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Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Ayres finds its origins in the seventh century with a monastic foundation destroyed by the Sarrasin invasions, then rebuilt in the eighth century. Around 1025, the monk Martin established a Benedictine community there under the name of Saint-Martin des Ayres, first dependent on Aniane, then on the Abbey of Saint-Victor of Marseilles. The priory, prosperous thanks to a vast agricultural estate, welcomes personalities like the Queen Blanche de Castille and accumulates donations before going under the control of the Cathédral chapter of Montpellier. In the 16th century, the monks abandoned, leaving only one sacristan to manage agricultural incomes.

During the religious wars, the Protestant family Galtier de Montauran seized the site and turned it into a military fort, carrying out raids such as the capture of La Canourgue or the fire of the church of Meyrueis. In 1632, after the repression of Richelieu against the Protestants, the castle was partially dismantled (decapitated towers, wall of enclosure shot down). The Galtiers converted to Catholicism in 1685, under pressure from the revocation of the edict of Nantes and the presence of King's dragons in Meyrueis.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the camisards attacked and burned the castle, which was rebuilt by the Manoel family of Nogaret. Spared by the Revolution, it houses in the 19th century two active mills (moulin d'Ayres and mill of Montblanc). In the 20th century, transformed into a hotel-relais, it welcomed figures such as Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and General de Gaulle. The property finally returns to the Nogaret family heritage after the marriage of the last heiress with a distant cousin.

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