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I know, the chateau thing was from August. But recently on By Castle and River, I did a couple of posts of the Pyrenees Mountains, so I thought that it would be cool to do a post on a castle in that aria. Now there are several, so I'll just do the first one that I found.
The Château de Foix is located in the town of Foix in the French département of Ariège. It was built on an older 7th century fortification, but the present building was built in 1000. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access to the upper Ariège valley and to keep surveillance from this strategic point over the lower land, protected behind impregnable walls.
You can read more about it at:
http://www.ariege.com/chateaudefoix/info.html
Well, it is actually a very interesting place, but my brain feels like it is turning into fuzzy mush, and I really can't concentrate, lousy excuse, I know. But it is just one of those days that I would rather spend reading about Marvel Comics characters (You never new, did you.) or anything but castles.
Besides, I've got pictures. And pictures are, almost, always better than words. And also...
El castels es tant fortz qu’el mezis se defent. “The castle is so strong it can defend itself”
Need more be said?
I didn't think so.
God daeg.
Note: the Internet is Not all-knowing, all-telling.
These words of wisdom are the reason I could not give you more information of my next, and last, of my August Chateaus.
(And if it does turn out to be all-knowing, all-telling, it doesn't always tell in English.)
The Château de Salignac is the former castle of the Salignac-Fénelon family in the commune of Salignac-Eyvigues in the Dordogne département of France. It dates from the 12th-16th centuries.
It has been classified since 1969 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.
And that is about all I could find. But please, click on the pictures, especially the lower one, to get a better look at the Chateau, it really is most lovely.
Bonjour.
Well, Dear Reader, you might have noticed a theme in my posts of late: Chateaus. At first it was unintentional, but then I thought, Hey, why not do a Blog post on a chateau every Wednesday in August!
This particular chateau, Château de Castelnau, is not one that I find overly beautiful or anything. But it is a chateau, and it is not ugly, so it will do.
Construction on Château de Castelnau began about 1100, under Hugues, baron of Castelnau, who built a wall around his manor. He was the ancestor of the powerful dynasty of Castelnau, who owned a rich and prosperous region and were vassals of the Counts of Toulouse.
The chateau was enlarged several times between the 12th and the 15th century, when it was necessary to adapt the fortifications to artillery.
It was taken by Henry II of England in 1159, and returned to the barons of Castelnau at the end of the Hundred Years' War.
During the 17th century, the castle was improved in an aesthetical and practical way: large windows, richly decorated salons, balcony of honor.
The castle fall into disrepair after the death of the last Castelnau in 1715. In 1895 it was bought by Jean Mouliérat, a singer with the Paris Opéra Comique and also a collector of furniture and sacred artworks. He undertook the restoration and furnished the castle with his collection. After his death in 1932, the castle was given to the state. Visitors can see seven rooms in this fortress, restored and furnished in the medieval style.
Bonne journée. (Have a nice day.)
Well! I have discovered a beautiful castle, chateau, rather! I was scrolling through my Ever Faithful List of Castles when I saw it and thought, "blog post!"
Château de Beynac, in the commune of Beynac-et-Cazenac, in the Dordogne département of France.
It was built in the 12th century by the barons of Beynac.
The oldest part of the castle is a large, square-shaped, Romanesque keep with vertical sides and few openings, held together with attached watch towers and equipped with a narrow spiral staircase terminating on a crenelated terrace. To one side, a residence of the same period is attached; it was remodeled and enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries.
On the other side is a partly 14th century residence side-by-side with a courtyard and a square plan staircase serving the 17th century apartments. The apartments have kept their woodwork and a painted ceiling from the 17th century.
At the time of the Hundred Years' War, the fortress at Beynac was in French hands. The Dordogne was the border between France and England. Not far away, on the opposite bank of the river, the Château de Castelnaud was held by the English. The Dordogne region was the theatre of numerous struggles for influence, rivalries and occasionally battles between the English and French supporters. However, the castles fell more often through ruse and intrigue rather than by direct assault, because the armies needed to take these castles were extremely costly: only the richest nobles and kings could procure them.
The castle was bought in 1962 by Lucien Grosso who has restored it. Today it is open to the public.
I was enthralled by Château de Beynac's beauty ever since I saw it. But the one picture that made me certain that I had to go see it someday was this one:
Bonne journée. (Have a nice day.)
For purely sentimental reasons.
You see, I have no castle that I am particularly fond of to do for my first, official post. So, I will do Mont Saint-Michel, as it was the subject of the first blog post that I ever did on my other blog.
The odd thing is, Mont Saint-Michel is not even a castle. Really, it is a commune. (A sort of a city in France, basically just a small community.) So I guess that is might pass as a citadel.
As with most historic structures, Mont Saint-Michel (Saint Michael's Mount.) was built slowly over a several generations, but the first bit of it was built in 709 by Aubert of Avranches, or, St. Aubert, Bishop of Avranches. This fact as very often accompanied by this tradition: The Archangel Michael came to Aubert and told him to build a shrine on the islet, "Mount Tombe." Aubert refused, was told again and refused again. This went on till Michael burned a hole in Aubert's head, with his finger. Then Aubert built it. A strange story, I know, but it is their tradition, and it seemed necessary to me to add it.
And before this, in the sixth and seventh centuries, the Romano-British occupied the island. For Island it is, as I mentioned, a little over half a mile of the coast of France, in Normandy, in the English Chanel.
In 1017, monastery, was built and a village grew at the base of The Mont. Both the Abby and the town were, and are, I should say, fortified. The abbey, and I suppose the village likewise, was, or, are, built with stones brought at low tide from the mainland coast. All during the 100 Years War The Mont was never captured, I think that is rather impressive.
My other blog post had many links to good websites about Mont Saint-Michel, but I think that this one is the best, http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/st-mont.htm , the history of the place is most interesting, I am just not overly good at giving an account of that sort of thing.
I love the design, the shape, the architecture, the layout of Mont Saint-Michel. I find everything about it so very cool: a monastery on the very top of a pyramid-shaped island, a beautiful stone village on the sides, a great wall all around them and for a moat, the ocean.
Dunnottar Castle, Scotland
Greetings, Friend, and salutations. I have been bloging (I don't like that word.) for several months now, on my other, main, blog, By Castle and River, which is devoted to almost all the things that I love. And now, as you see, I have a new, somewhat lesser blog, called Citadel and Fortress. It is devoted entirely to castles. I have high hopes that Citadel will be most informative and enjoyable. If this is starting to sound like a school text book, don't worry: it won't be.
Klis Fortress, Croatia
Anyhow, Citadel may look a bit pitiful right now, so, think of it as a little bird, a hatching with no feathers, yet. Give it time, my Friend, give it time and it will grow.
Mont Saint Michel Spire, France
Each post will be on a different castle and I hope, hope that is, to do a post roughly once a week. I think I just realized why I didn't do an "introduction post" on my other blog: I'm not very good at it. Fear not, though; I am better at writing when I know what I am saying and I will know, mostly, what I am saying when I am doing my posts.
