Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

Lauzun Castle was first mentioned in 1259, when Bégon de Caumont and his brothers paid tribute to Alphonse de Poitiers for this castrum. A charter of 1211 attests that their father, Nompar de Caumont, was already lord. The seigneury passed from Caumont to Gontaut-Biron in the 18th century, although members of this family were associated with the castle as early as 1294, suggesting a possible coseigneuria. Lauzun became a barony in the 14th century, then a county in 1570 before being erected as a duchy in 1692.

During the Wars of Religion, the castle welcomed royal figures: Charles IX and Catherine de Medici in 1565, the future Henri IV in 1576, and Marguerite de Valois in 1581. The oldest branch of Caumont (protestant) and the youngest (Catholic) oppose it. The last Duke, Armand-Louis de Gontaut-Biron, guillotined in 1793, marked the end of the lineage. The castle, sold in 1807, underwent radical transformations after that date, with the destruction of the pre-15th century parts.

The excavations of the 1990s reveal a Romanesque dungeon (late 12th–early 13th century) and an adjacent room, perhaps a chapel. In the 16th century, Gabriel-Nompar de Caumont built a 60 m Renaissance wing, incorporating a chapel of Sainte-Catherine and halls of appartment. The "Dôme", built between 1677 and 1689, links the wings. In the 18th century, the castle, abandoned by its owners, saw its courtyard filled and its peristyle partially destroyed. Ranked a historic monument in 1923 and 1963, it was restored from 1990 by M. and Mme Pierre Baron before being re-issued for sale in 2014.

The village of Lauzun developed around the castle, surrounded by ramparts and ditches from the 13th century. Two towers remain today. In 1438, the castle was briefly taken by Spanish mercenaries led by Rodrigue de Villandrando. The architectural transformations reflect the social and political evolutions of the seigneury, from simple medieval castrum to aristocratic residence of the 17th to 18th centuries.

The inventory of 1570 describes a "large square tower", a "castle body" with high and low rooms, and a "large castle" served by a spiral staircase. The chapel, not mentioned in this inventory but attested in 1575, is moved into the new Renaissance wing. The monumental chimneys and a Roman votive altar, located in the park, were classified in 1923. The 1992 excavations also reveal a double peristyle connecting the wings, now partially destroyed.

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