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Remains of the castle of Pierre d’Aubusson

It was at the Château du Monteil au Vicomte that the man who became Grand Master of the Order of the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, Pierre d’Aubusson, was born in 1423. 

In the absence of documentary sources, the origins of the building are unknown but it seems linked to the lords of Monteil, vassals of the counts of La Marche. They will always keep the surname of their extinct family (the Aubussons) whose title will continue to designate the family castle of Monteil au Vicomte. 

This imposing castle was the hub of an important family heritage made up of land, mills, ponds, forests and feudal royalties, as well as the rights of justice over the inhabitants.

Victim of the Hundred Years War, and after several restoration campaigns, it was sold as a National Good during the Revolution. Its stones are then widely used in different constructions of the town, a frequent practice. 

Today, its crystallized remains, freely accessible to the public, bear witness to its former greatness. Explanatory panels, set up around it, allow visitors to better identify and locate the different parts of the castle. We can thus reconstruct the drawbridges, bakery, chapel or weapons room!

The site is freely accessible throughout the year. 

A model of the site as it could exist in the time of Pierre d’Aubusson is visible at the town hall during opening hours. 

 

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