The

Château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowaday ...

de Vissec is a

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 ...

located in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Vissec Vissec (; Languedocien: ''Virsec'') is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. Population See also * Château de Vissec * Vis River *Communes of the Gard department This is a list of the 351 Communes of France, communes of the ...

in the

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;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 France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

History

The House of

was one of the most ancient and greatest of

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

. It owed its origin to lands and a castle of the same name in the dioceses of

Lodève Lodève (; oc, Lodeva ) is a commune in the département of Hérault, in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. The derivation of the city's name is from Gaulish ''Luteva'', composed of lut-, swamp, ...

and Alais. The former

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...

s of Vissec added to the titles of their land, the quality of powerful Lords. This title was worn by three bishops in the 14th century and was especially illustrated by the family Vissec de Latude. On November 2, 1570, Jacques de Montfaucon,

of Vissec, presiding over the court of the helps of

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, became First Consul and attended the general States of the province in Beaucaire. Vissec depended on the

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Hierle. On August 27, 1628,

Henri, duc de Rohan Henri (II) de Rohan (21 August 157913 April 1638), Duke of Rohan and Prince of Léon, was a Breton-French soldier, writer and leader of the Huguenots. Early life Rohan was born at the Château de Blain (now a part of Blain, Loire-Atlantique), ...

, ordered Fulcran II d' Assas to raze the castle to the ground with the houses of the village of Vissec and the mill of Foux. In September, learning that the destruction achieved nothing, he ordered the ''

viguerie In Southern France, a ''viguerie'' (; la, vicaria) was a mediaeval administrative court. A ''viguerie'' is named for the place it serves or is found in, that is, the main town of the borough, which need not be its (administrative capital). Appear ...

'' in

Vigan Vigan, officially the City of Vigan ( ilo, Siudad ti Vigan; fil, Lungsod ng Vigan), is a 4th class component city and capital of the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 53,935 people. Loc ...

to send Carrier with 60 soldiers and 120 pioneers and masons. On December 22, 1628, Carrier demanded the payment of all the expenses of his troop who stayed in Vissec until the total demolition. If the ramparts and defensive points were given up, Christophe de Montfaucon, baron of Vissec, baron of Hierle, could live again in what buildings remained. Pierre de Montfaucon had the fortress repaired by 1646. On July 22, 1654, Pierre de Montfaucon and his band were condemned to death for all their crimes (murders, rapes, plunders). On September 15, 1655, the razing of the fortifications of Vissec was added to this condemnation, and the filling of ditches. The dismantling took place from 26 to 28 June 1656, but Pierre de Montfaucon escaped. He was arrested in 1660 and imprisoned in the apartment house in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1668, he was released thanks to the intervention of the Prince of Conti, Louis Armand Ier de Bourbon-Conti. Anne-Jacquette du Faur de Pibrac, the second wife of Pierre managed Vissec for her

husband A husband is a male in a marital relationship, who may also be referred to as a spouse. The rights and obligations of a husband regarding his spouse and others, and his status in the community and in law, vary between societies and cultures, ...

and then for her son Michel. Michel de Montfaucon, marquess of Vissec, baron of Hierle lived in Vigan, but also stayed at Vissec, in the part of the

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

castle, reorganised as a manor house, (by his mother?).. With the death of Anne de Crouzet, widow of Michel Marc Antoine Caesar de Montfaucon, in 1762, Jean de la Tour du Pin de Gouvernet, a remote relative of the deceased, inherited the possessions and titles of Vissec. In 1792, the possessions belonging to Alexandre-César de la Tour du Pin, marquess of Vissec become national property. The castle was plundered, removing any trace of blazons, kicking down doors, as well as the parquets of the first floor. Lots were established for the sale of the domain. Jean-Jacques Capion, solicitor in Vigan, bought them all except one, which exclusively consisted of lands and was bought by the inhabitants of Vissec. On October 7, 1862, Louis-Eugène Capion, owner of Vigan, sold to Joseph Bourrier, owner to Roquenouze, municipality of Vissec, a small domain situated in Vissec including a house with

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

and dependences, according to in the bill of sale, previously called the castle, a small independent stable, the ruins of the former castle, a ploughable land below the road face to face of the house known indicated an adjacent vineyardaudit field, a field of mulberry trees and pear trees in the ground of Peyssel, in brief all the lands which the salesman possessed in the municipality of Vissec but nevertheless independent of the domain of Roquenouze.

Castle owners

* from 1668 to 1762: the Montfaucons, baron then marquis de Vissec. * from 1762 to 1792: the Latour du Pins, marquis de Vissec. * from 1792 to 1862: the Capions. * from 1862 to today: the Bourriers.

References

External links

*
The website of the castle
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vissec, Chateau De Castles in Gard Châteaux in Gard Buildings and structures in Gard Monuments historiques of Occitania (administrative region)