Last modified: 2024-10-19 by olivier touzeau
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![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-32-go.gif)
Flag of Gondrin - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 9 July 2022
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Gondrin (1,184 inhabitants in 2021; 3,476 ha) is a commune in the Gers department.
Gondrin is a very old village, transformed into a bastide at the beginning of the 14th century. A hall surmounted by the common house is attested by an act of 1395. At the beginning of the 17th century, the houses of the town, dominated by the dilapidated feudal castle of the Pardaillan, lords of Gondrin, with its outbuildings and its chapel (future parish church of Saint-Michel) were still surrounded by an enclosure wall pierced with four gates at the cardinal points (the main ones facing north and south).
The village owes its rise to the noble lady Paule de Saint-Lary (†1651), daughter of Jean de Saint-Lary (†1586), baron of Termes, and sister of Roger II de Saint-Lary (†1646), 1st duke of Bellegarde (1619), died childless. On June 27, 1602, she married Antoine-Arnaud de Pardaillan (1562-1624), Lord of Gondrin, for whose benefit King Louis XIII established the lands of Montespan (1612) and Antin (1615) as a marquisate. Paule de Saint-Lary gave nine sons (three died young) and four daughters to her husband who had already had two daughters from a first marriage. Widowed in 1624, she survived him by 27 years. Through her son Roger-Hector she is the ancestor of Louis-Henri de Pardaillan de Gondrin (1640-1701), Marquis de Montespan, whose wife, born Françoise de Rochechouart de Mortemart, known as Madame de Montespan became in 1668 favorite of Louis XIV. From 1609 Paule de Saint-Landry, qualified as a great builder, undertook the restoration and embellishment of the castle, then bought the plots of land located between the village and the hamlet of Peyruc to concretize several projects such as the creation of a decorated park ponds and groves, the planting of a vegetable garden and an orchard and the installation of an aviary. Following the testamentary provisions of her husband, who died in 1624, she also had a convent built.
Today there is nothing left of the town's fortifications, apart from a few very reworked elements of the north gate of the town. Only a few vestiges remain of the castle, the old church and the convent.
Olivier Touzeau, 9 July 2022
The arms of Gondrin are blazoned:
Argent three wavy fesses Azure.
The flag, observed in 2021, is a banner of arms (with the field Argent
in light grey): photo, photo.
Olivier Touzeau, 9 July 2022