France Profonde

Our house on its hill off the road between Plazac and Rouffignac is reputed to have ties to the Chateau de L’Herme a few hilltops over. It is reputed to have a tunnel, in fact, linking it directly to that castle. I have not found one yet while digging in the garden. The lords and ladies of the time did dig escape tunnels under the threat of revolution, but this would have had to have been a 5km tunnel crossing hill and dale and that might not have been possible, even under those circumstances. This castle is associated with revolutions and other violent incidences. Its lineage has been lost as it has stood uninhabited these last 300 years. The history is mysterious and incomplete. Our house is thought to have been a dependence of that castle in any case. It was likely built as a hunting lodge for the lords or barons and their friends. And it may thus have served as an escape hatch of sorts.

We visited The Chateau early on in our first summers at Prouillac. We took the long route following the road signs, not knowing we have a direct path across the valley and through Lucette’s farm. We also could have walked there, 8 k on the GR 36, a national walking trail that runs right by our front yard to the chateau, but my mom was in tow and she is not much of a walker.

The Chateau de L’Herme is a beautifully preserved ruin of a castle, roofless, floorless, and unfurnished. It is not move in ready. It is a more a castle carcass; its central palm tree staircase is its showcase feature. There remains the oak drawbridge over the empty over grown moat. It has a few impressive clouté doors; the heavy brass nails apparent, and grand fireplaces in each of a dozen grand rooms. You can take the stairs to the top floor and look down on the four stories below, as there are no floorboards to block the view. It’s like being in a little girl’s dollhouse with the fourth wall missing. It allows you to imagine what it must have been like to live in such a place, a long, long time ago.

The display case on one of the landings holds photos from a made for T.V. movie that was shot on this site in the 70’s. Philippe recognizes the images. The film version of a classic novel, Jacquou le Croquant was very popular made for TV period piece. It is nice to see the film producers insisted on this level of authenticity. The chateau ruin played itself in this epic tale, a sort of Les Miserables for Dordogne. Jacquou is only fictional, but he is a national hero anyway. The 20th Century novel tells of the 19th C revolution which came late to this part of France. After the storming of the Bastille and the rolling of certain heads in Paris, the nobles in the faraway provinces continued to wield their habitual power, and the peasants continued to crave their daily bread.

Jacquou’s fictional father wasted away and died in the debtors prison dungeon of this castle in the tale, and the fictional Jacquou led a peasant revolt against it. The book references local sites, villages, streets and house names from around here. We pass the farm he toiled in as an indentured servant, Jaripigier, each time we go to the lake. Jacquou slept here, it ought to state. In reality, many roads, hospitals and parks in the region are named for the hero and for his creator, Eugene Le Roy. That the 70’s mutton chop and peasant dress mini series was filmed here marks a perfect full circle. Our rebellious Perigord neighbors are proud of their revolutionary history, and we are proud to be in the proximity of this star in that story.

On the top floor another informational display presents the history of the castle. I only noticed this signage on a subsequent visit. Evidently this is a work in progress. The artisan sky blue painted plank for the family tree is posted in a nearly inaccessible corner, across the narrow bridge encircling the fourth story’s floorless ballroom. The De L’Herme lineage is completed in various hands, some typed cards, other chalked on scribbles. The patriarch, and first lord of the manner was a Msr. Jean de Calvimont. The name Jean de Clavimont shows up in several more generations. Jean de Calvimont sired many Juniors and as many lords to reign over an ever expanding fiefdom. His name is attached to the lovely Chateau Chabon, for instance, a castle in good repair on its own hilltop at the far end of the valley.

The wikipedia.fr entry for Chateau de L’Herme reads: Construit à la fin du XVe siècle, le château de l'Herm sera abandonné suite à de nombreux crimes. Plus tard, Eugène Le Roy y placera le décor de son roman Jacquou le Croquant, adapté à la télévision en 1969 et au cinéma en 2007. Ce lieu romantique «à cœur ouvert» s’offre à vous pour une découverte inoubliable…

And this from another random historian’s website:
Au XVIIème siècle, une nouvelle période s’ouvre par l’assassinat de Marguerite de Calvimont en 1605, qui marque le déclin de la seigneurie. En 1655, après 11 crimes ayant rapport avec l’héritage de l’Herm, on ne sait plus à qui appartient le château. Le 16 juin 1679 a lieu l’adjudication de l’Herm et de sa seigneurie à la cour du Parlement de Paris. C’est Marie de Hautefort, amante platonique de Louis XIII, qui rachète l’ensemble. Elle place un régisseur à la tête du domaine et n’habitant pas le château, celui-ci est peu à peu pillé. En décembre 1714, un inventaire des lieux précise que l’Herm est abandonné, la toiture effondrée et la terre démembrée.
Posté le 21.08.2007 par titelive

Scribbles in this time line showed two of the eleven supposed murders that were committed here over inheritance disputes and jealous rivalries, were intrafamilial. It seems there was at least one infanticide and one matricide in this family’s tree. Perhaps due to its violent ways, the family line runs out before the turn of the 18th Century. The castle belonged to no one in 1679. It was basically auctioned off at the central office of castles at Versailles.

I am concocting visions based on these rough histories. The castle is rightly considered haunted by the many murder victims done in within its high walls. When it was abandoned by the Calvimont clan and left untended it fell into the hands of Marie d’Hauteforte, a countess of the next greatest land holding family in the region. I can imagine the writhing in the graves of the late rivals over this development.

The new chatelaine is often referred to as the “amante platonique” to LouisXIII. While the term platonic lover (?) smacks of oxymoronism, the two of them must have been friendly. So in my imagining, she would certainly have invited her friend the king on hunting expeditions with her and setting out from her newly acquired castle, through the Foret Barade, she would certainly have stopped by our place, Grand Prouillac, the conveniently placed hunting lodge that came with it. Which begs the question, if women had garconniere’s what did they call them? Also the notion of them here inspires me to acquire a plaque to place near my bed, stating The king of France, Louis XIII, probably slept here.