Château de Chanac

The castle is on a promontory on the banks of the Lot. It consists of the keep, a clock tower, and remnants of the ramparts. The keep is made of stone, has a square base, and has one room on each floor. It is also surrounded by a moat that connects it to the clock tower. The latter, as well as the ramparts, were made of brick.

It seems that the Crown of Aragon (the Counts of Barcelona, who became Kings of Aragon in 1164, inherited the County of Gévaudan and the County of Provence in 1112) had a castle built on this promontory not far from the fortress of Grèzes, allowing control of access to the Causse de Sauveterre, while having a wide view of the Lot valley. This construction dates back to 1194, during the reign of Berengar IV. In 1220, Guillaume IV de Peyre, Bishop of Mende, is said to have taken advantage of the Albigensian Crusade to take possession of Chanac. He then had the still visible keep built. The bishops then used it as a summer residence for several centuries. During the Hundred Years' War, it was one of the few castles in Gévaudan that was never taken by the English or by the routiers. This was not the case during the Wars of Religion, with Catholics and Huguenots alternately mastering the fortress. Mathieu Merle held possession of it from 1580 to 1581. It can also be seen that the bishops, through Jean de Salas, had the clock tower built at this time. This is one of the oldest known examples in Gévaudan.

During the League, it was the same, Philibert d'Apchier, Baron d'Apcher, held it in 1591 before it returned to the royalists. On August 24, 1696, a large fire ravaged the castle and the dwellings of Chanac. François-Placide de Baudry de Piencourt, then bishop, had the fortress repaired and provided it with better comfort. Monseigneur de Piencourt also had the castle's icehouse built. This tower was indeed filled with blocks of ice from the Lot in winter, in order to be able to drink cool in summer. From 1767, the bishop who owned the castle was Jean-Arnaud de Castellane. In 1790, it was in the castle of Chanac that he took refuge to escape the Revolution. He remained there for two years before attempting to flee. He was recaptured and assassinated before he could leave France. Upon his death, the revolutionaries kept the castle. But the counter-revolutionaries of Gévaudan, led by Marc Antoine Charrier, seized the castle on May 30, 1793. It was retaken by the revolutionaries on June 2 of the same year, who set it on fire during the night. The castle was abandoned to its fate. The remains of the keep, the clock tower, and the ramparts can be seen there. Furthermore, the castle has been listed as a historical monument since March 19, 1993.

List of Bishops of Mende County of Gévaudan List of historical monuments of Lozère

Resource related to architecture: Mérimée

Portal of Lozère and Gévaudan Portal of castles of France Portal of French historical monuments Portal of the Central Middle Ages