Castelnaud castle: murder and abduction
And also
The tops
Mortal mushrooms
We were in the middle of wars of Religion… the castle was entrusted to the Protestant Geoffroy de Vivans, nicknamed “the Rowdy”.
A Protestant? My gosh! Yes he was, because the Caumont changed religion. And Geoffroy moved in.
He was born in Castelnaud in 1543, he was a brave chap, a tough soldier. He loyally kept the stronghold, even when the area was ransacked and pillaged: thanks to him, the castle was not besieged!
But wait and see… you haven’t seen anything yet! The Huguenot Geoffroy de Caumont took shelter in the castle to escape from Protestant slaughters in 1574: here, a man called Anet de Commarque gave him delicious mushrooms for diner…
Geoffroy loved mushrooms! Few hours later, he had a terrible mortal stomach-ache. Verdict? Poisoning…
An easy prey
Let's talk about kidnappings. Let's talk about Anne de Caumont, Geoffroy’s daughter.
Her father died. Anne stayed with her mother Marguerite de Lustrac in Castelnaud.
Pretty and rich, she was an easy prey for noble lords of the area. Jean des Cars (her tutor) kidnapped her and forced her to marry his son. She was 8 years old.
He confined her illegally in his castle in Limousin. Anne became a widow at the age of 12 (Charles de Biron, who also “wanted” her, killed her husband in a duel).
Cars kidnapped her once again to marry his other son.
Vivans saved her, with the help of duke of Mayenne: an army of 12000 men came to save the lady!
But the duke sold out and wanted his son to marry her! Meanwhile, Anne, 18 years old, fell in love with handsome count of Saint-Paul. To escape from the duke, she organized her own kidnapping and marry the count.
Her mother disowned and disinherited her: Anne died in a convent…