Château de Domeyrat
Encyclopedia
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
. It is located in the commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
of Domeyrat
Domeyrat
Domeyrat is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.-Geography:The Senouire flows north-northwestward through the commune and crosses the village....
, in the Haute-Loire
Haute-Loire
Haute-Loire is a department in south-central France named after the Loire River.-History:Haute-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
department of central France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
It has been listed since 1983 as a monument historique
Monument historique
A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...
by the French Ministry of Culture.
History
A first mention of the castle was in the inventory of Alphonse de Poitiers' vassalVassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
s, done between 1250 and 1260. It was then a property of the Papabeuf family. The lineage seems to have been extinct in 1348, probably due to the plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
; the castle went from hand to hand and may have been abandoned during the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
.
In 1387 the new lord of Domeyrat was Pons de Langheac, seneschal
Seneschal
A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...
of Auvergne. His son inherited of the title in 1421; he has deeply restructured the castle and is considered as the second builder, hence confusions about the date of construction. The de Langheac family kept the castle until 1656.
The edifice was less and less maintained by its successive owners, and began to be dismantled during the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
.
Bought by the Conseil général
General councils (France)
The General councils are assemblies of the French departments. They are elected by universal suffrage.-List of the Presidents of the General councils:-External links:*...
of Haute-Loire, it was listed as a Historical monument in 1983. The castle is now managed by an association, «Et Tant d'Arts...», performing entertainment on Medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
theme.
Architecture
On the slope of a small hill, the Château de Domeyrat overlooks the village and the valley of the SenouireSenouire
The Senouire is a long river in the Haute-Loire département, south-central France. Its source is at Sembadel. It flows generally west. It is a right tributary of the Allier into which it flows between Fontannes and Vieille-Brioude, near Brioude....
River.
A rectangular curtain
Castle Walls
"Castle Walls" is a song by American rapper T.I., from his seventh studio album No Mercy. The song features Pop/R&B singer Christina Aguilera, and was produced by Alex da Kid....
with a round tower at each angle protects the main building and the keep
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 residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
, without courtyard; it is surrounded by a second enceinte
Enceinte
Enceinte , is a French term used technically in fortification for the inner ring of fortifications surrounding a town or a concentric castle....
.
Two of the angle towers are decorated with paintings of the 16th century (hunting scenes in the north-western tower, religious scenes in the south-eastern tower, where the chapel was).