Château of Puymartin

At the beginning of the Hundred Years War, the Castle of Puymartin played a major part in the conflict between France and England. On January 8th, 1357, when the Castle was attacked by English mercenaries, the Consul in Sarlat had envoys sent to negotiate their departure in exchange for money. In order to avoid being captured and occupied again, it was decided that the battlements and the defensive features of the walls and roofs of the Castle should be removed and destroyed and the floorboards ripped out.
Puymartin therefore remained virtually in ruins throughout the Hundred Years War.

Around 1450, Radulphe de Saint-Clar had the Castle rebuilt. In the 16th century, the region’s Catholics, headed by Raymond de Saint-Clar (Raduphe’s grandson), established their headquarters there while the Protestants made fruitless attempts to capture it. In 1789, the Castle was owned by Marquis François Roffignac Carbonnier de Marzac. At the end of the 19th century, the castle was completely renovated by his great grandson, Marquis Marc Roffignac de Carbonnier de Marzac.The Marquis’s only daughter married Count Jacques de Montbron in 1920. The Montbron family still own the Castle to this day. They preserved the furniture, the tapestries of Aubusson and the exceptional paintings.
In the mythology room paintings are grisailles fixed onto the woodwork with egg white. They were painted between 1650 and 1571 by French artist Philippe Lemaire and feature scenes from Greek mythology. It has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1977. The room was used for meditation purposes and was subsequently turned into a nursery in the 19th century. It is quite unusual to find a set of grisailles in such good condition.

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