middle-Ages, Lastours constitutes a harmonious site with its four castles at 300 metres altitude, at the top of a mountain spur. Cabaret, Surdespine, Quertineux and Tour Regine overlook the Orbiel stream and the Grézilhou torrent, which are deeply embanked in the valley.
      The most ancient remains go back to the Middle-Bronze Age at around 1500 years B.C: the tomb of a young girl known as "the princess with the necklace” was found in a cave. Her body was covered with objects such as amber pearls and jewellery evoking Mycenaean or Egyptian art.
      The castles of Cabaret, Surdespine and Quertineux already existed before the Crusade against the Albigensians, but they looked different. During the time that Catharism flourished, the lord Pierre Roger de Cabaret seems to have had close links with the adepts of the new religion. He was the object of attacks by the Crusaders as early as 1209.
        Between 1223 and 1229, Cathar activity was intense at Cabaret and the castles were besieged, vainly, a second time in 1227. It was not until 1229 that the fortress definitively surrendered and the last ‘perfectii' taking refuge there fled to the Pays de Sault.
       After the Crusade, the King of France took over the lord's properties, and razed the village and castles. He had them rebuilt on the crest of the spur, and added a fourth tower: Tour Régine.
       At the end of the 16th century, during the Wars of Religion, Cabaret was an important stronghold for the Protestants who adapted it for fire-arms. They were dislodged in 1591 by the troops of the Maréchal de Joyeuse.
        At the French Revolution, the castles of Lastours were definitively abandoned. They were listed as an Historic Monument in 1905.