Aixe-sur-Vienne

Aixe stands at the meeting of the Vienne and Aixette, west of Limoges. The castle of the viscounts of Limoges occupied a rocky spur above the confluence, guarding an approach to their city. Below its great tower and hall lay a fortified enclosure where knights kept houses from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. Bridges over the two rivers connected the settlement beneath the castle to the surrounding country.