The Château de Montignac is a ruined
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
in the ''
commune'' of
Montignac-Charente, in the
Charente
Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; oc, Charanta ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, south western France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, an ...
''
département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...
'' of France. The castle is the property of the ''commune'' and has been listed since 1962 as a ''
monument historique
''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
'' by the
French Ministry of Culture.
History
A fortified camp existed at Montignac in the 9th century, during the
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
invasions. The castle is located at the crossroads of two important roads, the
Via Agrippa from
Saintes to
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
where it crosses the Charente, and Via Chaussada from
Périgueux
Périgueux (, ; oc, Peireguers or ) is a communes of France, commune in the Dordogne departments of France, department, in the administrative regions of France, administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France.
Périgueux i ...
to
Poitiers
Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...
.
The castle was built and rebuilt several times in the 12th and 13th centuries. It was then a fief of the bishop of Angoulême.
Guillaume II, Count of Angouleme obtained from the bishop of Angoulême, the fief and right to build a castle, with the stones of the
Andone Castrum.
[''Châteaux, manoirs et logis : La Charente'', éditions Patrimoine et Médias, 1993, 499 p. (), p. 63]
In the 12th century, ownership of the castle was disputed between Gerard de Blaye, helped by the lords of
Saintonge
Saintonge may refer to:
*County of Saintonge, a historical province of France on the Atlantic coast
*Saintonge (region), a region of France corresponding to the historical province
Places
*Saint-Genis-de-Saintonge, a commune in the Charente-Mari ...
and
Poitou, and Vulgrain II of Angouleme, supported by the Duke of Aquitaine. The latter was able to resume building and in 1140 he built the square
keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
and the walled enclosure. The round towers dates to the 13th century. Renaud II, Lord of Pons, held the castle of Montignac, in the right of his wife Marguerite, lady of
Montignac, the only child and heiress of Taleyrand, Lord of Montignac.
Montignac passed to the Lusignan family in 1218, when Hugh X of Lusignan asserted the right to the castle of his wife,
Isabella
Isabella may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Isabella (surname), including a list of people
Places
United States
* Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpora ...
, heiress of Anoulême. In 1243, he bequeathed the castle to his son,
Guillaume de Lusignan.
In 1350, it was in the hands of Pierre II d'Amboise, viscount of Thouars, before being bought by La Rochefoucauld family on 13 January 1399. Montignac became a barony in the 15th century and was preserved by the La Rochefoucaulds until the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
. The remains of the castle were dismantled around 1840 and the chapel dedicated to Saint-Marie was destroyed between 1940 and 1950.
[Jules Martin-Buchey, ''Géographie historique et communale de la Charente'', edited by the author, Châteauneuf, 1914-1917 (reprinted Bruno Sépulchre, Paris, 1984), 422 p., p. 247]
Architecture
Of the enceinte
Enceinte (from Latin incinctus: girdled, surrounded) is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the position. For ...
, there remain the gateway with a portcullis
A portcullis (from Old French ''porte coleice'', "sliding gate") is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down gr ...
and two round towers on top of an escarpment, the western part of the enceinte and a round tower.
The present fairground corresponds to the lower courtyard.
A 13th century watercolour shows that there were also two towers covered by "pepperpots".
The priory of Saint Étienne, dating from 1030, was demolished in 1960 and its stones were partly used to rebuild the keep. The latter forms an imposing structure from which the view extends across the valley of the Charente
Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; oc, Charanta ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, south western France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, an ...
.
See also
* List of castles in France
This is a list of castles in France, arranged by Region and Department.
;Notes:
# The French word ''château'' has a wider meaning than the English ''castle'': it includes architectural entities that are properly called palaces, mansions or vine ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montignac, Chateau De
Monuments historiques of Charente
Châteaux in Charente
Ruined castles in Nouvelle-Aquitaine