Château de Biron

An early traveller wrote:

“Coming out of the forest, suddenly, we notice, perched on a hill, massive, dominant, royal, the castle of Biron. The view extends to infinity above the woods, from the Limousin Mountains to the Pyrenees”.

René Chapoullié, Périgord, Arthaud, 1954, p.203

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: Par MOSSOT — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 3.0

The effect remains the same today when from the valley road that winds upwards to it, you suddenly see the hilltop castle ahead, and the view outwards is just as described.

A history of alliances and loss

As with many historic houses across France, Château de Biron is almost a chronicle of the history of the entire country.

Earliest records date from around 1000 AD when the lords of Biron were listed as “vassals of the Count of Toulouse”, who at the time was a powerful lord of southern France, whose estates ranged from just south of Limoges to the border of the Auvergne, including Nimes and across to the Spanish and Andorran border and including Carcassonne and awest almost to the Gers city of Auch.

Then in the 12th century King Henry II of England and Duke of Aquitaine built the tower before abandoning the site when he moved  to Montferrand-du-Périgord. Still under the patronage of Henry’s house the castle was greatly redesigned with a protected courtyard and fortification of the village. Ownership later passed to a mercenary Spanish Captain Martin Algai serving the King of England. Algai then served – and betrayed Simon Montford – for which he was hanged , with the cattle being passed to Arnaud de Montagu - but then Henry III sold it to Henri de Gontaut.

So you could say the castle records the danger of allegiances in France over the centuries, as with all the monarchical countries of the world.

It has been said that those who know how to navigate the treacherous waters of alliances

are the ones who survive.

Gontaut constructed the double church of the castle before eventually falling out of favour of Francis 1st and being killed in the War of the Religions. His son was executed under the reign of Henry IV who is attributed to have put an end to the religious wars during his reign.

In the 18th century the castle was modernised by the Duke of Biron who left no descendants.

Bought at the beginning of the 19th century after being ransacked following the French Revolution, the castle by the Copper Royer family, the drawings of the castle and its area by Jacqueline Copper-Royer are now held in the Archives of the Dordogne, with at least one in the collection of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

An extreme hailstorm in 1974 caused extensive damage to the roofs of the castle and in a very damaged state it was sold to the Dordogne Départment who then undertook to restore it – achieved with the support of the Friends of the Castle of Biron and finance from the Ministry of Culture.

A once grand entrance

The double storied chapel

The two-storied chapel dates from around 1495.

Although many sources a claim that for the catle at Biron and many others with similar chapels, the upper story was for the feudal lords and the lower for the commoners, this has been refuted by hirorians through lack of evidence.

Instead, record indicate that in some cases the upper chapel was a private family place of worship and the lower chapel was where the lord and his guests celebrated mass before official events or during state visits.

In some cases, the upper chapel was used for services of the estate and the lower reserved for requiem masses and as a crypt. Here at Biron, the first definition is more likely.

Whatever the reality, the chapel is lovely inside.

Several pieces of sculpture from the chapel now reside in the New York Metropolitan Museum, but replicas are underway by artsans from a special Dordogne establishment of skilled artisans creating partimonial replicas.

The spiral direction debate:
clockwise or anticlockwise?

There is a widely repeated theory that counter-clockwise staircases were traditional in mediaeval towers. The theory goes that his style of staircase was a traditional part of the defence system because most attackers would wield their sword with their right hand - and that was really difficult when mounting a staircase winding in this direction. 

As you can see, this is not the case in Biron.

Getting light and ventilation into a fortified staircase required small enclosures and beside one window vent there are remains of fresco wall designs.

The other was difficult to capture in the dim light, but you can see the window shutters that could be closed and locked above the air shaft.

In fact there are many records of both ladies and lords falling down stairs as they were often dimly lit.

The apparent origin of the theory
about counter-clockwise staircases

It seems that this theory traces back to Sir Theodore Andrea Cook , British art critic and writer who used to write primarily old London “Standard” and later on rowing for the Daily Telegraph - from “An Old Blue”, having rowed in the Oxford – Cambridge Boat Race of 1889. For many years he was editor of the St. James Gazette which was known as being “for gentlemen by gentlemen”. He also founded the Oxford fencing club.

The theory probably comes from one of his many books “Spirals in Nature and Art”, and with such a gentlemanly lineage became widely believed as fact. However, there is no other documentary evidence throughout history to support it.

In fact even the Tower of London has counter-clockwise spiralling staircases – so the theory would plausibly be debunked by that fact alone. It is hardly likely that the King of England would allow his home to be deliberately vulnerable by a wrong spiral on a staircase.

At any rate if attackers made it tot he internal staircase the battle was probably already lost. 

Instead of this expecting to have to defend at the staircase, architects perched their castles to strategic advantage on hilltops, like that in Biron. They often built a second terrace for archers - again seen at Biron - along with covered walkways above courtyards

The wardrobe - a place of necessity

Toilets in ancient castles were within the "Garderobe" - or wardrobe. The word is still used in German for a wardrobe but has lost its original additional meaning.

At this time, this was indeed a place where clothes were kept. However the reason was that it was also the toilet. It apparently was thought that the smell kept moths away from the clothes. 

Waste was ejected out the window opening into the moat below - another deterrent for would-be invaders.

The additional outer "water closet" can often still be seen on ancient towers, just as here at Biron.

Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design.

Charles Eames

Christmas at Biron

We had actually looked at the house below the Château  as a possibility to take up our life in France. It was the second house we viewed.

There is no doubting that it had a specular view - but with at least 550,000 visitors a year trekking past the front window and no private parking place - and a challenge to create a non-stair entrance for our ageing family member, the Chow Chow Balu - we decide that was a definite three strikes against. It was a nice enough house and the view was definitely tempting - and not everyone has a castle literally across the road.

However, we did return to visit the castle itself on a December day which went from blue to grey and from a slight breeze to a robust wind. The castle had been beautifully decorated for Christmas.

The decorating teams had presented festive tables for feasting along with dress-up clothes - and that was too much temptation, so off with the cap and the Barbour oilskin jacket, and on with the costumes.

The dresses were generous in size and required gathering at the back or a hand over the waistline to stop them falling off, but it was fun on a grey day.

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold,

it would be a merrier world. 

J.R.R. Tolkien

The private apartments

The well and courtyard

Is the time it took to build and rebuild Château de Biron important to consider?

According to the architect  David Chipperfield

The difference between good and bad architecture is the time you spend on it.