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Origin and history

The Cuneaux d'Aujols, also known as Château d'Aujols, are the remains of a fortress built in the second half of the 13th century. Although local tradition attributed its foundation to the Templars, this hypothesis was contested: the seigneury then belonged to the chapter of Cahors Cathedral, which had inferred it to the family of Cardaillac-Bioule. The architectural proximity of the church of Aujols with the Templar Commandery of La Capelle-Livron suggests, however, indirect links with the order, notably via the knights of Vayrols, owners of local lands in the 12th century.

The castle was built by the Cardaillac-Bioule in a common enclosure with the church Saint-Jean-Baptiste, as evidenced by an act of 1310 mentioning that parishioners had to cross the castle to access the mass. The seigneury changed hands several times: tributes to the chapter of Cahors in 1252, 1316 and 1339, then to the king after the Hundred Years' War, which left Aujols devastated. In the 15th century, Jean de Cardaillac attempted to repopulate the fief by increasing land (1455), but persistent conflicts (such as the Ligue du Bien publique in 1487) weakened the family.

In the 16th century, the Cardaillacs sold part of Aujols to the Dayrac (1520), then definitively lost the seigneury. The castle, already in ruins in the 18th century, was partially integrated into a new home, retaining only two original facades. The current remains, including the creneled wall, were listed as historical monuments in 1929. Their state reflects the political and military upheavals of Quercy, between ecclesiastical, royal and seigneurial suzeraineties.

The building also illustrates the strategies of local power: the chapter of Cahors, the initial suzerain, lost its influence to the crown after the Hundred Years' War. The Cardaillacs, involved in revolts like that of 1487 against Charles VIII, were confiscated or destroyed. The abandonment of the castle in the 16th century marked the end of their domination over Aujols, while the seigneury passed into the hands of the Fontanges, then of the Dadine de Hauteserre (from 1631).

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