Little journal of friends of Montautre - n°17

Dear friends of the Montautre site,

In this seventeenth issue of the " Petit journal des amis de Montautre ", you will see that the wealth of news has not diminished, and this has been the case for 5 years! Thank you all for your feedback, comments, additions and encouragement: they motivate us to continue sharing this wonderful adventure! The first 13 issues are available on our website www.chateau-de-montautre.fr , and the 14th will be available soon!

0. News

Last week was marked by the dismantling of the scaffolding of the turret and the chapel : even if there is still finishing work to be done (replacing the floor tiles in the turret, sacristy door, restoration of the frescoes, cleaning up the base of the wall, etc.), it is a real pleasure to see the wall of the chapel consolidated, its framework and roof redone, the turret resplendent, with its masonry repaired, its framework and roof completely restored. The so-called " scrambled " installation of the Travassac slates and the forged finial with the coat of arms of the Mondin de Montautre clearly make the difference: thank you to our heritage architect, Luc Joudinaud , and to the teams of Blanchon and EP Charpente for the work carried out. The short video of the installation of the last slates of the turret has exceeded 19 million views on Instagram and 270,000 likes. That's how much excitement there is around this restoration!

Furthermore, activities on the Montautre site are multiplying at the start of summer. We had the idea to take advantage of our magnificent and peaceful little circular clearing located next to the Gallo-Roman archaeological site (could it be a vestige of the "locus" of Druidic origin?): Cathy Matos , certified sophrologist, based in the neighboring town of Folles, took the initiative to offer us a sophrology workshop on Wednesday July 10 (reservation by telephone required, group limited to 15 people). Finally, the next guided tours - by the owner - will take place on Saturday July 6 and Sunday July 7 at 3 p.m. and will be the opportunity to present for the first time the rescue and restoration work: spread the word and register by email, as groups are limited to 20 people ( contact@chateau-de-montautre.fr ).

1. Medieval History:

In his 1912 book, " Le Château de Montôtre et ses seigneurs ", written after having stayed there a few years earlier, Roger Drouault mentioned a chest in which the castle's archives - which he had studied at length - were stored: "Montautre has preserved its archives, which, not long ago, were sleeping, dusty and unused, in an old and enormous chest with ancient ironwork" . Thanks to Ronan Le Gallo , a direct descendant of the Mondin de Montautre family, this chest was identified in a house belonging to his family. It has 6 mysterious decorative nails that are reminiscent of scallop shells...

There is no doubt that this is a 15th-century chest, and it is the one described by Roger Drouault : the decorations on the facade and sides, known as "napkin pleats," are typical of the period, and the age of the wood is consistent. It dates from the origins of the castle, and this is where the archives were kept, at least at the beginning of the 20th century.

2. Classical period

In 1706, in the family property of the Maison Rouge, in La Souterraine, François-Xavier was born, the third son of Jacques Mondin de Montostre . Having entered the orders, he quickly made a name for himself and after a rapid rise was elected (by 32 votes out of 45), at only 41 years old, abbot general of the order of Grandmont , one of the most prestigious monastic orders of the Middle Ages, founded in 1076 near Limoges. The head of the order of Grandmont had authority over 150 abbeys, in France, Spain and England. Recognized as a man of great faith, great integrity and great kindness, François-Xavier Mondin, known as de la Maison Rouge, devoted his life to trying to save his order and his abbey. These are in fact victims of the joint machinations of the Bishop of Limoges, who wishes to recover the riches of the abbey, and of Loménie de Brienne , the ambitious Archbishop of Toulouse, who wants to show Louis XV his capacity for reforming religious orders to become one of his ministers. He will finally be briefly the first minister of Louis XVI. Appointed in 1787, he will be dismissed in 1788 in favor of Necker. Louis XVI - who did not like him - said of him "it would still be necessary for Mr. the Archbishop to believe in God". This incredible story has been told in a book, "the curse of the GrandMontains" which takes us into the political mysteries of the 18th century. Thanks to Alain Charbonnier , faithful friend of Montautre, who keeps the priory of Bronzeaux alive, one of the vestiges of the order, and who drew our attention to this fascinating work.

You will note the spelling Mondain , while we use the spelling Mondin . The two are found interchangeably in the archives, but the branch established at the Maison Rouge often favored Mondain.

3. Contemporary period

This 17th "little newspaper" is also its 5th anniversary. For 5 years, we have been very happy to have opened the castle to the public, then to animate the community of "friends of Montautre" through this small media and to develop the activities on site to share it more. I had the opportunity to tell this beautiful heritage and human adventure in an article published in an alumni newspaper. For those who are amused, you will find it at the following link https://www.lajauneetlarouge.com/renovation-du-chateau-de-montautre-par-un-x-recit-dune-passion/

Thank you for your loyalty , friends of Montautre, for 5 years for some of you : be thanked more than ever, and be assured of being welcome in Montautre when you pass nearby. Give us a sign, or give us a sign to Kitty and Adri who continue to maintain this site that we love so much.

See you soon !

Kind regards

Serge