Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Larressingle emerged in history in the 11th century, when Abbé Hugues de Gascogne, heir to the Dukes of Gascogne, left his lands of Larressingle and the church of Saint-Sigismund at the Abbey of Condom. This gift, confirmed by the papal bubbles of Alexander III (1163) and Innocent IV (1245), seals the domination of the abbots, then of the bishops of Condom over the village. In the 12th century, the early church was replaced by a defensive Romanesque building, reflecting regional tensions.

In the 13th century, in the context of the French-English rivalry for Aquitaine, the abbots of Condom fortified Larressingle into a citadel. The construction of the towers was attributed to Arnaud Othon de Lomagne, the penultimate abbot, while his successor Auger d'Anduran concluded in 1285 an act of trimming with Edward I of England. This agreement shares the justice and management of the Castrum of Retrosingula (formerly Larressingle) between the Abbey and the English crown, while strengthening the defences against the revolts of the inhabitants of Condom.

The castle played only a minor military role during the Hundred Years War, but became an issue during the Wars of Religion. In 1589, the Leagues took it by surprise, using it as a base for raids until 1596. Antoine-Arnaud de Pardaillan de Gondrin, seigneur of Montespan, took control of it and resisted attempts to surrender it, despite the negotiations between the consuls of Condom and the Marshal of Matignon. He left Larressingle only in 1596, after his submission to Henry IV.

From the seventeenth century, the bishops abandoned Larressingle for the castle of Cassaigne, more modern. In the 18th century, Bishop of Antiroches, the last bishop of Condom, had the roof of the castle dismantled, accelerating its decline. Sold as a national good during the Revolution, it was looted and abandoned. At the beginning of the 20th century, only a safeguard committee founded by the Duke of Treviso, with US funding, avoided its total disappearance.

Today, Larressingle is ranked among the Most Beautiful Villages in France and attracts 133,000 annual visitors. Its almost intact medieval enclosure, its trapezoidal dungeon and its church of St.Sigismund (XIIth–XIIIth centuries) testify to its strategic past. The village also houses a reconstituted medieval siege camp, offering demonstrations of warcraft, and a museum dedicated to life in the Middle Ages.

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