Château de Lespinasse
The Château de Lespinasse is at Saint-Beauzire, near Brioude, in Haute-Loire. Originally, the place was a Gallo-Roman villa called Spinatia, "the pines", of which a few remains survive. The site is mentioned in 924 in the cartulary of Brioude, and a defensive tower existed there at the start of the twelfth century. The castle is presented as the oldest surviving castle in the Brivadois.
In 1358, with the agreement of Louis II of Bourbon, Érard I, lord of the place, turned the tower into a square keep. In 1425, his grandson Louis married Blanche of Auvergne: from this period date the round towers of the enclosure linked by the main building, as well as the arms of the counts of Auvergne carved on the lintel of the great fireplace of the first-floor state room.
Inhabited without interruption, the castle has escaped destruction as well as clumsy restorations. It shows an ensemble of towers, bartizans and turrets in the middle of a green park. It has been listed as a historic monument since 1961.
