Origin and history
The castle of Goudourville, located in the present department of Tarn-et-Garonne in Occitanie, finds its origins in the 12th century under the impulse of the Gasques family, vassal of the Durfort of Clermont-Soubiran. Built on a pech (rocky plateau), it dominates the village and the Garonne valley. Its name, derived from the Latin Gothorum villa, evokes the Visigoth settlement in the fifth century in this region between Quercy and Tolosa (Toulouse). The site, initially a monastery dependent on Bonneval Abbey destroyed by the Normans, was transformed into a fortress by Hugues de Gasques in 1081 to serve as a vigy.
In the Middle Ages, the castle played a strategic role: in 1278 the seigneurs Ségui and Pierre de Gasques granted a charter of customs to the inhabitants, defining rights and duties. During the Hundred Years War, it was looted and damaged, then restored around 1460 by Naudonnet de Lustrac, captain of Lauzerte. The Lustrac family, which took possession of it at the end of the 15th century, undertook important work between 1480 and 1500, adding a stair tower and exterior galleries, marking the transition to a more comfortable home. These developments, stylistically close to the abbey house of Saint-Maurin, place Goudourville among the notable achievements of the late Gothic period in Aquitaine.
The Renaissance saw the castle reach its climax under Marguerite de Lustrac, daughter of Antoine II and wife of Jacques d In 1562 Charles IX and Catherine de Médicis stayed there, illustrating his prestige. After the death of Albon, Marguerite married Geoffroy de Caumont, a Protestant and friend of Henri de Navarre (future Henri IV), before seeing his estates dispossessed in 1574. His heir, Anne de Caumont, sold Goudourville in 1598 after forced abductions and marriages, marking the end of this fat era.
In the 17th century, the castle became a political issue. Guillaume d'Affis, the first president of the Bordeaux Parliament, restored him after his purchase in 1598, but he was ransacked in 1652 during the Fronde by the royalist troops of the Earl of Harcourt. The revolts against Mazarin gathered noble protestors there, before the estate passed into the hands of Jean-Baptiste Lecomte, Marquis de Latresne, in 1676. The state of disrepair worsens until its redemption in 1745 by Louis Bailet de Berdolle, capital of Toulouse, who modernises it to the taste of the eighteenth century (French windows, redistribution of spaces) and organizes secret meetings there to rally Parliament to the crown.
The French Revolution marks a new decline: the towers are razed, the stones requisitioned to repair the roads. In the 19th century, the castle changed hands several times, passing from Lary de Latour to Counts des Grottes, then to the family of Cianelli de Sérans, including Gonzague, who had volunteered during the First World War. In 1939, the engineer Léon Bernier bought it to protect his family, while the Vidaillan family, occupying the farm, saved Jews during the Second World War, obtaining the title of Righteous among the Nations. Since 1974, the castle, registered with the Historical Monuments, has been restored and opened to the public for cultural and tourist events.
The architecture of the castle reflects its many transformations: thickened walls in the 15th century, Renaissance staircase, sled windows, and partially preserved mâchicoulis. The restoration campaigns of the 20th and 21st centuries helped to raise the towers lowered during the Revolution and preserve elements such as the Guards Hall, the chapel, or the stairway with screws. Today, its current owners perpetuate its history by combining heritage conservation with public entertainment, while deepening research on the families that have shaped it since the 11th century.
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