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Origin and history

The castle of Luzech has its origins in the political and religious upheavals of the thirteenth century. After the crusade of the Albigeois (1209-1229), the bishop of Cahors, Guillaume de Cardaillac (1209-1234) consolidated his power by confiscating the property of the heretical lords allied to the Count of Toulouse. In 1212, Simon IV de Montfort burned the city of Luzech. Fifteen years later, in 1227, the bishop acquired the ruins of the castle and became its eminent lord, before building there around 1230 a stone fortress, symbol of its authority. It also authorizes the Baron of Luzech to erect a second castle on the rock of the Trincade, of which only remains today.

In 1257, Alphonse de Poitiers gave all his rights to the local lands to the bishop of Cahors, thus transferring the vassality of the Barons of Luzech — formerly linked to the Count of Toulouse — to the Church. Bishop Barthélémy de Roux (1250-1273) granted customs to the inhabitants in 1270, marking a period of relative stability. The following centuries saw the seigneury pass into the hands of noble families, such as the Luzech, the Chapt of Rastignac, and then the La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. In 1504 Bertrand de Luzech, Baron of the place, received from his brother Antoine, bishop of Cahors, the seigneurial rights reserved for the Church.

The castle remains a strategic and family issue until the 17th century. John II of Luzech, who died without heir in 1587 during the Wars of Religion, bequeathed his property to his widow, Jacquette de Ricard, who remarried with John IV Chapt de Rastignac. He died in Luzech in 1621. In the 19th century, after centuries of nobiliary transmissions, the Duke of La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, heir to Rastignac, sold the castle to the commune in 1841. Ranked a historical monument in 1905, and registered in 2022, it now bears witness to medieval military architecture and power struggles between Church and nobility.

The dungeon, the central element of the castle, is distinguished by its almost square structure (8.65 m x 8.20 m) and its 24 meters high. Built in blond limestone, it is pierced by archères and reinforced by flat foothills. In the east, a wall of enclosure, as high as the dungeon, has a door and an archer, illustrating the defensive techniques of the time. The interior, organized on four floors served by a spiral staircase, reflects a design that is both practical and symbolic, unique to the episcopal castles of the Middle Ages.

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