The castle is a medieval hilltop castle in the Périgord Noir, not far from Sarlat-la-Canéda and Bergerac. It stands on the banks of the Dordogne, opposite Beynac Castle.
It tells of the Hundred Years' War and the religious wars that convulsed France at the same time. And it also tells of how weapons of attack and defense technology developed massively during the Middle Ages.
It tells of the Hundred Years' War and the religious wars that convulsed France at the same time. And it also tells of how weapons of attack and defense technology developed massively during the Middle Ages.
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ReisenTranskript
00:00Less than an hour from our campsite a still defined fortress has watched over the Dordogne
00:26valley for 800 years.
00:46At our destination we receive expert history lessons.
00:50Hello, my name is Christine and I am a guide at the Castelnau castle.
00:55Welcome to this 12th century fortress which was an actress and witness to many wars
01:02in the Middle Ages and during the wars of religion.
01:05I will guide you through the centuries to explain to you everything that happened here
01:12during more than 800 years.
01:26The castle that we see in front of us is not the very first castle of Castelnau.
01:44This castle, which was founded in the 12th century, was attacked and destroyed by Simon
01:50de Montfort at the head of the crusade against the Cathars.
01:53The dungeon that you see in front of you and this wall that protects it dates from the
01:59middle of the 13th century, it is the oldest part of the castle.
02:04We have a dungeon that has been watching us for about 800 years.
02:07In the 14th century, the castle will have to be fortified to prepare for the Hundred Years' War,
02:17this conflict that opposes the Kingdom of France to the Kingdom of England.
02:20The lord of this castle took the part of the English while the castle of Benac in front
02:27took the part of the French.
02:29So for more than a hundred years, the two stone monsters will face each other and have to settle
02:37their accounts at the cost of negotiation, but also of siege.
02:45In 1442, the King of France had enough of this stronghold belonging to the English and asked
02:53the French lord, rallied to his banner, to besiege the castle of Castelnau.
02:59An extremely strong event in the history of this castle.
03:02Here the meadows will be covered with tents to be able to put pressure on this fortress
03:10and machines such as those we have rebuilt here in the castle of Castelnau will be mobilized
03:18to be able to put pressure and threaten the castle with boulders of about 100 kg
03:26that could be thrown at more than 200 meters.
03:40The more we plunge into the heart of the fortress, the more difficult it will be to penetrate.
03:45Before being able to enter this castle, it will be necessary to cross ditches,
03:50plunge doors, pass under assaults.
04:09It is a capital thing to resist during a siege, to have a well inside the enclosure.
04:21All castles are not equipped with a well, you have to have water in the basement.
04:26Here they dug 46 meters deep into the rock to reach a source.
04:33But it is also the assurance of being able to resist for many weeks during a siege.
04:39The well is protected by a roof to prevent the enemies from sending carriages
04:47or sometimes, rarely, but it happened, corpses of men.
04:54In the partially restored building, there is a collection of war weapons
04:58which impressively shows the means by which war was fought in the Middle Ages.
05:28And here is the WOW point of view.
05:58Thank you for watching!