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Origin and history

Castelnoubel Castle, located on a promontory above the Mondot valley near Bon-Encontre, has its origins in the 13th century, although the site was occupied as early as the 10th or 11th century. Originally owned by the Marmande family, he was named in 1270 in an oath of fidelity to the Baylia of Puymirol. Arnaud de Marmande, the first known lord, was mentioned in 1268 for conflicts with neighboring lords. The family, faithful to the kings of England, lost the castle in the 14th century to the Durforts, after legal and military struggles with the consuls of Agen.

The Durfort, an influential family of the Agenese, rebuilt and enlarged the castle in the 14th and 15th centuries. Arnaud de Durfort, allied sometimes with the English, sometimes with the French, obtained in 1351 high and low jurisdiction over Castelnoubel. The castle was ruined in 1472 during the revolts of the Counts of Armagnac, then rebuilt by François de Durfort at the end of the 15th century. Conflicts with the consuls of Agen, claiming rights to the surrounding lands, continued until the 16th century, marked by trials and matrimonial transactions to preserve the seigneury.

In the 16th century, the castle passed into the hands of several families by inheritance and sales, including the Montpezat, the Raffin de Hauterive, and the Secondat (family of Montesquieu). Jean-Baptiste de Secondat, president of the Parliament of Bordeaux, owned it before selling it around 1700 to Louis Pascault de Poléon. The Revolution spared the estate, but it was finally sold in 1817 to Pierre Loubat, then to the Écherolles family. In the 19th century, neo-Gothic developments were added, and the castle became a retreat for religious and charitable figures, such as Bishop Meignan.

The castle of Castelnoubel illustrates the political and military tensions of the Agenese, drawn between the crowns of France and England. Its architecture blends medieval defensive elements (round towers, archeries) with Renaissance additions (ddogive-crossed galleries). Ranked a historic monument in 1966, it reflects the seigneurial strategies and family alliances that shaped local history from the 13th to the 19th century.

Archaeological and textual sources highlight its role as a refuge during the wars, as well as its symbolic importance to the surrounding populations. Conflicts with the consuls of Agen, recurring from the 14th to the 16th century, reveal the issues of power between local lords and urban institutions. The transmission of the castle by inheritances, marriages and sales also reflects the social dynamics of the Agenese nobility, between monarchic fidelity and territorial interests.

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