From the 16th April to 1st May, Castles, country estates and manor houses of the Perigord will provide the setting for a host of exclusive events as part of the second Châteaux en Fete Festival. More than seventy Châteauxs will be centre stage over the above dates and it is hoped that the festival will become a regular event in partnership with Lot-et Garonne department.
Historical animations, workshops, tasting, crafts, concerts, games, exhibitions and plays will all feature along with the Easter celebrations. Examples of individual events…
Castlenaud.
Châteaux en Fate Special April 16th.
Herbalist Secrets in the preparation of food and medicine. Which will be explained by a guided tour explaining the daily life in a fortified castle and how food and medicine were used in the medieval period.
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Beynac
Starting from the 16th April there will be a special comedy play for the Festival, performed by the theatre Le Virgil by Paul Scarran.
Researching my family tree a few years ago on my father’s side I found that I was related to the Belléme family in Northern France who down through the ages were quite an important family who fought with William the Conqueror in 1066 and as a reward the family were given Essex and other lands in England.
This sparked my interest in just how far back through history could I go to get to know my ancestors. The earliest records were of a Yves de Belléme but I could not find a date for him. His son William de Belléme was easier to find (960-1028) with the consent of Richard I Duke of Normandy he constructed two castles, one at Alencon and the other at Domfront, he also held the Lordship of the castle de Belléme. In a charter to the Abbey of Lonlay he describes himself as William princeps and provinciae principatum gerens indicating like so many of that period, that he regarded himself an independent ruler of these domains. Two of his sons died in his life time leaving his last son Robert to inherit, however there is a record that he died in prison due to trying to take his neighbours lands.
Ives followed as the next Lord but he wanted to go into the church, which he did and became a Bishop, therefore his brother William held the lands for him and inherited everything after his brothers death.
While as self serving as his brothers were he was more treacherous and really stands out as a vicious killer. He was going to marry the daughter of a nobleman named Arnulf, but he had his future wife strangled on her way to the church. He eventually married the daughter of Ralf de Beaumont, Viscount of Le Mans. However, at this wedding he had one of his guests seized and imprisoned. To avenge this his quest sons took Williams lands and shortly afterwards his son Arnulf rebelled against his father and exiled him. This is not the end of William who later recovered the lands after his son Arnulf died.
I hope that you enjoyed this early history of my ancestors as much as did researching them.
Our French Dream 