Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de la Servayrie, built in red sandstone on a promontory in Mouret (Aveyron), presents a composite architecture from the 12th to the 17th century. Its Romanesque tower, intact since the twelfth century, symbolizes seigneurial power by its massivity and its only raised door. This castle was part of the Coseigneurie de Mouret, a system for sharing land income and legal rights between several noble families, studied scientifically between 1998 and 2001 under the direction of Sylvie Campech.

The history of the castle is linked to that of the Castrum of Moret, mentioned from the 11th century as the head of a coseigneuria gathering four castles. The early tower, built around 1200 by the Entraygues family, was an ostentatious and symbolic tower, permanently uninhabitable. Its second level, a raised aula, embodied power through its elevation and isolation. The Mouret family, attested as early as 1031, declined after the 12th century, leaving the Entraygues as coseigneurs.

The Hundred Years' War marked the region as early as 1340, with attacks like that of 1410 by the Routiers, destroying the upper levels of the tower. This destruction led to a reconstruction with four additional floors, equipped with a stone staircase and comfort elements (improved vertical circulation, mâchicoulis). In the 15th century, the North House was enlarged and raised, reflecting an adaptation to the defensive and residential needs of the time.

Between 1560 and 1774, the castle underwent paradoxical transformations, adopting with 30 years of delay the style of Serlio (1570-1580), while retaining its medieval character. An imposing stair tower and a square scallop, added in the seventeenth century, balanced the facade visible from the valley. The lineage of the Entraygues died at the end of the 16th century; Their possessions passed to the Cabanes, then to the Laroque de Sénézergues and finally to the Cadrieu, who united the seigneuries of Mouret in 1750.

Sold during the Revolution, the castle became a horizontal condominium in the 20th century, with each family having a floor, resulting in its gradual abandonment. Rached in 1993 by Colette and Roger Fabry, it was classified as a Historic Monument in 1995 and restored for more than ten years. Since 2001, it has been open to the public in summer, and part of it has been dedicated to luxury guest rooms since 2017. In 2024, it will serve as a setting for a documentary-fiction about Marie Stuart.

The castle illustrates the architectural evolution rouergate, mixing medieval symbols (belfry tower, mâchicoulis) and late Renaissance influences. Its history also reflects regional political dynamics: from Rodez County to Toulouse influence (Raymond V, Raimond VII), then to the French crown after 1271. The Coseigneuria of Mouret, studied by the Centre d'archéologie médiévale du Languedoc, makes it a rare testimony of the seigneurial structures shared in Occitanie.

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