The tower where they burned his eyes

Imagine being locked in a stone tower by your own uncle because of a family obsession with bloodlines. That is exactly what happened to Jean of Armagnac in 1404. The Constable of France, Bernard VII d'Armagnac, had him imprisoned in the Tour du Prisonnier and had his eyes burned with a basin of hot coals. He died there, forgotten.

But the castle has been around much longer than that particular tragedy. It first appeared in records in 935 as a way to guard the passage of the Tarn river. The site has been anchored to this rocky spur since the 10th century, with several families succeeding one another while the walls were constantly being tweaked, rebuilt, and expanded. The current curtain walls date back to the 15th century.

If you walk the grounds today, you can see the heavy remains of the village-side wall and its various towers. There are the foundations of the Picarde tower, which was once the tallest in the Rouergue region at 45 metres. You can also find the Tour du Prisonnier, the Tour de la Princesse, and the open-mouthed tower at the northwest point.

Now, the castle is managed by the local rural center. It hosts temporary exhibitions instead of hosting embittered nobles. You can wander through the old seigneurial lodge, which has Renaissance comforts and a 17th-century grand staircase. It is a bit of a peaceful place now, once you ignore the dark history of the masonry.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons