The powerful Limousin seigniory of LASTOURS would dominate the history of the Viscounty of POMPADOUR from the 11th century onwards.

In 1026, Guy de LASTOURS built a fort to defend his possessions, coveted by the Viscount of Ségur. With his wife Engalcie de MALEMORT, he rebuilt ARNAC church and established a monastery there, given to St Martial’s Abbey in Limoges. They endowed it with the relics of St Pardoux stolen from SARLAT.

Through the interplay of marriage, the Viscounty passed to the LARONS, then to the FLAMENCS and finally in 1240 to the HELIES, who added the name of the land, POMPADOUR, to their own.

As centuries went by, the suzerainty of the POMPADOURs spread to all the adjoining parishes. In the 15th century, Geoffroi Hélie de POMPADOUR, at the time Provost of Arnac, Bishop of Périgueux and of Le Puy, and Grand Almoner of France, rebuilt a sumptuous château on the feudal mound.

Having in 1513 inherited the illustrious Viscounty of COMBORN, including the Barony of TREIGNAC, the House of POMPADOUR had reached the religious, military and political heights. Elevated to a marquisate, it died out at the dawn of the 18th century, with the successive deaths of Jean, 3rd Marquis of POMPADOUR, on 21st June 1684, his daughter Françoise, Marquise of HAUTEFORT on 16th September 1726 and Miss St-Cyr, his adopted daughter legitimised by Choiseul, in 1728.

The POMPADOUR inheritance, disputed in a long trial between the Prince de BOURBON-CONTI and the Marquis de LA VALLIERE, was transferred to LOUIS XV’s favourite, Mme LENORMANT d’ETIOLLES on 24th June 1745; in September she became Marquise de POMPADOUR. When her estate was sold in 1760, she retained this title and the coat-of-arms.

A year later, when the lands of POMPADOUR returned to the Crown and the second Royal Stud was established, the whole history of this heritage became linked with horses.

At Beyssac, the Lords of LA RIVIERE were succeeded by the LIVRONS from the VARS and OBJAT area, but originally from Livron, near Valence in Dauphiny (cf NADAUD). Marguerite de Livron married Guy Aubert, from the nearby hamlet of Les Monts, older brother of Etienne, the future Pope INNOCENT VI (1352-1362) in Avignon. The latter rebuilt the church where he was baptised in Beyssac. La Rivière château, now in ruins, is said to have been built in the 14th century by Guy Aubert’s nephew Goulfier de Livron (cf POULBRIERE).

Marrying Françoise de BAUFFREMONT from Champagne-Ardennes in 1477, Bertrand de LIVRON left for that region, transferring his rights to the POMPADOURs (cf. Nadaud). Thus it was that the LA RIVIERE Estate became part of the Marquisate of POMPADOUR.

At GLANDIER, nestling on the leafy banks of the Loyre, BEYSSAC has the only surviving charterhouse [Carthusian monastery] in the Limousin region. Its foundation dates from 1219, following a gift by Archambaud VI of COMBORN, in expiation of a crime. This monastery was supported down the centuries by numerous benefactors.

Abandoned and ransacked in the Revolution, it was bought in 1817 by the POUCH-LAFARGE family, who built an industrial forge downstream (1834). The son Charles married an orphaned Parisian aristocrat, Marie CAPELLE, but died a few months later. Accused of having poisoned him, his wife was condemned to life imprisonment, after a sensational trial that left a lingering doubt as to her guilt. This was the mysterious ‘LAFARGE Affair’.

The Carthusians bought GLANDIER back in 1860 and rebuilt the monastery, but departed once again into exile at the dawn of the 20th century.

The site is currently occupied by a major psychotherapy centre.

While the charterhouse was being rebuilt, Marie LACORE, known as Suzanne, was born on 30th May 1875 at GLANDIER, where her father André LACORE was head carpenter. In 1936 she was one of the first women Secretaries of State (under the BLUM Government), along with Irène JOLIOT-CURIE and Cécile BRUNSCHWIEG.