Montfort, but not that Montfort
So there’s this very famous guy in the 1200s called Simon de Montfort, and when I saw this village-with-a-fort on a hill called…Montfort, I thought: aha, that’ll be where he’s from then. Without of course checking anything out first
Didn’t matter, it was just down the road and a pretty drive. But it turns out there are lots of Montforts in France. Fort on a mont, haha where else would you build one if not on a hill?
So, no. Different family altogether, Simon and his also famous, sword-wielding brother, came from the Île-de-France, Paris basically
However: it’s a cute spot, and best of all there was a café open AND it was lunchtime. Haha, done deal
The fort-castle-château is private, and thus gated, but it’s old, and built on just the right spot - on the top of a cliff overhanging the mighty Dordogne. Where there were tolls, taxes and tariffs to squabble over, and a hundred year war to fight. This fort too was in the middle of it all and changed hands many times
The first fort went up here in the late 1100s, that’s when they were all popping up around the territory. It was a borderland between Aquitaine and Occitaine, although borders and territories in those days were not what they are now, far from. There have been many rebuilds since then, all those trebuchets do some damage. And as warfare changed from crossbow to siege machine to gunfire and cannons, the building specs changed too
And Simon? Well, he was young in the early 1200s. He got put in charge of the crusading army against the Cathars, and while we don’t know whether he was exactly here or not, he was all over the territory for many years. He went on to have a long and double-edged career, some pretty brutal routing of heretics and armies especially down this way, then later when he was back in England he got stuck into the politics of the day. Ran a rebellion against the king (brave!) that ultimately led to the parliament of today where the people are represented along with the nobility
Anyhow, good lunch and a good story, even if its not THE story. Then time to tootle off to the next place
📍France, Dordogne, Montfort
