Bird's-eye view of Castelnau Castle. It's hard to think of a more scenic place, isn't it? All around there are green mountains, a river, fields behind it, a small village under red tiled roofs - it is very romantic, not to mention the fact that everything around you breathes the Middle Ages.
Therefore, for example, purely subconsciously, I like the castle of Carcassonne in France much more from the side where it rises above the city, from the opposite plain. Well, the castle of Montsegur, even if only miserable ruins remain from it, is exactly the “that”, for it rises on a high cliff, as well as many other Cathar castles.
This is how he towered over the houses of local villagers almost a thousand years ago …
Here is the Castelnau castle - a medieval fortress in the French commune of Castelnau-la-Chapelle in the Dordogne department (formerly called the province of Périgord), just one of these "real" castles, as it is located on a high cliff right above a small village located at its foot. It is believed that the first castle was built here in the XII century, but it was destroyed by the army of Simon de Montfort during the Albigensian crusade against the Cathars. It is known that he stormed the Kostelno castle in 1214 and left a garrison there. Bernard de Kaznac, the owner of these places, returned the castle the next year, and it was not Montfort who ordered all the soldiers to be hanged.
In 1259, Castelnau came under the rule of the Duke of Aquitaine, which was the English king Henry III. He assessed its location as very successful, and, apparently, ordered to build a new castle here, which the builders did during the 13th century. However, in 1273, the castle nevertheless returned to its rightful feudal rulers - the Castelnau family, subjects of the Count of Perigord, a loyal vassal of the King of France. And everything would be fine if the owners of the castle were not at that time at enmity with the barons of the de Beinac family, whose castle was in direct line of sight from Castelnau.
This is how Beinak Castle looks today from one of the bastions of Castelnau Castle.
The enmity between the two families led to the fact that the entire Perigord was divided into two warring parties. Both castles vigilantly watched each other, since they were located so close that even a telescope was not required for this. It got to the point that in 1317 Pope John XXII himself intervened in their conflict, blessing the marriage between these families, hoping at least in this way to put an end to this enmity.
The coat of arms of the owners of Castelnau is a "shield with the image of a tower". Hence, by the way, the name of the castle.
But no sooner had peace reigned in Perigord than the Hundred Years War broke out in 1337. Both families took part in it, and it did not end well - all the heirs of the man in the Castelnau family died. As a result, Manet de Castelnau, the only heiress of the family, had to marry Nompara de Comont in 1368 and now the de Comont family became its owners. King Henry IV of England made Nompara de Comont his seneschal, that is, the castle again passed to the British.
But in 1442 the castle was besieged by French royal troops. The fact that the garrison surrendered took three weeks of siege, after which the English captain gave the keys to the castle to the French, for which he was given life and … 400 ecu. That is, he also profited from it! Well, after the Battle of Castiglion (1452), the British finally left France, including Aquitaine with Perigord.
This is how this castle looked like in 1442. (Museum of Medieval Wars of the Castle of Castelnau)
The castle and the adjacent settlement. (Museum of Medieval Wars of the Castle of Castelnau)
Little by little, the castle began to be rebuilt and strengthened. Its walls were strengthened, new towers were built and a round barbican was added. The work, organized by Brandel de Comont, was then continued by his son François, and then by his grandson Karl. So the construction work in the castle did not subside during the life of three generations of Komons! And François one castle seemed a little, and he erected another nearby - Miland in the Renaissance style.
This is what this castle looks like today. On the right is a round barbican, right in front of it is a gate and a road arranged so that people can walk along it to the castle, turning their right side to it.
In every self-respecting medieval castle, its owners sought to arrange a vegetable garden in order to have fresh vegetables on the table and not to depend on the inhabitants of the settlements surrounding the castle - after all, they could be captured by enemies.
From some points, the castle appears to be very large. But from others it is clearly seen that in fact it is very, very narrow.
Now Castelnau has finally lost all its military significance and has become an ordinary country estate. And, nevertheless, in 1520 another tower was added to it, well, apparently, its owners simply did not have enough imagination for anything else. But then a new page in the history of the castle was opened by Geoffroy de Vivant, the grandson of François de Comont, who was born in Castelnau in 1543 and became a friend of the future King Henry IV. "Geoffroy militant" - and this is the nickname he received for his unbridled temper, inspired fear throughout Perigord. In his ancestral nest for all the time of the Huguenot wars (and he was also a Huguenot, among other things), no one disturbed him. However, the Geoffroy family still preferred the more intimate and secluded castle of Miland and their own family castle de la Fors near Bergerac, than this well-fortified, but still rather gloomy place in terms of amenities. As a result, the castle turned out to be abandoned, and in 1832 they began to use it as a quarry at all, since the stones turned out of its walls were very convenient to roll down the slope directly to the river.
View of the road to the castle from one of its bastions.
View from the castle to the village below.
Only in 1966, the Castelnau castle received the status of a historical monument "Monument Historique" and twice, from 1974 to 1980 and from 1996 to 1998, was restored, and was finally finished only in 2012, while much in it was restored almost from scratch.
Bastion with layouts of trebuchet and cannonballs for them.
In 1985, a museum of medieval wars was opened in the castle, the exposition of which was located in the living quarters of its owners. The museum's collection features 250 authentic items from the 13th-17th centuries, including armor and weapons, as well as reconstructions of siege weapons.
Hall of Artillery: 15th century bombardment.
Ribadekin - a multi-barreled cannon of the 15th century.
Vogler - field cannon of the 15th century.
The halls are subdivided into an artillery hall, a fencing hall, a model hall and a video hall. There is also an open gallery displaying life-size models of the trebuchet, an armory, casemates, an armor workshop, a medieval kitchen, and an upper room of the keep with restored furnishings.
Medieval cuisine.
And this is her ceiling - well, completely pure Gothic.
There are relatively few weapons and armor in the castle museum, but all the samples are quite interesting. For example, the exhibition features a variety of crossbows, halberds, swords and daggers, including, for example, bullock.
The museum displays an impressive collection of halberds and interesting knightly armor, including the toad's head tournament helmets. But, perhaps, the most interesting exhibit of this hall is the remake of the L-shaped wooden rack with a bag. Such a device was used to train knights. Having struck him with a spear, he had to jump under him as quickly as possible, otherwise the stand, fixed on the axis, turning, hit him on the back with a bag.
Cuirasses of the 16th century.
There is also a knight-rider in the museum and under him even a horse covered with wool.
If outside on the bastion there are life-size trebuchets, then in the castle there are several models of this "gravitational" artillery.
If you wish, you can dress up here in clothes and armor, shoot a "real" medieval bow in the shooting range and even fight with swords!
The guidebook says that the castle is visited annually by more than 220,000 tourists, including 20,000 schoolchildren, and this is not surprising at all. It has a lot to see.
