Château de Massanes dates back to the days of the old Roman Empire. The Roman warlord Marcus, after whom the village is named, built a villa on the hillside, overlooking the bourg. The village is mentioned in 1038 in the cartulaire du chapitre of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Nîmes as Villa que vocant Marzanicus. The villa is mentioned again in other literature in 1066.
In the 16th century a medieval lordship, la seigneurie de Massanes, was established by Jacques Alleman, seigneur of Mirabel and viguier of Anduze. During the second half of the century this lordship passed to Airebaudouze, and then, through marriage, to Guillaume de Causse.
In 1730 the property was purchased by Elie Randon de Massanes (1701-1771) conseiller secrétaire for king Louis XV, maison couronne of France and its finances and receveur général des finances de Poitou. At the time of purchase an old hermitage had been established at the château which apparently did not have a floor. Mr Randon was very wealthy and during the XVIIIe century he and and his wife Marie Louise de Pons reconstructed the château to what we see today.
Randon had the following children: Jean Antoine Randon d’Haneucourt, husband of Marguerite Renée Hélène Félicité Le Metayer de La Haye- Lecomte, Louise Adélaïde Randon de Massanes, married to Michel Étienne Le Peletier, comte de Saint Fargeau, and Pierre Louis Paul Randon de Lucenay, married to Marie Élisabeth Desbrest.
Elie Randon and M. de Florian, the well-known Occitan fabulist and writer, were friends. Florian places in Massanes the story of Estelle and Némorin, a pastoral which is said to have been written during a stay at the castle, of which there is no proof (in the park, leaning against a low wall of fence, a fountain decorated in the 18th century is called ‘fontaine d’Estelle’.) Certainly, the château still has a chambre d’Estelle facing the garden. Because Florian found in this work the first text in Occitan (In a small note, he specifies that it was translated by Marie-Antoinette.), he organized a pilgrimage, followed by the félibres to the Great War.
In 1806, the château belonged to a younger branch represented by Marc Antoine Randon, born in Anduze, then, in 1818 by his nephew Elie Randon, merchant, Protestant, born Saint Hippolyte du Fort.
One of Randon’s descendants became mayor of Massanes.
In 1967 the château was sold from a monsieur Bourseiller to a monsieur Orieux. Upon M. Orieux’ passing, the property was inherited by his children, who sold the château to the current owners, the ideal organisation Historic Estates Ltd, in 2022.
The château consists of several buildings joined together by the south-facing main entrance facade and the western neoclassical facade. The dovecote tower adjoins these two facades to the south. Several building parts remain intact from medieval times, including the dovecote, the north tower, the east building with the main staircase (main roof beam dated 1395) and several vaulted ceiling rooms and caves inside the château. The date of the watchtower is uncertain, but at least parts of it is medieval.
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Sources: Wikipedia and the book “Les Châteaux du Gard Du Moyen Âge à la Révolution “ (by Marthe Moreau, Les Presses du Languedoc).
