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Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Montausier, located in the present commune of Baignes-Sainte-Radegonde (Charente), was originally a castle attested by the 10th century under the Counts of Angoulême. Built in Barony in the 14th century, it became the property of the Sainte-Maure, an influential family that transformed it into a marquisat (1644), then a duchy-pairie (1665). Charles de Sainte-Maure, Duke of Montausier and Governor of the Grand Dauphin, was born there in 1610. The estate, confiscated during the Revolution, was destroyed in 1793, leaving only a 15th century oval tower and a vaulted fountain, the Font-Madame.

The remaining tower, at the ângle of the missing castle, has mâchicoulis and two excrescences housing spiral staircases. An inventory of 1671 mentions a "new house" and secondary towers, but the Duke resided mainly at the Château de Rambouillet. The remains also include moats and traces of a medieval chapel dedicated to the Virgin, linked to popular beliefs (therapeutic waters or wedding vows).

Nearby, Father Jean-Hippolyte Michon, pioneer of graphology, built between 1871 and 1879 a Moorish-style mansion, often confused with the old castle. This manor by Abbé Michon, decorated with sculptures inspired by the East and Latin currencies, reuses the foundations of two medieval towers. Michon, nicknamed the "Hermit of Montausier", lived there until his death in 1881. The site, marked by feudal history and 19th century transformations, illustrates the evolution of a seigneurial estate into a local heritage.

The fief de Montausier, enclave of Angoumois in Saintonge, included about ten parishes under the authority of the Sainte-Maure, who exercised high justice there. Léon de Sainte-Maure obtained in 1487 the authorization to strengthen the castle, destroyed by the English. The Duchy-Payrie, one of the three in the province with Villebois-Lavalette and La Rochefoucauld, symbolized the power of the military governors of Saintonge and Angoumois. After 1793, the parish of Sainte-Radegonde was attached to Baignes, forming Baignes-Sainte-Radegonde.

The central driveway of the castle, known as the Mail Drive, was integrated into a departmental road in the 19th century. La Font-Madame, associated with Marguerite de Châteaubriand (mother of the Duke), bears an inscription partially erased from the seventeenth century. The moat, visible to the northwest, and the remains of the chapel recall the religious and strategic importance of the site. The original plan of the castle, kept in private hands, reveals a rectangular structure flanked by round towers with mâchicoulis, typical of Renaissance defensive architecture.

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