It was not until 14 April 1495 that Monseigneur Guillaume de la Croix, Baron of Gourdiéges and Roquette, Seigneur of Saint-Brez and other places bought the Chateau de Castries, and thus the barony of Castries. It was after this that the Chateau de Castries, for the next 500 years, would remain in the de possession of the de la Croix, and to bring it to its status that it is today renowned for. The history of Castries itself is much older however, and throughout my researches and correspondences with my cousins, I have tried to create an account of the previous houses of Castries and also the families that possessed the seigneury of Castries.
Historically the town of Castries derives from the latin "castrum", when for periods over 1000 years, it was a Roman monitoring station. Prominently mentioned as Castries, more directly the castle de Castries, in 980 AD. The information contained on this page, gives some information about the Castries from the 10th to the 15th Centuries.
Castries - the first 200 years
Obviously, the information about the history of Castries is not fully available. Important information about figures and historical occurrences reside in the repositories of the National Library of France, family papers held at the Chateau de Castries' library and naturally the archives of the town of Castries.
The town of Castries, in its form that we know it today, be it in real, on a map or virtually through the web, was founded between 980 to 990 AD. Romans, between the time of Christ to the 10th c. would have created and used military or supply outposts to govern the empire, this is the case with Castries. In Latin it is known as "castrum / Castra ", which by definition means "a castle, fort, fortress" according to the University of Notre-Dame online Latin dictionary. Castries (castra) was first mentioned in the IXth century in a document from the Abbey of Aniane (which was itself founded in 777AD by Saint Benoît d'Aniane).
Within the cartulaire of the Abbey, it mentions, by name, the existence of Castries, and a fortified Roman presence, protecting the "Dometienne" way (from Nîmes to Narbonne). The town is ideally situated on a naturally occurring hilltop. The advantage being, that as an observation point, it allows the surveillance of the plains, surrounding areas and the horizon from mount Aigoual and the Cévennes.
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Castries is located 12 km North-East of the provincial capital, Montpellier.
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Elzéar Dalmace de Castries, was the Premier Seigneur de Castries (with respect to available sources), and is mentioned as the Seignuer de Castries in 1039.
