The Château de Miral (13th century) is a castle in the '' commune'' of

Bédouès Bédouès (; ) is a former commune in the Lozère department in southern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Bédouès-Cocurès.Lozère Lozère (; ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in Southern France, located near the Massif Central, bounded to the northeast by Haute-Loire, to the ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'',Ministry of Culture
Château du Miral
in the Cevennes mountains of south-central

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is about 10 km east of

Florac Florac is a former commune of the Lozère department in southern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Florac-Trois-Rivières. History Medieval Raymond of Anduze held the barony of Florac and is recorded as usin ...

going towards

Le Pont-de-Montvert Le Pont-de-Montvert (; ) is a former commune in the Lozère département in southern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Pont-de-Montvert-Sud-Mont-Lozère. It is located in the heart of the Parc National des Céve ...

on road D998. The castle overlooks the confluence of the Rûnes and Tarn rivers. It belonged in the 13th century to the Cahbrieres family and from the 14th century to the Malbosc family. Its

keep A keep 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 castles that were fortified residen ...

was built towards the end of the 13th century as the seat of the Malbosc-Miral family. Its ramparts defended access to the upper Tarn valley. From the 14th to the 16th centuries, the Lords of Malbosc-Miral constructed their residence and outbuildings around the keep. At the time of the French Revolution, the last proprietor, Charles, Count of Altier was guillotined with his son in 1794 and the castle was sold for 34,719 ''livres'' in 1796. The castle began to decline into ruins. Restoration work on the castle began in 1980.

Description

Built on the edge of a precipice, the castle can only be approached from one side. Dating from the 13th century, the castle was closely related to the history of the disorders and wars in

Gévaudan Gévaudan (; ) is a historical area of France in Lozère ''département''. It took its name from the Gabali, a Gallic tribe. History After the conquest of Gaul, the Romans preserved the capital city of the Gabali, ''Anderitum'', which they ...

over five centuries. The fortifications include a massive square keep with a high round tower on one side, an assortment of buildings and defensive works.

Mullioned windows A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

in the old seigniorial residence and the interior murals in the vault and the western building date from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. The military architecture of 13th and 14th centuries is evident from the use of a natural defensive site with a double

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 positio ...

. It was an important local

seigniory In English law, seignory or seigniory, spelled ''signiory'' in Early Modern English (; ; ), is the lordship (authority) remaining to a grantor after the grant of an estate in fee simple. '' Nulle terre sans seigneur'' ("No land without a lord") ...

which exploited nearby silver mines. The castle has carved and painted decorations, one of the few civil buildings in this area to have preserved them. The castle is privately owned. It has been listed since 1984 as a ''

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 collection of buildings, ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

References

External links

Ministry of Culture listing for Château de Miral with 89 photos

Castles in Lozère Monuments historiques of Lozère {{France-castle-stub

Description

See also

References

External links