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Origin and history

The castle of Roumégous, located in the same name hamlet on the commune of La Salvetat-Peyralès (Aveyron), rises on a triangular promontory between the streams of Jaoul and Vernhou, near the Viaur. His name occitan, meaning "place covered with brines", is after that of Cadoule, feudal land on which he depended. The site, originally occupied by the lords of Cadolle in the 12th century, would have welcomed a first fortress around 1250, after the abandonment of their original castle, destroyed by the English around 1360 during the Hundred Years War. The Treaty of Brétigny (1360), making Viaur a border between the kingdoms of France and England, would explain the multiplication of fortified castles in the valley.

Rebuilt in the 15th century, the castle of Roumégous was probably rebuilt by Lardit de Bar, senechal of Rouergue named in 1461 and lord of the place from 1462. When he died without an heir, the estate passed to Antoine de Galand, then to his daughter Marquèse, who married Pierre de Chalon in 1519, from a bastard branch of the Counts of Burgundy. This alliance introduced the Chalon en Rouergue, a family that kept Roumégous until the 18th century. The castle, described as a "manor house" in 1432, then served as a seigneurial residence rather than a stronghold, despite its four corner towers and its strategic position.

In the 16th century, the estate belonged to Antoine de Chalon, who paid homage to King Charles IX in 1564 and 1567. His eldest daughter, Marie-Madeleine, married in 1598 Henri de Bourbon, Marquis de Malause and Protestant converted to Catholicism in 1678. The seigneury remained in this branch of the Bourbons until 1746, when it was sold to Pierre du Truel, lord of Lagarde, for 22,000 pounds. The Revolution marked a new turning point: confiscated and sold as national property in 1794, the castle was acquired by Jean-Pierre Blanquet, whose descendants still owned it.

Architecturally, Roumégous combines defensive elements (round towers, ditches) and residential elements (reception room of 12×7 m, screw stairs). Without murderers, it was above all a seigneurial dwelling, naturally protected by precipices on three sides. In the 19th century, some of the structures collapsed, leaving today only imposing ruins, including a collapsed tower and a carcase house. The site, isolated and partly invaded by vegetation, bears witness to the feudal history and social changes of the Rouergue.

The oral tradition evokes the resistance of the castle to the English after 1360, although the written sources lack to confirm this episode. The archives, however, mention his role in feudal tributes, such as that of Jean Guitard in 1432 to the Counts of Armagnac, although Roumégous' exact dependence on Rodez County remains discussed. Marital alliances (Chalon, Bourbon) and inheritances illustrate the integration of the domain into regional nobility networks, between Rouergue, Albigois and Franche-Comté.

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