Hauts LieuxChapels, sanctuaries & legends

Hauts Lieux›All places›Lot-et-Garonne

Bastide (planned town)Lot-et-Garonne

Montpezat-d'Agenais

Montpezat

Dimensions
A village in tiers on the hillside, with the church of Notre-Dame at the top, on the site of the vanished castle, old houses on the intermediate level and the lower quarter of Roquebrune. In the commune, the motte of Saint-Médard, the churches of Saint-Jean de Balerme (11th and 15th centuries) and Saint-André, the remains of the Cistercian abbey of Pérignac, a restored windmill, a wash-house and the town hall and school of 1848.
Period
Castral village of the 11th century, castle cited in 1176; late bastide after 1306 (1317 according to the list of bastides); castle razed in 1324 and 1345; chancel of the church at the end of the 15th century; castle demolished in 1796.
What stands there
The church of Saint-Jean de Balerme is inscribed as a monument historique; the church of Saint-André is recorded in the inventory. Montpezat does not belong to the Fédération des Bastides d'Aquitaine but appears on the Wikipedia list of bastides; the municipal website presents it as one of the last bastides of the region.

Montpezat-d'Agenais overlooks the right bank of the Lot north of Agen, on a hillside whose three levels are described by the municipal website: the castle and the church at the top, the bourgeois houses on the second level, the Roquebrune quarter below. The place is first a castral village, cited as early as 1176 and whose castle was razed after a siege in 1324; the bastide, a late one, is said to have been laid out after 1306. Montpezat owes its fame to its lord Raymond-Bernard, who in 1323 provoked the war of Saint-Sardos, a prelude to the Hundred Years' War, by burning the neighbouring royal bastide. The castle, rebuilt and destroyed several times, was almost entirely demolished in 1796 by a treasure hunter. There remain the church of Notre-Dame, whose chancel was built for four chaplains by Charles de Montpezat at the end of the 15th century, the motte of Saint-Médard, the windmill and the wash-house.

Further reading

Getting there : Free access to the village and to the surroundings of the church; no tourist office, market or opening times are documented in the texts.

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

Montpezat-d'Agenais
MOSSOT · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Lot-et-Garonne (34).