I miss France and decided to take a little tour of a fascinating place in the south of the Corrèze. The fortress was considered impregnable, but history intervened and parts of it fell in the wrong hands for a while. The lords of Merle prevailed, eventually.
This is from Wikipedia:
The Tours de Merle are the ruins of a castle in the commune of Saint-Geniez-ô-Merle, in the Corrèze department of France. It was a feudal fortress from the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, which was subject of a classification as a historic monument since July 30, 1927.
In the fourteenth century, Merle included seven castles, two chapels and a village, owned by seven noblemen from Merle.
During the Hundred Years' War, the English took one of the towers and a castle in 1371.
In 1574 the Calvinists took the citadel, where they established a garrison, they were driven out two years later by the co-lords. But the fortress was abandoned by those who preferred to live in places that were more pleasant and certainly more accessible.
