France
The Château de Montal is a French Renaissance château located in the heart of the valley of the Bave in the commune of Saint-Jean-Lespinasse in Lot department in the region of Occitanie, in southwestern France. The château has been classified as a historical monuments since 14 June 1909.
In 1494, a château known as "Saint-Pierre" was acquired by Robert de Balzac, upon his marriage to Antoinette de Castelnau-Caylus. Robert de Balsac was Seigneur (Lord) of Entraygues, Chamberlain to Louis XI and Seneschal of Agenais. In 1495, he accompanied King Charles VIII to Italy, where the King appointed Balzac Governor of Pisa.
In 1496, Balzac's daughter, Jeanne de Balsac d'Entraygues, married Amaury II de Montal, Lord of Laroquebrou and owner of the Château de Laroquebrou. After Montal's death in 1510, Jeanne transformed the medieval residence into the French Renaissance style between 1519 and 1534. She also lost her eldest son Robert in 1523 during the wars in Italy. During the renovations, she included sculpted busts on the façade of Amaury, their two sons Dordet and Robert, their daughter Nine and her husband François de Scorailles, and Jeanne herself. In 1591, the château passed into the Pérusse des Cars family through the 1595 marriage of Rose de Montal to François de Pérusse des Cars, 1st Marquis de Montal, Marquis de Merville.
In 1771, Count Jean-Jacques de Plas de Tanes acquired the château and the Seigneury of Montal. His son Antoine married a daughter of the Germanic nobility. He was a Deputy for the nobility in the Estates General in 1789, but had to give up his domain once the French Revolution began. He fled in 1792, the château was ransacked, unsuccessfully offered for sale in January 1793, and then turned into an inn. Upon his return, the château was returned to Antoine, but it was without furnishings and uninhabitable. Instead of returning to the château, he turned it over to his cousin from Plas de Curemonte, whose daughter married Boni de Lavergne.
The son of Lavergne sold the château to a banker from Saint-Céré. After his widow's death, the château was again sold to the property merchant Macaire du Verdier in 1858. In 1880, the château was dismantled and sold the sculpted decorations, doors, skylights and fireplaces, nearly everything except the staircase which was to be sold at a later date. The sale of the features brought in 142,000 francs.
Text adapted from “Château de Montal” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Castle of Montal ranks #6,354 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #570 of the 793 mapped in France. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,185 times in the last 60 days, more than 55% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. It is one of the 45 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Dordogne. It is stop 28 of 29 on the Dordogne castle route, Bergerac to Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
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