Château de Recoules: A Historic Château in Aveyron, France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page6 sections
History
Château de Recoules is a historic château at Recoules-Prévinquières, in the commune of Sévérac d’Aveyron, France. Its lands belonged to the Prévinquières family in the middle of the Middle Ages, before the lordship passed through a marriage alliance to the Garceval family at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The château’s later form was shaped by successive noble owners, and it was listed as a historic monument, an official French heritage-protection designation, in 2001.
Medieval lordship of the Garceval family
The Garceval succession began with Aymeri I, who married Bermonde around 1250. Their son Raymond married Marquèse around 1285, followed by Aymeri II’s marriage to Redesse de La Roque around 1310. Aymeri III married Miramans d’Astorg around 1336, Aymeri IV married Jausionde de Caylus in 1366, and Aymeri V married Florence Siguald in 1379.
The lordship continued through Aymeri VI, who married Arpajone de Prévinquières in 1420, and Aymeri VII, who married Arpajone Ricard in 1452. Aymeri VIII, who died in 1515, was married to Cébalie de Lagarde. The succession then passed through Guillaume and Antoinette d’Apchier, followed by François I, who died in 1593 and had married Madeleine de Ricard in 1547. François II, who died in 1618, married Françoise de Pelegri in 1584. Jean, who died in 1647, married Christine Diane de Prévinquières in 1638, and Jean-François I, who died in 1692, married Françoise de Bessuejouls in 1662. Jean-François II, born in 1664, married Félicie du Champ in 1694.
Later noble owners
Marie Félicie, the daughter and heiress of Jean-François II, brought Recoules into the Lastic family. Philibert Louis of Lastic Saint-Jal, who lived from 1692 to 1761, became lord of Recoules through his marriage to Marie Félicie de Garceval in 1742. Their daughter and heiress, Marie Claudine, later brought the estate into the Lévezou de Vézins family.
François III of Lévezou de Vézins became lord of Recoules through his marriage to Marie Claudine de Lastic in 1765. His nephew François Aimé Dieudonné later married Mélanie de Sauvan d’Aramon. Their son Louis Antoine Alexis, who lived from 1814 to 1878, married Angèle Laurent de Villedeuil in 1846. In 1853, Marc-Antoine-François, Baron de Gaujal, who lived from 1772 to 1856, acquired the property. A Miss Capelle, the granddaughter of Baron Capelle, subsequently bought the château from him.
The heraldic arms associated with Recoules belong to the Garceval, Lastic Saint-Jal, Lévezou de Vézins, and Gaujal families. Heraldic arms are identifying designs traditionally associated with a family or individual and displayed on a shield.
Remains
Château de Recoules stands on the edge of the Olip in Aveyron. The surviving building is organized as four ranges around a courtyard, with towers associated with the complex. Its present appearance dates from the changes made under Marc-Antoine-François de Gaujal.
Courtyard complex
The four building ranges form the principal courtyard arrangement, while the associated towers reinforce the château’s overall composition. This layout brings the separate parts of the building together around a central open space and preserves the architectural organization of the residence.
Entrance portal
The entrance portal dates from the seventeenth century. It is crowned by a broken pediment, a triangular architectural feature whose upper lines are interrupted rather than meeting at a single apex.
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