History of the Château de Naujan
The building

The château de Naujan is originally a so called « Maison forte », or fortified manor dating from the beginning of the 14th century. It was built on the edge of a rocky ledge overlooking the valley of the small stream named Gibera.
The building is protected on the north by the rocky ledge on which it is built, while a moat which is now filled up separated the fortress from a large square courtyard surrounded by various buildings, mostly dating from the 16th Century.

The walls of the fortress are 1.10 m thick. They surround a ground floor and two upper floors. The top floor was totally renovated, not to say built anew at the end of the 15th century. During the same period, a second building was added alongside the first one, as wide as the original building, but not as long.

The ground floor of the original building was used as storage space. It was lit only by small oval openings. In the middle of the room a square pillar held up the first floor. A wooden staircase on the outside of the building led up to the room on the first floor. This room had two doors, both situated in the same corner of the room, both in the shape of an broken arch. A stone staircase, probably built at the same time as the second building, gives an easy access to the first door. The second door was used as a window.
The second floor was higher and lit by mullioned windows. During the 16th century, the outside wall of the building was decorated by a large statue representing a remarkably ugly naked person impersonating original sin. It is the only sculpture of the chateau.

The owners of Château de Naujan from 1316 until 1698

Knight Gaillard de Naujan, owned a house in the parish of Saint Vincent de Pertignas. He obtained permission from Guillaume Raymond de Gensac to transform this house and make it as strong as he pleased, and surrender it to the lord of Rauzan and to his successors when these would require it, be it peace or war. The latter pledge to take good care of the house all the time they have it, and to give it back in good state when they no longer needed it.
This fortified house was built towards 1316.
Gaillard de Naujan probably died towards 1325. His wife was Anne de la Ferreire, and their son also bore the name Gaillard.
Gaillard II de Naujan married Fine Yzambert in 1337, and their son Jean de Naujan inherited the fortress.

Jean de Naujan inherited from the nobleman Jean de Semens. He had two sons, Amanieu de Naujan and Raymond de Naujan, but we do not know if Amanieu has been Lord of Naujan, as was his father Jean.
When Amanieu died, his bother Raymond de Naujan inherited the domain.
Raymond established his will in 1488 and died soon after. His son Jean de Naujan inherited the domain in turn.

Towards 1494, other members of the Naujan family qualified as Lord of the domain, such as François, the brother of Jean II (called Jeanot), son of Jean de Naujan.
Jean II de Naujan married Isabeau d’Anglade, the daughter of a nobleman, and they had two daughters, Anne (or Agnes) and Jeanne.
After Isabeau’s death, Jean II de Naujan married again with Marie de Lescours, of whom he had a daughter, Marguerite de Naujan.
Marguerite de Naujan married Jean (or Jeanot) de la Combe, and they inherited the noble estates of Naujan and of Semens from Jean II of Naujan. Marguerite de Naujan and Jean de la Combe had two children, Anne and Lucie de la Combe

After Marguerite de Naujan’s death, Jean de la Combe took as second wife Clémence de Ros, with whom he had a son, Charles de la Combe.

Jean de la Combe died in 1561. Lucie and Anne both married. Lucie brought part of the noble estate of Naujan as a dowry to her husband, Martin de Boirac.
In 1582, André Melson besieged and took Chateau de Naujan.
Around this time, Anne de Naujan died, and her husband Pons de Puyperyron, called Bernard de Puypeyron, married again with Philippe de Bellade with whom he had a daughter named Anne.

In 1602, after the death of her father Bernard de Puypeyron, Anne de Puypeyron married François de Carles and as her dowry, she brought the part of the estate that Anne de Naujan had brought to Bernard de Puypeyron. Thus, François de Carles took the title of Lord of Naujan even though he did not own the noble house of Naujan itself.
Marin de Boirac, who had remained Lord of the noble house of Naujan, made up his will in 1603 in which he named his son Ezechiel (the oldest of seven children) his universal heir, followed successively by Daniel, François, Jean, Isabeau, Magdeleine and Suzanne.

Suzanne de Boirac, the daughter of Martin de Boirac and widow to one de Carles, had a nephew, the nobleman Daniel de Marsoulier, to whom she gave power of attorney in 1641 so as to deal with a trial she had undertaken in court.
Later, but we do not know in what quality, another Daniel de Marsoulier, son of the first named, had in his possession both the noblehouse of Naujan and the noble house of Boyrac. He gave them to his daughter as a dowry when she married nobleman Benjamin de Puch d’Estrac in 1698.

Château de Naujan and the history of France
The castle Château de Naujan is located in the small town of Saint Vincent de Pertignas, not far from Castillon-la-Bataill.
The city of Castillon-la-Bataille owes its fame to the one hundred years war which opposed France and England from 1337 until 1453.
The vasselage wich tied the kings of France and England were a constant source of trouble and discordancies from the early 13th century.
In 1337, Edward III, King of England, grandson to Philippe IV le Bel (who had been King of France) gave a new dimension to the quarrelling by announcing high and loud his claims to the throne of France, occupied by Philippe VI since 1328.
This claim had economic reasons. England. Flanders was an important wool commerce platform, which England had all reasons to wish to separate from the French crown. The war started out as feudal type warring in which the population did not feel involved. Little by little however, a French national feeling started to develop, and this strongly contributed to the defeat of the English. The one hundred years war ended on the 17th of July 1453, after the great battle of Castillon-la-Bataille.