The village is situated on a rocky height near the site of an Iron-Ageoppidum and Gallo Romanvilla on the neighboring hill of La Ciotat (La Sioutat). The ruins of Roman baths were found in the 18th century, which may be part of the same villa that was discovered more recently in 1898 and excavated in the 1960s.[3][4]
The name Roquelaure means "laurel hill" in Gascon.[5] A medieval fortified town was built at the current location sometime in the 12th century under the auspices of a lord of Roquelaure, and it received its charter (charte de coutumes) in 1244. From the 16th century on, the lords of Roquelaure built and maintained a chapel in the Gothic Church of Saint-Loup. The lords of Roquelaure, including Antoine de Roquelaure (1544–1625), are buried in the church crypt. Antoine de Roquelaure built the nearby château of Rieutort and began refurbishing the castle at Lavardens, a project which was never completed. Francis I had a fort built on the northern slope of the village hill, guarding the road to Peyrusse-Massas, the ruins of which remain. The grounds of the fort have been the Robert Dauzère Stadium since 1969.[6]
The former commune of Arcamont was joined to Roquelaure in 1952.[7]
The seigneurie of Roquelaure was elevated to a duchy in 1652 in favor of Gaston-Jean-Baptiste de Roquelaure (1617-1683), son of Antoine de Roquelaure.
After this line died out, a different marquisate of Roquelaure was created in 1766 for their relatives, the lords of Saint-Aubin, today Roquelaure-Saint-Aubin.
^Lapart, Jacques; Petit, Catherine (1993). Carte archèologique de la Gaule: Le Gers 32. Paris: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, Ministère de la Culture. pp. 115–119. ISBN2-87754-025-1.
Urizzi, Pascale (2003). "Roquelaure". In Georges Courtès (ed.). Communes du département du Gers: Arrondissement d'Auch. Vol. 1. Auch: Société archéologique et historique du Gers. pp. 59–61. ISBN978-2-9505900-7-7.
Further reading
Jones, Peter (2003). Liberty and Locality in Revolutionary France: Six Villages Compared, 1760–1820. New Studies in European History. Cambridge University. ISBN978-0521821773.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roquelaure.
Roquelaure. Community of Communes of the Cœur de Gascogne (in French).
The town hall at Place De Montal, with Saint-Loup Church in background
