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Origin and history

Pagax Castle, located in Flagnac in Aveyron, is a fortress built in the 13th century, but the first written mention dates back to 1259. Originally, it served as a strategic point for asserting the Royal Authority in the Rouergue region on the Quercy border. Its name, formerly spelled Pagas (from the Latin Pagus, designating a tax jurisdiction or a crossing point), reflects this administrative and military vocation. The family of Montarnal, a powerful noble line mentioned in 1096, owned it until the 15th century, before it passed to the Morets by inheritance.

The architecture of the castle combines medieval defensive features (cylindrical towers, mâchicoulis, blind ground floor) and Renaissance transformations, such as the later added sled windows. An annex building, now partially dismantled, had two watchtowers and a round road, while a Saint Peter chapel, founded in 1327, was attached to it until the 1960s. The site thus illustrates the evolution of military and residential needs between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

In the 15th century, Hugues de Montarnal passed the castle to his daughter Nine and his son-in-law Guillaume de Moret, marking the beginning of his association with this influential family. The Morets, allied to noble houses and possessing vast lands (including the seigneuries of Montarnal, Vieillevie, or Peyre), retained Pagax until 1773. Henri Victor de Moret (1642–104), descendant of Madeleine de Bourbon Malauze — herself from the Capetians — incarnates the climax of this lineage. The French Revolution marked a turning point: the owner of the period, Jacques Le Brunet, burned his feudal titles and beheaded the towers to avoid looting.

After a period of darkness in the 19th century, the castle changed hands several times, passing from Solanet to Campargue around 1925. Since 2005, the Dessalles family has been restoring it. In 2020, he was selected by the Stéphane Bern mission for the Heritage Lotto, benefiting from national media coverage via the program Roots and wings. Ranked a historic monument in 1978, Pagax remains a symbol of the Aveyron heritage, blending feudal history and contemporary preservation issues.

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