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Château de Montausier
The fief of Montausier, in the Charente, is recorded as held by the Taillefer Counts of Angoulême from the early 11th century. It was made a barony and remained with the Taillefer de Montausier family until 1320, when it passed by marriage to the Sainte-Maure family. The lords of Montausier paid homage to the Count of Angoulême and held high, middle and low justice.
Charles de Sainte-Maure, Duke of Montausier (1610-1690), renounced Protestantism in 1645. He was a field marshal, governor of Saintonge and Angoumois, and in 1668 was appointed governor of the Grand Dauphin. The barony became a marquisate and then a ducal peerage in 1668. The castle was confiscated in the Revolution and largely destroyed. In 1871 Abbé Jean Hippolyte Michon, an archaeologist, built a manor at the south corner to live in.
