In 1996 Maureen, Jacqueline and I went for a walk in the woods near Montignac where we were based. I was reminded of this when we came here (Boussagou) In French they seem use more adjectives or adverbs or borrow an English word (le parking, le weekend, le sandwich). In English if no word currently exists we invent a new one (woke, meme, goat, boomerang generation). It’s all to do with translating French into English. This was meant to be a postcard but I got carried away and wrote too much, so I had to send it as a generic email instead (Jacqueline suffered the same fate with a card I sent her last week). I sent this email to some friends just yesterday(27th Sep 2022) but then came across your article and thought it might be of interest to you. Unless otherwise noted, all photos in this post are copyright © 2021 by Richard L. Have you ever visited a place that moved you in this way? What specifically speaks to you in the presence of these ancient ruins – why do you think they are worth a visit? Please share your experience in the Comments section below – and while you’re here, please take a second to share this post with someone else who is interested in the people, places, culture, and history of central France. In any case, I come back to what I said in the beginning: the Château de Commarque is unique among my most moving experiences of traveling in the deep heart of France, and I heartily recommend the journey there to anyone who has the opportunity! And yes, for the historian in me, it’s partly the incredible story of how the château has been dragged from the jaws of total ruin and put on a path to restoration as an important place in the history of France. It’s partly the almost spiritual quality of absorbing the weight of the thousands of years of human development that envelop Commarque. It’s partly the physical beauty of the setting, this lush green meadow surmounted by dramatic castle walls. I can’t put into words everything I felt (besides “please don’t let me slide to my death!”) as I scrambled around the rocky ruins. So Martin Walker sets a murder mystery about a woman who mysteriously falls from the top of the great donjon at Commarque, and takes the literary liberty to attribute the crime to treasure hunters looking for the Templars’ lost gold.īut that’s the (necessary) commercial side of this incredible site. (I’ve read stories recently hinting that the Holy Grail itself may be hidden under one of the Templars’ commanderie houses in England, and there are thousands of other sites that claim a similar connection.) But both were very rich, and legends about their treasure troves abound. (It’s one of Walker’s Inspector Bruno series of murder mysteries if you’re interested in life in the Dordogne, I recommend several of the books in this series for the way they depict the food, drink, culture, and general rhythm of living in this region of France!) To be clear, the Templars were NOT the same as the Hospitallers – in fact, they were at best collaborating organizations and at worst, rival military forces. In fact, the first time I learned about this place was through a novel by Martin Walker, The Templars’ Last Secret. Another castle – the 13 th-century Château de Laussel – is visible on a nearby hill (although signs at the ticket booth here make it clear that “you can’t visit it – it has hotel rooms available for week-long stays, but the path from here to there is private”). And the meadow in between is lush, bucolic, populated with cattle and hikers making their way around the site. The many buildings that make up Commarque climb a sharp limestone hill above a broad green meadow.Īt its base (and in the rock wall facing the castle across the meadow) you can see several cave openings, hinting at epochs long before the medieval construction. (And of course, as you’re walking down you have to remember that there will be a steep uphill climb at the end of your visit, although the whole trail is well-shaded by trees that are 60-80 feet tall.)īut when the end of the trail opens out onto the castle site…oh, my! This is one of the most spectacular ruin sites I’ve seen anywhere. Once you’re out of the car, there’s a steep half-mile walk down to the site of the château.
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