|
|
GOVERNOR
|
|
THE GOVERNOR'S LODGING
The building was constructed in the XVIth Century on the site of the former King’s Residence or <old castle>. Our knowledge of the latter, which burned down in the 15th C, comes from a patented letter of 1662. In fact, the royal letters of August 1662 show that the castle was the residence of the Governors when they arrived in Aigues-Mortes. The castle later became a prison in which the Marquis of Wardes was incarcerated, having been rebuilt by the governor of Civey only a few years earlier, with the use of funds which would almost certainly have been destined for the construction of barracks.
The ongoing modification and construction works continued throughout the XVIth and XVII centuries, has a beautiful staircase dating from 1662 The Governors’ Lodging is set at a North-West angle on the West side, a rectangular turret which guards the access to the bridge leading to the Tour de Constance. This bridge and the conch wall line up with the external curtain walling, and were added in the XVIth C leading to the disappearance of the initial/original wall.
The Governors’ lodgings are isolated from the town and from the Place d’Armes by an entrenched wall dating back to the 1625. This wall, flanked by a bartizan (an over-hanging wall-mounted turret), was built using reclaimed materials formerly belonging to the XIIIth C surrounding wall (the very individual engravings of each stone-mason bear witness to this fact.)
There is also a path around the battlements with parapets armed with murder holes especially adapted for the use of the <arquebus>( a primitive smoothbore firearm used at this time.)
|
|
|
|
