Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of La Bancalié, located in Terre-de-Bancalié (formerly Saint-Antonin-de-Lacalm) in the Tarn, is a building of medieval origin, perhaps prior to the 13th century. His first certified owners belonged to the family of Bages, a line of small local nobility having provided three consuls to Albi (Peter I, Antoine II in 1545, and John in 1645). The castle passed to the Raspauds around 1582 by marriage, after the extinction of the male branch of the Bages.

In the 17th century, the towers of the castle were damaged by order of Cardinal Richelieu, probably in connection with regional Huguenot rebellions. The following centuries saw architectural changes, but the general structure remained preserved. In the 18th century, the seigneury belonged to Marc-Antoine de Cabrol, then to the Novion family after his daughter's marriage in 1734.

After the Revolution, the castle changed hands frequently: the Fargutes in 1867, the Adhémar (birth of Mathilde Adhémar in 1873), and the Viscount Christian de Becdelièvre in 1913. In the 20th century, tower slots, visible on old postcards, disappeared in favour of simple roofs. The current architecture includes a rectangular house body, a wing surrounding a courtyard, and four towers (two squares and two circulars), with a baluster porch leading to the raised ground floor.

External links