Siaugues-Sainte-Marie () is a

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 ...

in the

Haute-Loire Haute-Loire (; oc, Naut Léger or ''Naut Leir''; English: Upper Loire) is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River, it is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche ...

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 ...

'' in south-central

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 ...

Population

Château de Saint Romain

Siaugues is overlooked by the ruined towers of a castle established in the 13th century by

Saint Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the House of Capet, Direct Capetians. He was Coronation of the French monarch, c ...

to repel

Angevin Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to: *County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France ** Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou **Counts and Dukes of Anjou *House of Ingelger, a Frank ...

forces based to the west on the opposite side of the river

Allier Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named afte ...

. The castle changed hands several times, coming into the possession of the

La Fayette family The House of La Fayette was a French family of Nobles of the Sword, from the province of Auvergne (province), Auvergne, established during the Middle-Age by the lords of the Fee (feudal tenure), fief of Aix-la-Fayette, La Fayette held by the seni ...

in c.1400 under

Gilbert Motier de La Fayette Gilbert Motier de La Fayette (1380 – 22 February 1463) Seigneur of La Fayette, Pontgibaud, Ayes, Nébouzac, Saint-Romain and Montel-de-Gelat was a Marshal of France, namesake of and relation to Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. ...

. It remained in the family until the French Revolution when it was taken by the commune and used as a quarry. The castle then passed into private ownership and some preservation work has begun.

Personalities

Maurice Fombeure Maurice Alphonse Jacques Fombeure (born in Jardres (Vienne) 23 September 1906; died at La Verrière (Yvelines) 1 January 1981) was a 20th-century French writer and poet. The son of a winemaking family from Poitou, he trained as a teacher at the ...

, poet

References

External links

Commune website
Communes of Haute-Loire {{HauteLoire-geo-stub