Montbrun castle: a treasure and a Lionheart
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The tops
Montbrun: the story
Aymeric Brun put up a fortress in 1179, which received the name of Mont-Brun, Mons bruni ("Brown hill"). It was in fact raised on a hill... the castle is a 40 metres quadrilateral with a square tower on each corner.
The English burnt the building during Hundred Years War, then Pierre de Montbrun, bishop of Limoges in 1426, rebuilt the current fortress, a huge quadrilateral flanked by round towers. One of them includes the former square keep of Aymeric Brun.
What’s next? Protestants tried to besiege walls in 1569, in vain. Montbrun resisted!
Meanwhile, owners succeeded one another: Isabelle de Montbrun, the sole heiress, sold her estate to de Caussade family in 1566, then fell to the de Lambertie, then the de Maumont.
During French Revolution, Montbrun was entirely plundered and divided into several parcels. The archives were burnt in middle of the courtyard...
Montbrun’s treasure
14th century… the Hundred Years War destroyed all the area, castle of Montbrun included…
The legend says near the smouldering ruins, someone hid a treasure: famous lords of Montbrun's gold. But not a common treasure… an unlimited one!
The lady of the place had just to say few words, and two donkeys suddenly appeared, loaded down with bags of gold. The treasure was laid down on the ruins, so a brand new castle was raised instead.
And donkeys magically disappeared … until the next time!
The Lion’s death
Since we’re talking about a treasure… Few kilometres away from Montbrun, on borders of Limousin, Périgord and Charente, is the remain of castle of Châlus.
And what happened in Châlus? King of England Richard Lionheart died there, during battle of Châlus, in 1199… killed by an enemy arrow shot from a tower!
Err, yes, but is there a link with the treasure? Yes it is, because Richard thought that a fabulous gold was hidden here, somewhere in the stone. So, that’s why… Maybe Richard died in Montbrun, not in Châlus! Because it was Montbrun’s gold he was looking for.