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Origin and history

The castle of Thégra, located in the Lot department in Occitanie, finds its origins in the 11th century, built on an eminence 800 meters from the present village. It was initially linked to the Viscounts of Turenne, whose suzerainety was at length contested by the lords of Cazillac. A decree of the Bordeaux Parliament in 1526, confirmed in 1705 and 1735, definitively endorsed this suzerainety. The lords of Thégra, in order to escape this domination, placed themselves under the vassality of the Count of Toulouse, then of the king, exploiting a legal ambiguity that made a frank alleu believe. The seigneury passed into the hands of the Gasc family in the 12th century by alliance with the Viscounts of Turenne, before being divided among several lines, including Valon, Cornil and Cavagnac.

In the 12th century, the seigneury of Thégra, including the local courts, was passed on to the Gasc family, originally from Gascogne and allied with Turenne. Bertrand II Gasc, lord of Bétaille and Thégra, played a key role in the protection of Rocamadour, a place of major pilgrimage integrated with the archiprired of Thégra. The seigneury was then broken up between heirs, including the Valon, who became coseigneurs alongside the Cornil and the Cavagnac. Guillaume de Valon and his descendants strengthened their power, despite internal conflicts and successive transactions. The castle, initially fortified in the 11th century, was destroyed during the Hundred Years' War and abandoned for the benefit of Rocamadour by the Valon family.

Reconstructed in the second half of the 15th century by Adhémar de Valon, the castle adopted a traditional plan with a body of rectangular houses and three circular towers. Adhémar de Valon also worked to repopulate the village, devastated by the war, by granting land to settlers as early as 1442. The seigneury then passed to the Gozons by the marriage of Jeanne de Valon with Antoine de Gozon in 1560. The castle became an issue of the Wars of Religion: taken in 1574 by Protestants led by Antoine de Malleville, it remained a Huguenote fortress until 1580. Jeanne de Valon, widow on three occasions, finally passed Thégra to her granddaughter Jeanne de Gozon, marrying the lineage of Touchebeuf-Beaumond.

In the 18th century, the castle was acquired by François Niocel, a merchant of Saint-Céré, who undertook major renovations. Sold as a national good during the Revolution to M. Lavaur, he changed hands several times in the 19th century, passing notably to the Bergues and Calmels d'Artensac families. In 1960, the Château de Thégra became part of the historical monuments, and today it embodies an architectural heritage marked by feudal conflicts, religious wars and the social transformations of the Old Regime in modern times.

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