Henri de Navarre, Mellet de Fayolle, Philip Chadbourne, Jean-Jacques de Saint-Astier, Alice Morris, the Challe spouses... Do you know any of those names? Probably not…They were all connected to the Neuvic Castle and its tragic and happy history that you can discover during the visit to this furnished Historic Monument which dates from the 16 century and refurbished in the 18 century. It is now a centre for child health, the Institut Médico-Educatif.
https://www.guide-du-perigord.com

Château de Neuvic

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Le château de Mauriac est un château français implanté sur la commune de Douzillac dans le département de la Dordogne, en région Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
Il fait l'objet d'une protection au titre des monuments historiques.
Présentation
Le château de Mauriac se situe à l'ouest du département de la Dordogne, deux kilomètres à l'est-nord-est du bourg de Douzillac. Il surplombe la ligne de chemin de fer Coutras - Tulle et l'Isle, à l'aplomb du barrage de Mauriac qui, après avoir actionné un moulin a fourni son énergie à une manufacture de meubles transformée maintenant en une petite centrale hydro-électrique. C'est une propriété privée où est autorisée la visite des jardins et de la terrasse.
Le château est situé en bordure orientale d'un parc où demeurent deux tours d'angle au sud-ouest et au nord-ouest.
On accède au domaine par un châtelet d'entrée en partie détruit.
Le château se présente sous la forme d'un logis flanqué de deux grosses tours rondes, le tout armé de mâchicoulis, côtés est et sud.
Histoire
Le château actuel, bâti aux xve et xvie siècles, succède à un repaire médiéval, lui-même établi à l'emplacement d'une ancienne demeure gallo-romaine. De retour d'Italie, Montaigne fit halte au château en 1581.
Le château est inscrit au titre des monuments historiques le 12 octobre 1948, et son domaine en intégralité le 10 février 2016.

Château de Mauriac (Douzillac)

The Château de Montréal is a château in the Dordogne department located near the commune of Issac, in southwestern France. It overlooks the valley of the Crempse River.
It was built as a castle in the 12th century and rebuilt in the 16th century. It has been classified as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1948. It is now a private residence.
History
Claude de Pontbriand, the Seigneur de Montréal, accompanied the French explorer Jacques Cartier on his expedition up the Saint Lawrence River, and was with him on October 3, 1535, when he reached a village of the unknown nation called Saint Lawrence Iroquoians, called Hochelaga, on the site of the present day city of Montreal.
The Pontbriand family built the château in its current form. They also built the chapel Sainte-Épine They modernized the double walls of the ramparts, which are very well preserved. and add the Renaissance style facade of the residence. The house is open for visits in summer- it is possible to visit the salons, which have a collection of portraits, and the circular library in the tower.
Gardens
The gardens were built upon the ramparts of the fortress at the beginning of the 20th century by Achille Duchêne. The lower garden is in the Italian style, and features hibiscus and yew trees, and walls covered with white roses and white clematis. The upper garden is a Garden à la française, with ornamental flower beds and a topiary garden. The garden was badly damaged by a storm in 1999, and has been replanted. The gardens are classified by the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the Ministry of Culture as one of the Notable Gardens of France.

Château de Montréal (Issac)

The castle had many owners among whom the families Debetz de La Crouzilhe and Bonfils-La Menuze
Several prelates chose their burial there:
Pierre Tizon, Fulk de Bonneval, Francois de La Beraudiere, Jean Macheco de Prémeaux, died at Château l'Evêque, and Pierre Fournier, Bishop of Périgueux, was strangled by his servants on the South Tower staircase on 14 July 1575.
It was in the chapel of the castle.
Which had become a parochial church, which a humble priest, whom his charity had caused to be sanctified almost throughout his life among the saints, Vincent de Paul, was ordained a priest on September 23, 1600 by Monseigneur Francois de Bourdeilles. A portrait of the 17th century French school belonging to the owner's collection is shown in the living room.
http://www.chateau-de-chateauleveque.com
Today
It is the property of Gérard de Colombières, a direct descendant of the Clément du Mez and Argentan, who gave the First Marshals of France with Alberic and Henri Clement du Mez (12th and 13th centuries)

Château de Château-Évêque

The commanding position of the bluff on which Marouatte Castle stands may explain why the spot was occupied in so many past periods, beginning in the Stone Age. It dominates the valley of the Euche stream and from it a wide area of pasture land and forests in the Dronne Valley can be enjoyed.
Before written history
Stone Age Neanderthal and even earlier hunters are known to have roamed the immediate vicinity - their flint knives and scrapers were found during the construction of the playing field adjacent to the outer court and bones from a mammoth were discovered in the Euche Valley beyond.
Bronze Age burials were recently unearthed from under an ancient priory in St. Vivien village at the foot of Marouatte. It is possible that they represent people from a hill-fort on the Marouatte plateau, up to 5000 years before the castle. An important "dolman" burial mound remains dating to 17,000 BC can be seen just beyond St. Vivian less than 1.6 kilometers from the castle.
Roman times
A Roman military road passed along the Euche Valley below Marouatte and fragments of Roman roof-tiles have been found at Marouatte . There are remains of a Roman camp or relay station in the parkland beyond the main gate. Some authors suggest a Franko-Roman chateau-fort stood on the site of the current Chateau. The name Marouatte is derived from the Frankish Latin "muratum" (wall) and implies the site was fortified.
Age of feudalism
By the 12th century Richard I was King of England and Duke of Aquitaine which included the Dordogne and, therefore, Marouatte. This chivalrous, if not brutal, time sees the first recorded, surviving documentary record of Marouatte; a feudal barony already based here in 1293. The rock was hewn to a depth of several meters to support the towers and form the moat and it is on these massive 12th century foundations upon which the Castle is built.
By 1303 the feudal fortress was well established and belonged to the Montagrier family whose oak tree coat of arms can be seen in the mullions of the blocked up window above the cloister courtyard. The personal blazon of Marouatte; the symbol of a cross with four bars ending in fleurs de lys can be found in the walls and fireplaces throughout the chateau.
During this period of constant fighting in the Middle Ages between the English and French including the 100 years war, much, if not all, of the records of the age were lost or destroyed. What was left disappeared during the French Revolution.
Renaissance & French Revolution
Antoine Montagrier, the last male Montagier, built the outer enclosure of 1569 and after his death his eldest daughter, Claude, brought the fief of Marouatte into the possession of her husband, Baron Chabot de Jarnac. The name has a famous connection to the "Coup de Jarnac" or "low blow" aimed unexpectedly at the back of an adversary's knee.
During this period, when castles were no longer considered relevant in the age of the cannon, the high walls between the inner towers were lowered giving one a view of the surrounding hills and fields. A building between the Garden Tower and Chaufage Tower was also removed leaving only the window openings clearly seen. The Western part of the moat was also filled in giving one direct access to the garden beyond.
During the French Revolution, Duc de Chabot and Count de Jarnac fled abroad and Marouatte was confiscated by the Republic in 1792 and was gradually despoiled by the local population to build their own homes and public buildings. The dilapidated Chateau changed hands many times in the late 18th and early 19th. Century. In 1843 M. Boc de St. Hilaire purchased the Marouatte domain, consisting at that time only of the Chateau and 30 acres. He worked hard to restore the Chateau until his death in 1861.
Modern times
In 1900 a shipping magnate from Bordeaux, M. Rouanet, bought the property. He carried out major restorations including the rebuilding of two towers. M. Rouanet's grandson, who lives in Riberac, recalls his childhood, a time when the outer court housed a thriving farm and winery. Pigs, dogs, horses and chickens were kept in the stables and outbuildings. The vines grown on the farmland produced good white wine and champagne, but the red wine was not a success. The winery, with its vast oaken vats, grape press and the 'cave' still survive forming a kind of wine museum; its ambience contrasting strongly with the metal tubes and steel barrels in modern wineries.
35 years ago the chateau was purchased by an English family, Sir Maxwell and Lady Joseph. He was known to have a number of distinguished guests including Sir Edward Heath, one time Prime Minister of England. He arrived with his piano and his butler; the piano had to be taken up the spiral staircase to his bedroom. The Queen Mother (mother of Queen Elizabeth II) also came - her instructions were that she needed two identical bedrooms for her and her Lady-in-Waiting. This prompted Sir Maxwell to divide the large space above the Salle d'Honor in half creating two identical bedrooms, now known as the Queen Mother suite.
Today the castle has largely been restored with all modern amenities added including central heating in the main chateaux The decoration has made liberal use of Gothic Revival furniture, art and architectural antiques including beautiful stained glass, tiles and period wood and stone work.
Used as an inspiration for music creation & production titled "Prentemps des Troubadours" attendees have included Cher, Jon Bon Jovi, Carole King, Keith Urban, Stewart Copeland, Jules Holland, Jeff Beck, Peter Frampton, Ted Nugent, Mika, Ellie Goulding, Zucchero and many others. This produced hits for Celine Dion, Aerosmith, Keith Urban, Aaron Tippon with songs written at the castle thus reviving the rich songwriting period of the region's troubadours of the 12th century. In 2011 the American performing rights society ASCAP began holding annual songwriter retreats at the castle with many notable songwriters.
http://www.marouattecastle.com

Château de Marouatte

Château du Lieu-Dieu is a French château located in the municipality of Boulazac in Dordogne, in the Aquitaine region. The castle of the Lieu-Dieu is located in the center of Dordogne, less than a kilometer south of the Old Town Boulazac along and slightly below the 6089 provincial road (the old national road 89). It was built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, with nineteenth-century modifications. Baconnie originally called, took its final name after the holy sacraments of the surrounding churches were brought to the tabernacle of the chapel. Indeed, this measure was taken to prevent the desecration of the body of Christ present in the hosts, bands of English mercenaries ravaging the country in the last days of the Hundred Years War. So it is the locals who called in dialect "Lioc-Dioc". The procession of Corpus Christi was effected in the village church located one kilometer away to the castle and, until the 1960s. The castle is surrounded by a moat fed by the Manoire, stream on the left bank of which it is built on the other side of which is located dovecote. It comes in the form of a quadrilateral whose corners are located at the four cardinal points, those in the east and south are provided with a circular tower. Northwest stands the main building, three levels high and topped with a defense room. The northeast and southwest sides match common. Access to the castle southeast by a gatehouse that precedes a drawbridge. It is a listed building since April 30, 1959 for facades, roofing, moats and dovecote. This castle has the distinction of having always belonged to the same family since its construction, although the various owners do not always have the same name.
http://www.frenchchateau.net/chateaux-of-aquitaine/chateau-du-lieu-dieu.html

Château du Lieu-Dieu

THE NAME
The name of the castle, of Latin origin, and that is found in a few other monuments or cities of the South-West of France, is arguably meaning: “fortified mount” (mons adstructum), or also “mount under the stars”…
The valley of the little river “Caudeau”, at the foot of Montastruc, keeps numerous traces of human habitat from prehistory to the period of the Roman Empire.
VTH CENTURY
Through the 5th century, the invasion by the Germans in 407, followed by the Visigoths’ and finally, by the annexation of Aquitaine to the kingdom of the Francs by Clovis (507), bring Montastruc into the High Middle-Age. These troubled times lead its inhabitants into the caves and galleries of its emerging rock, later fortified and isolated by deep moats.
RISE AND FALL OF THE D'ABZAC
La Monzia (La Moinerie) is mentioned into documents of the 13th century, under the protection of Montastruc, fief of the Castrum of Montclar. In 1309, Hugues 1st d’Abzac, lord of Clerans and knight for Montclar, is benefiting from a donation of assets in La Monzia, including the “domus” of Montastruc. In 1329, his son Hugues 2nd d’Abzac fortifies Montastruc over its antique existing bases. Rudel 4th de Mouleydier, lord and baron of Montclar, allows the works to be done and gets a solemn homage as suzerain, in the chapel of Lamonzie. Montastruc and the d’Abzac become from that moment a permanent threat for Montclar and its barons.
In 1437, the “Reppayrium de Monte Astruco” is mentioned as fief of Bertrand d’Abzac. On the 14th of February 1439, Amaury d’Estissac, heir of the châtellenie of Montclar, donates to Bertrand d’Abzac all the rights of high, mid and low justice that he could have over Montastruc, under the condition of a symbolic homage of a pair of white gloves. But Bertrand d’Abzac, is made prisoner after his invasion of the city of Domme, is beheaded in Limoges on the 1st of March 1439 by order of Charles 7th and the demolition Montastruc, to the height of the infamy (“à hauteur de l’infamie”) is undertaken following the criminal trial started in 1438 – however the destruction will be only partial.
In 1449, Jean of Bretagne returns to Jeanne de Beynac, widow of Bertrand d’Abzac, the estate of Montastruc against submission to the Royal authority. The castle is rebuilt from 1480, supported by royal decree (“Lettres patentes”) from Louis 11th dated September 1475.
XVITH - XVIITH CENTURY
In 1568, on the day of Christmas, Blaise de Monluc, trusted by Catherine de Médicis to maintain order in Guyenne, starts the siege of Montastruc. Two cannons oblige the Huguenot troop to surrender. New siege by the seneschal of Périgord in 1569, who takes it from the Protestants, and returns it again to the d’Abzac.
In 1637, the second rebellion of the “croquants” (peasants), is led in the forests not far from Montastruc by La Mothe La Foret, Charles d’Abzac’s brother in law, and Grellety, farmer of Charles’ lands…
XVIITH - XXTH
On the 26th of May 1650, the fortress walls of Montastruc see at their foot the defeat of the troop of Monsieur de La Valette, by the dukes of Bouillon and of La Rochefoucauld, while these were accompanying Madame the Princess of Condé and her son, the duke of Enghien to Bordeaux, during the last “grande fronde” (revolt of the nobles against the king).
Interestingly, the revolution period does not affect Montastruc. More recently, in May 1940, HRH the grand duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg and her family exiled themselves in the chateau de Montastruc, ex-filtrated from Luxembourg in extremis by France before the arrival of the German troops. They remained there for a few months under the protection of a section of Senegalese riflemen, before gaining Portugal… On June 16th 1940, they were joined in Montastruc by the last empress-queen of Austria-Hungary Zita, sister of Felix of Bourbon- Parma, husband of Charlotte of Luxembourg. On her way to exile towards Spain via Bordeaux, Zita transited through Montastruc with her 8 children of which her elder son Otto of Habsburg, archduke of Austria.
TODAY
Fief of the d’Abzac since the 13th century, Montastruc changes hands through alliances and goes to the Ferrand de Mauvezin, the Peruse des Cars, the du Garrich d’Uzech, and then in 1849, goes to the marquis de Lostanges de Saint-Alvere followed by the Loeff in 1936. After the last war, it is owned by the Ordonneaux, and then changes hands briefly before coming in 1998 to Philippe Raynaud de Fitte and his wife Ségolène de Marcellus. This is the beginning of an extensive and meticulous restoration work…
Ségolène de Marcellus is of direct descent from Marie-Louis Andre Charles (alias Lodoïs) de Martin du Tyrac, 4th count of Marcellus (1795-1861), who after difficult and animated negotiations, purchased the statue known today as Venus de Milo, and brought it back to France where it was offered on March 1st 1821 to the king Louis XVIII who donated the statue to the Louvre. A casting of the Venus, life size with patina identical to the original was executed in November 2015 by the workshops of moldings of the Louvre Museum and is exposed today in Montastruc.