The Château de Saint-Béat is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

in the '' commune'' of

Saint-Béat-Lez Saint-Béat-Lez (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. The municipality was established on 1 January 2019 and consists of the communes of Lez and Saint-Béat Saint-Béat (; Gascon language, Gascon: ''Sent B ...

in the

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; , ; ''Upper Garonne'') is a department in the southwestern French region of Occitanie. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's fourth-largest. ...

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 ...

'' of France.Jean-Jacques DARD
"Le château de Saint-Béat, « clef de France »"
''La Dépêche du Midi'', 25 July 2002.

History

The castle dates from the 12th century. It was enlarged by

Henri IV Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...

(1553 – 1610). Rulers rarely lived in Saint-Béat; the castle was occupied by captains until the 16th century. In 1588, the

Parlement of Toulouse The Parlement of Toulouse () was one of the '' parlements'' of the Kingdom of France, established in the city of Toulouse and responsible for a territory roughly similar to the modern administrative region of Occitania. It was modelled on the ...

passed a law that required the inhabitants of

Melles Melles (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. Population Sights * Jardin botanique pyrénéen de Melles See also *Communes of the Haute-Garonne department The following is a list of the 586 communes ...

, Argut and

Arlos Arlos is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Haute-Garonne department The following is a list of the 586 communes in the French department of Haute-Garonne. The commun ...

by turns to guard the castle, subject to a fine of 500 ''

écu The term ''écu'' () may refer to one of several France, French coins. The first ''écu'' was a gold coin (the ''écu d'or'') minted during the reign of Louis IX of France, in 1266. The value of the ''écu'' varied considerably over time, and si ...

s''. The castle never had to repel invasions, though its strategic position close to the Spanish border led to it being described as "''la clef de France''" (the key to France).

Description

The castle was surrounded by two ''

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 ...

s''.A. de Baroncelli,
Les Pyrénées de Bayonne à Perpignan
', p 101 (1900) The

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 ...

measures 5 metres by 5 and had two storeys. The castle provides views over the village and the

Garonne The Garonne ( , ; Catalan language, Catalan, Basque language, Basque and , ; or ) is a river that flows in southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux � ...

valley.

References

Castles in Haute-Garonne {{France-castle-stub