Commarque in the Vézère Valley
Commarque Castle is located in Sireuil, a small village whose name became famous when a local farmer discovered a Neolithic female figurine on a farm track. Sireuil is now part of Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac, the village considered the French capital of Prehistory.
It stands on a rocky promontory nestled amidst lush vegetation on the south bank of the Beune, a tributary of the Vézère River.
We are in the heart of the Vézère Valley, a region worldwide renowned for its Palaeolithic caves adorned with prehistoric art, which have earned it the prestigious name Vallée de l’Homme’ – Valley of Man, and the equally prestigious label UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The meeting point of ancient roads linking Bergerac to Brive and Périgueux to Cahors, the Vézère Valley is the place where, in the Middle Ages, Gerrad de Commarque erected his fortress.
Commarque, a Templar commandery and castle of the barons of Beynac
At the beginning of the 12th century, Gerrad bequeathed the fortress to the Knights Templar who turned it into an imposing fortress.
They indeed built a massive stone keep on the cliff-side and numerous outbuildings, which they fortified with ramparts and a moat. Over the centuries, the fortified village expanded, reaching its peak between the 12th and 14th centuries.
Following the dissolution of the order of the Knights Templar at the beginning of the 14th century, the King of France entrusted the Castrum of Commarque to the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem.
The Hospitallers built the current keep and later sold their Commandery to the Barons of Beynac.
The castle of the barons of Beynac
At the beginning of the Hundred Years’ War, the local lords took refuge within the walls of Commarque, where each family built its own fortified tower-house. This unique residential arrangement made Commarque a co-seigniory, perfectly illustrating the old adage “strength in unity.”
Over time, the dominant families, the Commarque and Beynac, consolidated their power by acquiring land and rights from less prominent co-owners. However, by 1380, the Commarque family had established itself as the principal landowners, expanding and fortifying the fortress.
However, united by a common cause, the two families supported the Protestant movement during the Wars of Religion, which ended in a Catholic victory in 1569. The old fortress had resisted but was partially in ruins. The Commarque family then moved to the nearby Château de Lauzel, on the other side of the valley.
The last lord of Commarque died in 1656. The old fortress was abandoned and gradually fell into ruin until 1968, when Hubert de Commarque acquired his ancestral castle. The imposing fortress, listed as a historical monument in 1943, was then hidden beneath dense vegetation. However, thanks to extensive and meticulous restoration efforts, the structures were saved. The French government and American foundations provided crucial financial support for this work, as well as for the archaeological excavations aimed at reconstructing daily life within the Castrum of Commarque.
The troglodyte shelters of Commarque
Although the fortress has been abandoned for three centuries, its origins date back to the Palaeolithic era. In 1915, Abbot Breuil made a remarkable discovery: a rock shelter where our distant ancestors once lived. The entrance to this shelter, now located at the foot of the cliff and the keep, was then only 20 meters from the river.
Prehistoric men not only lived there, but they also adorned the walls of their rock shelter with paintings depicting game, female figures (including vulvas, symbols of fertility), and human faces. The most spectacular of these prehistoric works of art is a life-size horse sculpted in low-relief.
While the cave (fortunately) remains protected and inaccessible to the public, replicas of these remarkable works can be seen inside the keep.
The Vézère Valley boasts a wealth of rock shelters, which the river carved over millennia into the surrounding cliffs. Many served as cave or troglodyte dwellings and were continuously inhabited throughout the Middle Ages.
Access to Commarque is via a quiet farm track that winds through fields and woods.
Department of Dordogne – Sireuil-Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac
Coordinates: Lat 44.936591 – Long 1.1033
Photo via Wikimedia commons: Header by JGS25 CC BY-SA 4.0
