The Causses are the only place where the particular architecture of the caussenard houses may be seen.  Sheltered from the wind and the harsh climatic conditions, they blend into the landscape and provide homes for men and livestock alike.  
The ground floor would typically be used as the sheep-pen or stable, and was frequently constructed with a stone vaulted ceiling to support the higher floors. The stone also stored and radiated the warmth produced by the animals in the stables, providing heat to the floor above, where the family would reside. The vaults were covered with heavy slabs of limestone, the weight of which added to the stability of the construction.  Most of the buildings on the Causse were built using a system of two overlapping vaults.
The walls of the houses are often extremely thick, between 80cms and 1.5 metres, giving extra protection from the elements.  The facades are lovingly constructed, providing an important reflection of the importance and status of the family.  Heavy slabs of limestone cover the roofs, with larger slabs near the bottom ensuring that the house is water-tight and acting as guttering.
  These slabs can weigh up to 250kg, and measure more than 1 square metre, their weight and bulk adding to the stability of the construction.  All the houses on the Causse were equipped with a cistern, fed by water channeled by wooden gutters that ran along the walls and rested on the carved stonework.

Several examples exist of houses on the Causse built with a frontage of raised porches and terraces.  These houses, whose style recalls that of the houses of Aragon in Spain, were once considered to be a throwback to the 12th century, when the area was ruled by the Kings of Spain.  Today, however, this theory seems unlikely, given that the houses exhibiting this style date, at earliest, from the 16th century.

            La Ferme Aragonaise des Monziols


    1) Location:

  a) The village of Le Massegros is situated on the western edge of the Sauveterre Causse, encompassing a little of the Méjean Causse and the Tarn Gorges, including the Beaumes canyon and the Pas de Souci.

  b) The village of Saint-Georges–de-Lévejac is bisected by the Tarn and boasts one of the most magnificent sites within the Gorges: the Point Sublime, which affords spectacular views over the Baumes canyon and the Saint Hilaire chapel.

  c) The villages both contain a number of large farms, whose architecture suggests that they were constructed by modestly well-off lords or richer members of the middle classes.  Several of these farms exhibit the curious architectural features of the ‘Aragon houses’.

      2) Where does the name ‘Aragon house’ come from and what is meant by the term?

An ‘Aragon’ house or farm is widely held to be a large farmstead containing a central, closed courtyard, around which runs a long gallery embellished by arches, the roofs of which are supported by vaults.  Today, we are reluctant to use the phrase too often in tourist literature, because our understanding of the origins and history of the architectural style is far from complete.

      The seminal work on the history and geography of the Causse remains the thesis produced by Paul Marres.  Marres describes the ‘Aragon’ houses without attributing a particular label or name to their style.  F. Buffières, author of a monumental work on the history and topology of the Gévaudan, uses the term ‘Aragon’ in inverted commas, and doesn’t attempt to provide any further explanation for the appellation.   « These houses do not imitate the characteristics of those of Aragon in Spain. It is more as though they reflect faint memories of such architecture, remnants of the reign of the kings of Aragon over these lands in the 12th century.  » Dr Cayla, in his work on the local architecture of the Rouergue and the Cévennes, points out that the reference to the reign of the Spanish kings in the western regions of the Gévaudan does not appear convincing.  The King of Aragon ceded his possessions in the Gévaudan to the King of France in 1258.  Even if there had been a meaningful occupation of the Sauveterre Causse, combined with cultural exchanges between the two countries, it is extremely difficult to establish any viable relationship between events of the 12th century and the construction of buildings as late as the early 19th century. Dr Cayla does not attempt any further explanation of the term ‘Aragon’.

     The term ‘Aragon’ used to describe the particular architecture of the Causse may well have been simply an invention by some enthusiastic amateur of architectural styles in the 19th century. Whatever the origin of the appellation, however, the houses remain extremely interesting and impressive. They were obviously the work of master builders with a comprehensive understanding of how to create noble dwellings destined for those living at the upper echelons of local society.

 
(1) Cayla(Dr A) – Architecture paysanne du Rouergue et des Cévennes, 1975, p 27

 
          3) The Aragon farm of Monsiols

   The farm at Monsiols (La Capelle), photographed in 1968 (M. Descossy). The left hand porch has since been demolished and the pigeon loft has collapsed. 

   The Monsiols farm is situated on the outskirts of the hamlet.  The buildings form three sides of a square, around an enclosed courtyard bordered by a high wall.  The principal building occupied the entire length of one wall.  An exterior staircase leads to a raised gallery which runs the length of the building.  This vaulted gallery opens onto the courtyard via five arches.  The central arch is surmounted by a wide and decorative gable end.  A covered passageway linked the edifice with the barn situated on the other side of the track.  The collapse of this building was responsible for that of the handsome pigeon loft, which was still standing as late as 1968.  The building as a whole dates almost certainly from 1702, for this is the date inscribed over the door of the barn), with extensive work being undertaken towards 1725, the date inscribed above the central arch of the courtyard.   Paul Marres believes that the Monziols farm was the property of a well-to-do middle class family.  In the 18th century, it was owned by the Abbot of La Barthe, who was responsible for introducing new systems of agriculture to the Causse.

                   
            4) A person of importance : the Abbot of La Barthe

    Jean-Jacques HILAIRE-Silvestre Daudé de Tardieu de Labarthe was born in 1721 at Marvejols, where he also died in 1801.  The eldest of six children, he was born into a family that was considered a model of unity and peace throughout the region. Beginning his education in the Auvergne, Jean-Jacques later travelled to Paris to continue his studies, after which he entered the service of the King. At the time of the Austrian succession, he served as a captain in the infantry division of the Regiment of the Auvergne and fought four battles in Germany.
    Upon his return to Paris, Jean-Jacques was introduced to La Condamine, who was recently returned from his famous voyage to Peru.  He became La Condamine’s pupil and ardent admirer, as well as his friend, and it was thanks to this association that Jean-Jacques was able to meet some of the most brilliant minds of his time, including Séguier, Réaumur and Lalande.  The letters that he exchanged with the latter have been preserved and deserve to be examined in greater detail.  His friend La Condamine, a member of the Academy of Science, described him as ‘the most famous dunce in Europe’.

Towards 1759, Jean-Jacques returned to his native land of the Gévaudan.  He was 38 years old and he returned to marry.  His wife was to die in childbirth in 1766, leaving him with two children to bring up alone.  It was at this time that he made the decision to enter the Church.

His marriage had brought him the lands in the utmost northern limits of the Sauveterre Causse, an inhospitable and uncultivated land, surrounded by woodland, without rivers, without springs or fruit trees, but in which the climate was nonetheless agreeable and pleasant, the air clear and the well water pure and clean.  Despite its virtues, Jean-Jacques realised that the value of the land would double or triple if it could produce a crop of hay.  
   

    At Monjoli, today known as Monziols, he set out to create new farming methods in order to improve the agriculture of his lands.  Following the advice laid down in the Encyclopaedia, he began planting meadows, in order to improve the yield of the land.  He also wrote a long open letter on the infamous episode of the Beast of Gévaudan, heavily mocking the credulity of his compatriots.  He was intensely passionate about all the new inventions of the age: electricity, air flight, astronomy and medicine.