CHÂTEAU DE COMMARQUE

France

The Château de Commarque is a hillside castle located between Sarlat and Les Eyzies, in the commune of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil in the Dordogne département, southern France. It stands on a rocky outcrop in the valley of the river La Beune in the Vezere valley region.

The castle was founded during the 12th century, or possibly slightly prior to it, upon the request of the abbots of Sarlat. At this time the Château de Commarque was only a wooden tower, and its primary concerns were to discourage the ambitions of the Beynac family and to ensure the safety of the valley. It was placed at the crossing of two important commercial roads: the road from Périgueux to Cahors and the road from Brive-la-Gaillarde to Bergerac.

After the Beynac family took the control of the castle, the wooden tower was replaced by a stone keep. The fortification was enhanced, and the keep was gradually heightened until the 18th century. The Beynac, lords of the area, dwelt in the keep.

During the Hundred Years’ War, it was captured by the English who held the place for several years.

Later during the French Wars of Religion, the castle was taken by the Catholics, due to the Beynacs being Protestant partisans.

There is a prehistoric cave under the castle.

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CHÂTEAU DE MONTRÉSOR

France

The Château de Montrésor is a medieval castle with a Renaissance mansion built on the grounds, located in the French village of Montrésor in the département of Indre-et-Loire.

The Château de Montrésor has been listed since 1996 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture and is a popular visitor attraction.

Around 1005, Fulk Nerra, Count of Anjou, chose a rocky overhang dominating the valley of the Indrois as the site to have a powerful fortress built by his captain Roger le Petit Diable (“Little Devil”). Montrésor had one of the first keeps built out of stone, similar to that at Loches, and two circular walls, of which today only the west wall remains.

In the 12th century, Montrésor fell into the hands of Henry II of England and the imposing towers at the entrance were built, as well as a part of the northern curtain wall.

In 1188, King Philip Augustus of France retook Montrésor from the English. André de Chauvigny, returning from the Third Crusade with Richard the Lionheart, became the new lord of Montrésor, before having to cede the castle for almost two centuries to the Palluau family.

Demolished in 1203, the castle was rebuilt in 1393 for Jean IV de Bueil by Jean Binet, who put up the enclosure wall, the gatehouse and the existing outbuildings.

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CHÂTEAU DES BAUX

France

The Château des Baux is a fortified castle built during the 10th century, located in Les Baux-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, southern France.

Although already inhabited in the Bronze Age, Les Baux-de-Provence did not really start growing until the medieval period. Built in the 10th century, the fortress and the small town it protects were ruled by the lords of Baux for five hundred years, in the thick of the ceaseless conflicts that ravaged Provence.

It was also at Les Baux that the most famous minstrels and troubadours of the day sang songs of courtly love to the maidens of the House of Les Baux. In the 15th century, the lords of Baux were superseded by the barons of the Masons des Comtes de Provence. This was a golden age for the Château before it came under the control of the kings of France.

From the 16th century on, family feuds and wars of religion brought on the decline of the town until the fortress was pulled down in 1633 on the orders of Louis XIII.

Visitors to the Château des Baux can see full-scale replicas of huge siege engines, including a couillard, bricole, ballista, and the biggest trebuchet in Europe, which is launched during demonstrations several times daily between April and September.

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CHATEAU D’ANGERS

France

The Château d'Angers's history and travel information by castletourist.com — ^{Image by Jean-Paul BREHAUT from Pixabay}

The Château d’Angers is a castle in the city of Angers in the Loire Valley, in the département of Maine-et-Loire, in France. Founded in the 9th century by the Counts of Anjou, it was expanded to its current size in the 13th century.

It is located overhanging the river, Maine. It is a listed historical monument since 1875. Now open to the public, the Château d’Angers is home to the Apocalypse Tapestry.

Originally, the Château d’Angers was built as a fortress at a site inhabited by the Romans because of its strategic defensive location.

In the 9th century, the Bishop of Angers gave the Counts of Anjou permission to build a castle in Angers. The construction of the first castle began under Count Fulk III (970–1040), celebrated for his construction of dozens of castles, who built it to protect Anjou from the Normans.

It became part of the Angevin Empire of the Plantagenet Kings of England during the 12th century. In 1204, the region was conquered by Philip II and the new castle was constructed during the minority of his grandson, Louis IX (“Saint Louis”) in the early part of the 13th century. Louis IX rebuilt the castle in whitestone and black slate, with 17 semicircular towers.

The construction was undertaken in 1234 cost 4,422 livres, roughly one per cent of the estimated royal revenue at the time. Louis gave the castle to his brother, Charles in 1246.

In 1352, King John II le Bon, gave the castle to his second son, Louis who later became count of Anjou. Married to the daughter of the wealthy Duke of Brittany, Louis had the castle modified, and in 1373 commissioned the famous Apocalypse Tapestry from the painter Hennequin de Bruges and the Parisian tapestry-weaver Nicolas Bataille.

Louis II (Louis I’s son) and Yolande d’Aragon added a chapel (1405–12) and royal apartments to the complex. The chapel is a sainte chapelle, the name given to churches that enshrined a relic of the Passion. The relic at Angers was a splinter of the fragment of the True Cross which had been acquired by Louis IX.

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CHATEAU DU HAUT-KŒNIGSBOURG

France

Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg's history and travel information by castletourist.com — ^{Image by Marlene Bitzer from Pixabay}

Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg is a medieval castle located in the commune of Orschwiller in the Bas-Rhin département of Alsace, France.

Located in the Vosges mountains just west of Sélestat, situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years’ War when it was abandoned.

From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.

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