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Origin and history

The castle of Roussas, dated from the 11th century, is a fortified castrum occupying a rocky spur. It consists of two dungeons, a castral chapel, and a polygonal enclosure made of cut stone, pierced by two defensive doors. The dungeons, of square plans, show traces of successive construction campaigns, especially in the 12th and 13th centuries, with bays in full hanger and defense systems like archer-canones. The chapel, dated from the second half of the 12th century, is surrounded by a cemetery, while the lower parts of the southwest dungeon, called Balestral tower, date back to the middle of the 12th century.

The site was a co-seigneury shared between the Counts of Valentin and the Order of Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem, attested as early as 1229. Giraud Adhémar, and then his son-in-law Bermond of Uzès, paid tribute to the Count of Valentinois in 1253. In 1334, the share of the Adhemars of the Guard was inferodized at Eymard Gontard. The castrum, mentioned as a papal fief in 1291, was besieged in 1579 during the Wars of Religion, resulting in reinforcements of the southern gate (dated engraved: 1621). After the Fronde, Richelieu ordered the destruction of the defensive elements, decrenelly dungeons and courtines.

In the 18th century, a wing was added to the northeast dungeon, transformed into a house. The Revolution spared the castle, then property of the Bertet, its last lords. Between 1862 and 1868, the houses of the castrum, in ruins, were demolished, except the chapel bought by Baron Claude Amédée de Bertet. Ranked as a Historic Monument in 1926, the site experienced landslides in 1977 and 1982, requiring consolidation in 1985 and 1991. Today it bears witness to a complex medieval military architecture, marked by phases of construction and destruction linked to the feudal and religious history of the region.

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