Shortly after the year 1000, the bishops of Poitiers from the Isembert family, succeeding a family named Chauvigny, became lords of Chauvigny, and later barons from the 14th century onward. The baronial castle, also known as the Bishops’ Castle, was built in the 11th century by them. The quadrangular keep dates from the mid-11th century. Starting in 1397, Ithier de Mareuil, bishop of Poitiers from 1394 to 1405, added a second keep to the castle. Today, it hosts falconry shows.
The structure is a complex building, 80 meters long and 50 meters wide. It was frequently damaged and altered. By the late 17th century, it was already nearly abandoned.
You can still see a first enclosure with the original 11th-century entrance, a powerful 12th-century keep, the ruins of the 'new castle' built around 1400 (of which an impressive wall section remains, showing two stories of apartments) and the Saint-Michel chapel with its chapter room above. Access to the inner courtyards and buildings of the second enclosure (12th–16th centuries), including kitchens, bakeries, stables, a well, and a tunnel, was via a drawbridge. The castle chapel can be recognized by its vaulted ceiling bearing the coat of arms of Ithier de Mareuil.
The castle's current ruined state is due to its sale as national property during the French Revolution, after which the buyer turned the fortress into a stone quarry.
The Beckov castle stands on a steep 50 m tall rock in the village Beckov. The dominance of the rock and impression of invincibility it gaves, challenged our ancestors to make use of these assets. The result is a remarkable harmony between the natural setting and architecture.
The castle first mentioned in 1200 was originally owned by the King and later, at the end of the 13th century it fell in hands of Matúš Èák. Its owners alternated - at the end of the 14th century the family of Stibor of Stiborice bought it.
The next owners, the Bánffys who adapted the Gothic castle to the Renaissance residence, improved its fortifications preventing the Turks from conquering it at the end of the 16th century. When Bánffys died out, the castle was owned by several noble families. It fell in decay after fire in 1729.
The history of the castle is the subject of different legends.