Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The noble house of the Croisiers, located in the centre of the village of Salignac-Eyvigues (Dordogne), dates from the 13th and 14th centuries. According to oral tradition, it once housed a convent of cruisers, an active religious beggar order in medieval Europe. Its original architecture, although remodeled during the Renaissance, retains significant Gothic elements: six broken arcades on the ground floor, a cornice on the upper floor, and quadrilobed rose-shaped windows. These details suggest an initially more modest structure, probably limited to a ground floor and a floor.

Ranked Historic Monument by order of 4 July 1995, the house includes in its protection the adjacent return wall, bearing traces of tearing delimiting cadastral plots 140 and 142. Its present location, on three levels, results from transformations after its medieval period. The location, at 4 Place de la Halle, corresponds to the historic heart of Salignac-Eyvigues, a town whose town planning still partially reflects the spatial organization of the Middle Ages.

The available sources, including the Merimée and Monumentum base, underline the heritage importance of the site, despite the accuracy of the location deemed to be satisfactory a priori (note 6/10). However, no information confirms its current use (visit, rental, or accommodation) or the identity of the historical sponsors or occupants. The building thus illustrates the legacy of beggars in New Aquitaine, while at the same time showing architectural evolutions between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

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