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Origin and history

The Château du Fraisse, located in Nouic in Haute-Vienne, is a private building whose oldest parts date back to the 15th and 16th centuries. Its originality lies in its family continuity: it has been occupied without interruption since the 13th century by the family of the Montiers, then of the Montiers Mérinville. This uninterrupted link with the same line makes it a rare case in French heritage.

The original medieval home was destroyed in 1356 during the Hundred Years War, burned by the troops of Edward of Woodstock, known as the Black Prince, on the eve of the Battle of Poitiers. Reconstructed around 1450 by Jacques des Monstiers, the castle will lose its second floor in the 17th century for practical reasons. The central corps, in Renaissance style, was erected around 1550 by John of the Monstiers, bishop of Bayonne and ambassador of the kings Francis I and Henry II.

The Renaissance architecture of the Fraisse is inspired by the school of Sebastiano Serlio, with a plan in L, towers of internal staircases, and decorations in polychrome marbles. A local particularity is the use of Chauvigny limestone (Poitou) for ornamental elements, while the region is mostly granite. The communes, added around 1725 by François des Monstiers, housed stables, attices and domestic housing.

In the 19th century, the Marquis Jean des Monstiers Mérinville, widower, married Mary Gwendoline Byrd Caldwell in 1890. Their union allowed a vast restoration campaign (1890–1900), saving the castle from degradation. Since then, the following generations have preserved the monument without major modifications. Today, the Fraisse also houses an organic farm and is visited in summer.

Listed at the Additional Inventory of Historic Monuments (1973, 1986), some of its Renaissance decorations (doors, chimneys) have been protected under the Historic Monuments since 1973. Its history reflects both the upheavals of the Hundred Years War, the influence of the Italian Renaissance in Limousin, and the sustainability of an exceptional family heritage.

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