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onjour!
Bonjour, this month let's continue our journey through Périgord, that southwestern region that we are
particularly fond of and wrote about a few months ago. Going up and down the roads of Périgord
is pure enchantment, as the beauty of its landscapes unfolds leading to an irresistible and
very pleasant feeling of profound serenity. The paradox of this first impression is that the
numerous castles standing here and there clearly attest to a more than turbulent history.
But before continuing, please remember that you can access and read all the newsletters already
published at http://www.francemonthly.com/
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The Region with the Thousand Castles
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To better understand the presence of these castles which must total at least 1,000 according
to legend, one must go back to the 5th century when the entire continent of Europe enjoyed a
milder climate. This phenomenon affected the lives of men in general and therefore of the
barons from Périgord as well.
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Castle of Montfort
(Click photo to enlarge)
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In that almost exclusively rural medieval society, excellent crops brought along better
living conditions and therefore a sizeable growth in the population. A greater workforce
led to an increase in trade and consequently in wealth which in turn allowed the well-off
to build themselves fortresses. Owning a castle was not only a way of showing off one's
power but also a way of getting even richer. Indeed, by building their residences in the
valleys close to the major land or river transportation ways, these new lords could keep
even better control of all transactions, and most importantly, collect tolls. Others,
more prudent perhaps, settled down on rocky spurs of land, sites which gave them a defense
advantage. All of these more or less belligerent lords had the unfortunate tendency of
fighting each other to increase or at least maintain their territory. It was not uncommon
for them to even fight each other over a beautiful lady's heart.
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The Périgord to the English!
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There was a beautiful lady who would never have become the talk of the town had her
second marriage not caused Périgord to be placed under English domination. In 1137,
Alienor, daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, married Prince Louis, son of the king
of France. She brought as a dowry a huge territory that roughly extended from what
is today the Vendée region all the way down to Bordeaux on one side and Toulouse
on the other, including Limousin and Périgord. Legend has it that during the time
Alienor followed her husband on the Crusades, she was caught in the arms of his young
uncle, Raymond de Poitiers, Prince of Antioch (Turkey). The break-up was inevitable.
Two months after her divorce, she married Henri Plantagenęt, bringing once again as
a wedding present this large recently recovered territory. When two years later
Henri II inherited the throne of England, he acquired an estate as big as that of
the king of France even though he was officially his vassal. Henri's infidelities
eventually ruined a relationship that had started out very promising; however, it
was out of the question for him to repudiate this troublesome spouse who didn't
accept his amorous escapades, for he risked losing the Aquitaine inheritance. So,
as was the custom at the time, he simply had her locked up in one of the Winchester
castle towers. Alienor was only released 16 years later when her husband died.
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Recipe for May 2009
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Peppers with Capers and Black Olives Spread Pie
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"You Will all be Damned!"
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From that point on, the lords of Périgord became more and more divided. Some wanted to
become English for essentially economic reasons (trade with the English via Bordeaux was
thriving), while others remained emotionally attached to the king of France. This strife
had been more or less contained when the question of belonging or not to the crown of
France was revived and a crisis erupted two centuries later. It was then no longer two
countries but two dynasties that were fighting each other, causing a war that would last
more than one hundred years.
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La Roque-Gageac in Périgord
(Click photo to enlarge)
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To gain possession of the Templar treasure, Philip IV "the Fair" relentlessly hunted
down the Knights Templar who were too rich and too powerful for his taste. He had
every last one of them burned at the stake. On March 18, 1314, while on the stake
waiting to be burned alive, Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights
Templar, shouted out: "Damn the pope as well as the kings of France up until the
thirteenth generation!" Legend or real prophecy? The fact remains that the pope
died a few days later and the king later the same year. His three sons only reigned
14 years and the last one of them died without leaving the kingdom any male heir. The
sole survivor was a sister, Isabelle, but she was married to the king of England,
Edouard II, who himself wanted this crown of France...
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The Enemy Castles
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In 1115, Baron Maynard de Beynac built a donjon on a cliffside about 500 feet above the
Dordogne valley, that allowed him to watch the river and most importantly to extort money
from the merchants who passed by.
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Castelnaud in Périgord
(Click photo to enlarge)
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When two centuries later, the meanders of the Dordogne formed a natural border between the
possessions of the king of France and those of English Aquitaine, the donjon-become-fortress
chose France. Through the vagaries of history, the castle had not always been French, but
at the dawn of this terrible war, it was. The Castelnaud fortress located just opposite from
it, on the other side of the Dordogne, about 2/3rds of a mile away as the crow flies, had
also changed "nationalities" during the course of various events. It just so happened that
at this precise moment in time, the owners had chosen to be English. The two enemy brothers
watched each other as they had built advanced posts to spy on each other even more efficiently.
Beynac built the Marqueyssac donjon to keep an eye on the English neighbor and Castelnaud chose
the Fayrac site to keep an eye on the French. What a strange arrangement these four buildings
form today, the most famous quadrilateral in the Dordogne valley. The Fayrac castle is the
least known of them all since, despite having been beautifully restored by a couple of Americans
with a passion for old stones and the history of Périgord, it is the only one that cannot be visited.
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Castle Building in the Middle Ages
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Fortunately, the other castles are open to the public and are rich sources of education
for those curious visitors who would like to imagine themselves builders of these huge
fortresses right in the middle of the medieval turmoil. For one, you should not be surprised
to encounter walls that may be 10 feet thick.
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Castle of Beynac
(Click photo to enlarge)
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You will learn that the soldiers lived in half-light, in very dark rooms with very few
windows in order to present a stronger structure to the enemy in case of any attack. A
single door allowed access to the interior to limit any invasion attempts. At the sight
of the very narrow spiral staircase in Beynac, with such steep steps, one can only imagine
how difficult it would have been for the enemy restricted in his heavy armor to climb it,
and certainly he would not have been able to do so with his sword drawn. In the kitchen,
you will see two fireplaces dug directly out of the cliff, a small one for cooking and a
larger one to hold the cauldron that heated water for soup and also for washing oneself.
In the Middle Ages, people were relatively clean as they bathed roughly once every ten days,
a very hygienic schedule if you consider that at the time of Louis XV and Louis XVI, people
were content to just wear perfume as water was considered very dangerous to one's health!
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The Art of Waging War |
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As you enter the courtyard of the Castelnaud castle, you will quickly understand why
these fortresses could only be taken by ruse, treason or at the end of fierce negotiations
with the enemy. They were practically impregnable, and it was hardly ever necessary to use
force to get the upper hand. There was the option of undergoing long weeks or endless months
of siege, but that was judged to be much too costly and therefore rarely considered. Standing
around a huge arsenal of medieval weapons that have been meticulously rebuilt, you will learn
that the primary objective of all these war machines was simply to intimidate the adversary,
because they were relatively inaccurate and therefore not very efficient. They were very scary
nonetheless. Generally speaking, they were rented from war to war and from siege to siege! Most
of them required dozens of people to operate. The engineer who had designed the device would
often accompany the combatants because it had to be reassembled on site and he was the only one
who knew the secrets of its making. It cost a fortune to operate these machines so the very
ingenious cost saving method of the time was to pay the soldiers only once the war had ended,
if they were still alive that is!
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The Gardens of Marqueysac
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After having heard these gripping yet dreadful war tales, and seeing how no invader had
the slightest chance of coming out alive from the hell
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The Gardens of Marqueyssac
(Click photo to enlarge)
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in which he had taken the risk of plunging himself into, it is a nice respite to enter
the gardens of Marqueyssac. Marqueyssac is nothing less than a haven of peace, a paradise
on earth. The spy donjon of the past metamorphosed itself into a beautiful residence in
the 19th century, but the enchanting spell comes from its wonderful 37 acres of gardens.
Julien de Cerval was a judge in Sarlat in 1860, and had a passion for gardening and nature.
He devoted the last 30 years of his life to embellishing the family estate and planting box
hedges. Today, it is a pleasure to get lost in this green labyrinth of exceptional density:
150,000 box trees all about 150 years old, all sculpted in curves and roundness in the image
of the surrounding hills. Julien de Cerval designed this garden for his own personal enjoyment,
to write poems in it, and to take in the magnificent spectacle of the meandering Dordogne below
the cliff and the breathtaking beauty of the extraordinary 360 view over the valley. Today,
Marqueyssac offers several miles of charming and romantic walks in the most visited of all the
gardens in Aquitaine.
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An Invitation to Travel... |
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If you would like to discover a radiant and generous nature, and enjoy beautiful landscapes,
the Dordogne should be your next destination. If you are a lover of old stones and you are
intrigued by the history of these fortresses which seem to have been standing on their rocky
perches since the dawn of time, you will fall under the charm of the Dordogne. If you enjoy
savoring the most refined and delicate dishes, the Dordogne will not disappoint you. If you
are susceptible to the smiles and warm welcome of your hosts, we invite you to meet the
inhabitants of this magnificent region, many of whom are English-speaking. Quality of life,
hospitality, soft landscapes, harmony…flattering qualifiers are many, and I must say, I really
fell under their charm!
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