An expression of History

Medieval foundations

The villa where you are going to stay is a monumental building divided in three autonomous (two of them available for rent) yet communicating houses, resting on foundations that go back to the Middle Ages. The two cottages at your disposal are parts of the same villa in which your hosts reside, making them directly available for any question or request regarding  your stay or your trip. Located between the rue des chapeliers (the hatters street which leads  to the abbey church) and the rue du rocher (the rock street which leads to the castle), the house was, in the Middle Ages, shared ownership of the lords of the city : the counts of Foix on one side and the abbeys of Saint-Volusien (Saint Volusianus) on the other side. Built of stones and bricks, rebuilt and renovated several times through the ages, the villa gives to see several eras entangled in one place.

The castle of Foix, hanging over l'Oustal de Tréville, is illuminated to celebrate the end of the year

The Oustal de Tréville at the foot of the castle.

From Louis XV to this day

The coat of arms of the Calouin de Tréville family

Coat of arms of the Calouin de Tréville family, de gueules à trois quintefeuilles d’argent.

Since the second half of the XVIIIth century, the house became property of the de Séré family and saw its name changed to hôtel de Séré. Then it changed again to hôtel de Tréville (or more often used Séré-Tréville) when Henri Calouin de Tréville married the sole heiress to the de Séré family. It was said, wrongly, at several occasions that the Tréville members of the Séré-Tréville family were relatives of their famous namesake, immortalised by Alexandre Dumas : the captain of the musketeers and friend of d’Artagnan. The famous captain Tréville did, indeed, reside in the city of Foix as a governor mandated by his king, Louis the XIIIth of France, and the confusion is understandable. This rumour participated a bit more in the reputation of the villa de Séré-Tréville in Foix.

            The Séré family was one of the most influencial families in the city, giving it three mayors during the second XIXth century. Bernard-Louis Calouin de Tréville, father of Henri Calouin de Tréville, was an important figure of the city and its country. After he received the honours for his military career, he made meticulous researches about the contribution of the country of Ariège to any war that France got involved in, effectively becoming a specialist of the military history of Foix.

Atypical residence by its history, the oustal is also so by its building. Its foundations were set in the Middle Ages and the garden wall, on the castle side, was with little doubt a military wall set to defend the county from invaders by creating an extremely narrow passage to the castle. The Patio, which recently got entirely renovated, seems to have been some sort of military building, linked by footbridges to the defense walls of Foix. Its base foundations lets think that the bottom of the building served as barracks.

You can get more information, in the right section, about the two cottages available for rent.

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