Rochechouart

Rochechouart was a viscounty in Limousin, its castle keep rising above the town. In 1337 John I of the Rochechouart family held the lordship under the French crown.

John fought at Crécy in 1346 and died defending King John II at Poitiers in 1356. His successors held the castle against the English, and one fought beside Joan of Arc. In the 17th century Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Madame de Montespan, became Louis XIV's mistress. A viscountess was guillotined in Paris in 1794, but the family survived.