Château de Château-l’Évêque: A Historic Episcopal Fortress in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.1
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page11 sections
History
Château de Château-l’Évêque is a medieval castle in France whose present buildings began to take shape in the fourteenth century under Bishop Adhémar de Neuville. First recorded in 1329 as Castrum Episcopi and Episcopale, it controlled the route from Périgueux toward Brantôme and Angoulême while serving as the summer residence of the bishops of Périgueux until the French Revolution.
Medieval episcopal stronghold
The castle was expanded through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with further alterations continuing until the eighteenth century. Bishop Pierre Tison died there in 1384 and was buried in the former castle chapel, which is now the parish church of Saint-Julien. Around 1515, Bishop Guy de Castelnau commissioned a new residential building, and mullioned windows, divided by vertical stone or wooden bars, were added in 1520.
Religious conflict and episcopal memory
Huguenot forces, French Protestants who were especially influential during the religious conflicts of the sixteenth century, attacked the castle several times in the second half of that century. On 14 July 1575, Pierre Fournier, bishop of Périgueux since 1561, was murdered there by his own servants.
On 23 September 1600, Vincent de Paul was ordained a priest by Bishop François de Bourdeilles, either in the castle chapel or in an oratory within one of the turrets. Vincent de Paul was a seventeenth-century French Catholic priest later associated with charitable religious work and canonized as a saint.
Revolutionary change and later ownership
During the French Revolution, the estate was sold as national property, and some of its defensive elements were removed. In 1923, Jenny Sacerdote, a French fashion designer, purchased the castle, repaired it, created its garden, and cultivated roses herself. Receptions and shows were held at the estate during her ownership, and she was said to have had the finest rose garden in France.
The castle was listed as a French historic monument on 27 October 1938. For several years in the second half of the twentieth century, it operated as a hotel and restaurant under the name Château Saint-Vincent, a reference to Vincent de Paul. In 1988 it became the headquarters of the Compagnie Périgourdine property-trading company, which entered court-ordered liquidation in December 1992. It is now a private residence owned by Gérard de Colombières.
Remains
Promontory and former defenses
The castle stands on a rocky promontory between the valley of the Beauronne, approaching from the northeast, and that of its tributary, the Mesplier stream, which approaches from the north. The Mesplier supplied the moats. A rock-cut ditch and a keep once isolated the castle to the west, while walls on the south were destroyed. The northern moats could formerly be enlarged by flooding water from the stream. Gardens later replaced former service buildings and defensive elements that had been removed or altered.
Residential buildings and towers
Residential complex
The surviving castle consists of several parallel, asymmetrical residential buildings joined together and aligned east-west. A pavilion projects from the west, while steeply pitched tiled roofs cover the complex. Most windows on the south side retain mullions. The residential building commissioned by Bishop Guy de Castelnau preserves his coat of arms.
Stair towers
Several towers flank the buildings, including two southern towers containing spiral staircases. Their entrances are carved and decorated with statuettes, niches, and pinnacles. Some of this decoration has been defaced. Parts of the castle also retain machicolations, projecting openings in a parapet used to observe or attack enemies below, and crenellations, the alternating raised sections and openings of a battlement.
Oratory turret
An oratory housed in a corbelled turret preserves a painted ceiling bearing the arms of Bishop Guillaume Le Boux. A corbelled turret projects outward from a wall on supporting courses that step outward beneath it.
Gardens and estate
The grounds changed in extent over time. The park was recorded as covering 43 hectares in 1873. By 2017, the estate had been reduced to 17 hectares and included a 300-metre-long riding avenue, an English-style park, and a formal French garden.
