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General & History
In the heart of France’s Minervois region, nestling at the foot of the Black Mountain, lies the village where the chateau sits. This superb medieval castle dates from the 12th century onwards, and consists of the main building (3 living rooms, library, dining room, 7 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms), four towers and a dovecote, extensive terraced gardens covering 2 hectares (5 acres) and a swimming pool.
If what you have in mind is getting away from it all with family or friends, you can rent the entire château and have the buildings, park and pool all to yourselves for groups of up to 14. If you wish, you may also hire members of the domestic staff (maid, cook etc.).
The Château is one of a line of fortified castles where the vassals of the Count of Toulouse resisted the Albigensian crusade in the 13th century. The property was one of the fortified châteaux built to resist the Pope’s forces. We know from evidence in the oldest part of the château that in the year 1100 its owner was Bernarde, Lord of Agel, Minerve and Cazelles.
The château, with its commanding position over the Cesse valley was of great strategic importance to the Cathars. Simon de Montfort ordered Aymeri, viscount of Narbonne, to besiege the château, but Guiraud de Pépieux, Lord of Aigues-Vives and Agel, escaped during the night to Minerve, taking with him two French knights whom he had captured.
It was the Treaty of Paris that annexed Languedoc to France in 1220, which put an end to the Crusade. Guiraud de Pépieux, who had escaped the massacre, set about restoring the château for his descendants. Notarial records dating back to the year 1300 mention another Guillaume de Pépieux as Lord of Aigues-Vives and Agel.
The history of the Château reads like a portrait gallery of the feudal lords of South-West France. In 1764, the property is recorded as having been sold to Jean d'Augier of Narbonne. Thereafter, the chateau continued to pass as a legacy from one owner to another, until it passed into the hands of the present owners, the Ecal family. Wars and fires brought about many changes over the centuries, as shown in its variety of window styles, from the tiny windows of the stark 12th century fortress to the beautiful windows of the Renaissance, with their ornamental balusters, to Trianon-style leaded panes in the 17th century.
In the 1960s the Ecal family began the immense task of restoring the property and its gardens to their former glory. The result you will see when you visit us: a château with a cachet all of its own in an unchanging rural setting, whose unique light and beautiful vegetation are reminiscent of Tuscany.