Andone Castrum

The Andone Castrum (French: Castrum d'Andone or d'Andonne) is a ruined fortification in Villejoubert, Charente, France. It dates from the 11th century.

The Andone castrum was built in the medieval diocese of Angoulême. It is now 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the south of the Boixe forest, but in the 10th century the forest was much larger, and began no more than 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) away. It is about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the east of Montignac on the Charente River, which meanders from north to south. It lay to the north of the great road from Saintes via Limoges to Lyon, which crossed the Charente at Montignac. The castrum is in an isolated location on a natural mound known as the "butte de la Garenne". The site was occupied by an Iron Age necropolis, and then by a Gallo-Roman villa. The villa was abandoned in the 4th century.

Around 950 Angoulême went through a disturbed period as the Carolingian political structures disintegrated. Count Guillaume II Taillefer resigned his power as Count of Angoulême. around 945 and became a monk at the Abbey of Saint-Cybard. He left a bastard son, Arnaud Manzer, but was succeeded by his cousin, Count Bernard of Périgord. After Bernard's death in 962 there was a power struggle between Bernard's sons and Arnaud Manzer. Arnaud established himself of Count of Angoulême in 975. It seems that he reoccupied Andone during this period of struggle. The site was most likely occupied from around 970–980 until 1028. The site may have been abandoned in part due to lacks of an interior water supply or to the cramped interior. More important, the transfer of the count's residence to Montignac, on the banks of the Charente, may have been due to the count's wish to ally himself to the bishop who controlled that area. The move seems to have taken place at the same time as the move of the monastery of Saint-Amant-de-Boixe, which had been close to Andone. The site has been relatively undisturbed since being abandoned. Between 1971 and 1995 André Debord undertook an investigation of the castrum. His findings were reviewed, reinterpreted and published in 2009 under the direction of Luc Bourgeois. The excavation gives useful insights into daily li

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).