France · 13th century
Le Château des Rois ducs (also known as Château de Sauveterre) is a castle in the commune of Sauveterre-la-Lémance in the Lot-et-Garonne département of France.
It was constructed at the end of the 13th century by Edward I of England on one of the principal routes between Périgord and Agenais. During the Hundred Years' War, it became a centrepiece in the Anglo-French war of attrition. It was burned in 1789 during the French Revolution.
It was bought by the aviator Jean Mermoz in 1936, less than a year before his death. He had seen the castle from the air. After his death, the castle was abandoned and became the property of the commune until it was sold in the 1980s.
The castle in its entirety, as well as its grounds and moat, have been classified as historical monuments since 19 September 2003. It is privately owned.
Built on a rocky outcrop, it overlooks the valleys of the Lémance and the Sendroux. It is located not far from Périgord Noir (Dordogne) and Quercy (Lot).
Text adapted from “Château des Rois ducs” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Château des Rois ducs ranks #7,883 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #750 of the 793 mapped in France. Founded c. 1275, it is older than 65% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. It is one of the 45 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Dordogne. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
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