Hauts LieuxChapels, sanctuaries & legends

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Legendary castleDordogne

Château de Montfort

Vitrac

Dimensions
A fortified gate at the entrance. At the beginning of the 20th century two towers taken from another castle were re-erected against the main range, and a pergola was put up with old columns and capitals, among them elements from the cloister of the church of Saint-Vaast at Béthune.
Period
Mentioned in 866 under the name Castrum de Monte Forti; destroyed and rebuilt five times between 1214 and 1606; alterations of the early 20th century.
What stands there
No known protection as a monument historique. Private property. Successive owners: Casnac, Turenne, Rudel, Pons, Brézé; sold in 1664 to Gaston-Jean-Baptiste de Roquelaure.

Montfort commands the meander of the Dordogne that bears its name. The castrum de Monte Forti is cited as early as 866. At the beginning of the 13th century it belonged to Bernard de Casnac, one of the Occitan leaders in the Albigensian Crusade: Simon de Montfort took it in 1214, Casnac retook it the following year, and the army of the archbishop of Bordeaux besieged and destroyed it in 1216. Raymond IV, viscount of Turenne, rebuilt it. It held out against the sieges of 1404 and 1409 during the Hundred Years' War, its garrison abandoned it in 1441, the Huguenots seized it in 1569, and the king ordered its dismantling in 1606 without obtaining it. In all, it was destroyed and raised again five times between 1214 and 1606.

Further reading

Getting there : It is not open to visitors. Visible from Vitrac and from the belvedere on the valley road.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Château de Montfort
Krzysztof Golik · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).