Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

Luc Castle is a feudal building in ruins located in Luc, Lozère, in the former Gevaudan. Built between the 6th and 10th centuries on a Celtic site, it overlooks the Allier Valley and the Mercoire Forest, near the Tanargue Massif. Its strategic position, at the border of Vivarais and Gevaudan, made it a key guardian of the Regordan route, borrowed by the pilgrims of Saint-Gilles. Remnants, such as the logis in opus spicatum (fish ridge), bear witness to its military importance until the 17th century.

Originally owned by the lords of Luke, bound by alliances with the Barons of Randon and the house of Joyeuse, the castle then passed to the Polignac, although some parts (tours, enclosures) depended on neighboring lords such as the Agrin of the Hubacs or the Bourbal of Choissinet. In 1380, during the Hundred Years' War, he resisted a siege of roadmen, saved by a local intervention led by Béraud d'Agrain des Ubas. During the Wars of Religion (16th century), it houses a garrison protecting the Gevaudan.

The castle was deliberately destroyed after 1630 by order of Richelieu, like other regional fortresses (Châteauneuf-de-Randon, Grèzes). In 1878 his dungeon was transformed into a chapel, crowned with a statue of the Virgin Mary. The ruins, listed as historical monuments in 1986, have since 1978 been valued by the association Les Amis du château de Luc. The remains include enclosure walls, a two-storey tower, a well, and a rectangular building locally called "church" or "prison".

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