Château de Montal

The origins of the estate date back to 1494 when Robert de Balzac acquired a castle known as “Saint-Pierre” through his marriage to Antoinette de Castelnau-Caylus. Robert de Balzac, Lord of Entraygues and Chamberlain to King Louis XI, accompanied King Charles VIII to Italy in 1495, where he was appointed Governor of Pisa. His daughter, Jeanne de Balsac d'Entraygues, married Amaury II de Montal in 1496. After Amaury's death in 1510, Jeanne transformed the medieval residence into a Renaissance castle between 1519 and 1534. During this period, she lost her eldest son Robert in the Italian wars. On the castle's facade, she had busts installed of Amaury, their sons Dordet and Robert, their daughter Nine and her husband François de Scorailles, and herself. In 1591, the property passed to the Pérusse des Cars family through the marriage of Rose de Montal to François de Pérusse des Cars. In 1771, Count Jean-Jacques de Plas de Tanes acquired the castle. His son Antoine, a deputy of the Estates General in 1789, had to relinquish the estate during the French Revolution. The castle was plundered and temporarily served as an inn. Upon his return, Antoine received the uninhabitable castle back but handed it over to a cousin, whose daughter later married Boni de Lavergne.