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A château (; plural: châteaux) is a
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
or residence of the
lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
, or a fine country house of
nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...
or
gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest c ...
, with or without
fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...
s, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowadays a ''château'' may be any stately residence built in a French style; the term is additionally often used for a winegrower's estate, especially in the Bordeaux region of
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.


Definition

The word château is a French word that has entered the English language, where its meaning is more specific than it is in French. The French word ''château'' denotes buildings as diverse as a medieval fortress, a Renaissance palace and a fine 19th-century country house. Care should therefore be taken when translating the French word ''château'' into English, noting the nature of the building in question. Most French châteaux are " palaces" or fine "
country houses An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
" rather than "castles", and for these, the word "château" is appropriate in English. Sometimes the word "palace" is more appropriate. To give an outstanding example, the
Château de Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed ...
, also called in French ''le palais de Versailles'', is so-called because it was located in the countryside when it was built, but it does not bear any resemblance to a castle, so it is usually known in English as the Palace of Versailles. When clarification is needed in French, the term ''château fort'' is used to describe a fortified castle, such as the Château fort de Roquetaillade. The urban counterpart of a château is a '' palais'' in French, which is usually applied only to very grand residences in a city. This usage is again different from that of the term "palace" in English, where there is no requirement that a palace must be in a city, but the word ''palais'' is rarely used for buildings other than the grandest royal residences. The term ''
hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a s ...
'' is used in French for an urban "private house" of a grand sort.


Concept

A château is a "power house", as Sir John Summerson dubbed the British and Irish "
stately homes An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
" that are the British Isles' architectural counterparts to French châteaux. It is the personal (and usually hereditary) badge of a ''family'' that, with some official rank, locally represents the royal authority; thus, the word château often refers to the dwelling of a member of either the French nobility or royalty. However, some fine châteaux, such as
Vaux-le-Vicomte The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte (English: Palace of Vaux-le-Vicomte) is a Baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne department of Île-de-France. Built between 1658 and 1661 for Nicolas ...
, were built by the essentially high- bourgeois—people but recently
ennobled Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteri ...
: tax-farmers and ministers of
Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
and his royal successors. The quality of the residences could vary considerably, from grand châteaux owned by royalty and the wealthy elite near larger towns to run-down châteaux vacated by poor nobility and officials in the countryside, isolated and vulnerable. A château was historically supported by its ''terres'' (lands), composing a demesne that rendered the society of the château largely self-sufficient, in the manner of the historic Roman and Early Medieval
villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...
system, (cf.
manorialism Manorialism, also known as the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, sometimes forti ...
, hacienda). The open villas of Rome in the times of
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
,
Maecenas Gaius Cilnius Maecenas ( – 8 BC) was a friend and political advisor to Octavian (who later reigned as emperor Augustus). He was also an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. During the re ...
, and Emperor
Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
began to be walled-in, and then fortified in the 3rd century AD, thus evolving to ''castellar'' "châteaux". In modern usage, a château retains some enclosures that are distant descendants of these fortifying outworks: a fenced, gated, closeable forecourt, perhaps a
gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mo ...
or a keeper's lodge, and supporting outbuildings (stables, kitchens, breweries, bakeries, manservant quarters in the ''garçonnière''). Besides the ''
cour d'honneur A ''cour d'honneur'' (; ; german: Ehrenhof) is the principal and formal approach and forecourt of a large building. It is usually defined by two secondary wings projecting forward from the main central block ('' corps de logis''), sometimes w ...
'' (court of honour) entrance, the château might have an inner ''cour'' ("court"), and inside, in the private residence, the château faces a simply and discreetly enclosed park. In the city of Paris, the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
(fortified) and the
Luxembourg Palace The Luxembourg Palace (french: Palais du Luxembourg, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of th ...
(the latter originally suburban) were originally referred to as châteaux, but became "palaces" when the city enclosed them. In other French-speaking European regions, such as
Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...
(
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
), the word ''château'' is used with the same definition as in France. In Belgium, a strong French architectural influence is evident in the seventeenth-century Château des Comtes de Marchin and the eighteenth-century Château de Seneffe. In the United States, the word ''château'' took root selectively – in the
Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Wes ...
resort town of
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
, large manor homes were called "cottages", but north of
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
, in the rich, rural "Château Country" centred upon the powerful
Du Pont family The du Pont family () or Du Pont family is a prominent American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817). It has been one of the richest families in the United States since the mid-19th century, when it founded its f ...
, the word château is used with its original definition. In Canada, especially in English, château usually denotes a hotel, not a house, and applies only to the country's most elaborate railway hotels, built during the Canadian railroad golden age, such as the
Château Lake Louise The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is a Fairmont hotel on the eastern shore of Lake Louise, near Banff, Alberta. The original hotel was gradually developed at the turn of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway and was thus "kin" to it ...
in
Lake Louise, Alberta Lake Louise is a hamlet within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Named after Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, it lies in Alberta's Rockies on the Bow River, northeast of the lake that shares its name. Initially settled in 1884 as an o ...
, the
Château Laurier The Fairmont Château Laurier is a hotel with 429 guest rooms in the downtown core of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located near the intersection of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive and designed in a French Gothic Revival Châteauesque style to complem ...
in Ottawa, the
Château Montebello The Fairmont Le Château Montebello, formerly and commonly known as the Château Montebello, is a historic hotel and resort complex in Montebello, Quebec, Canada. The resort complex includes a large game reserve and a large wooden structure. The w ...
in
Montebello, Quebec Montebello is a municipality located in the Papineau Regional County Municipality of Western Quebec, Canada. At the 2001 census, there were 1,039 permanent residents. The village has a total area of , and is located at the eastern edge of Quebec's ...
, and most famously, the
Château Frontenac The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, commonly referred to as the Château Frontenac, is a historic hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The hotel is situated in Old Quebec, within the historic district's Upper Town, on the southern side of Place ...
in
Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
.


French châteaux—particular regions


Bordeaux region

There are many estates with true châteaux on them in the
Bordeaux wine regions The wine regions of Bordeaux are a large number of wine growing areas, differing widely in size and sometimes overlapping, which lie within the overarching wine region of Bordeaux, centred on the city of Bordeaux and covering the whole area of the ...
, but it is customary for any wine-producing estate since the 19th century, no matter how humble, to prefix its name with "Château". This term became the default way of designating an estate in
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
, in the same way that ''Domaine'' did in Burgundy. Both ''Château'' and ''Domaine'' are aristocratic in implication, but Bordeaux had a better claim to the association: nobles had owned Bordeaux's best vineyards for centuries. Most of Burgundy's best vineyards, in contrast, had been owned by the Church. The term ''Château'' became a permanent verbal fixture in Bordeaux, and it was emulated in other French regions and outside France.
File:Chateau Margaux 01 by-dpc.jpg,
Château Margaux Château Margaux (), archaically La Mothe de Margaux, is a wine estate of Bordeaux wine, and was one of four wines to achieve ''Premier cru'' (first growth) status in the Bordeaux Classification of 1855. The estate's best wines are very expens ...
File:Haut Brion exterior.jpg,
Château Haut-Brion Château Haut-Brion () is a French wine, rated a ''Premier Grand Cru Classé'' ( First Great Growth), produced in Pessac just outside the city of Bordeaux. It differs from the other wines on the list in its geographic location in the north of ...
File:Château d'Yquem.jpg,
Château d'Yquem Château d'Yquem () is a '' Premier Cru Supérieur'' ( Fr: "Superior First Growth") wine from the Sauternes, Gironde region in the southern part of the Bordeaux vineyards known as Graves. In the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, Ch ...
File:Château Cheval-Blanc.jpg, Château Cheval-Blanc
The winery denomination ''Château'' is now protected by French law, and confirmed in 1981 by European Union law, as "traditional appellation". The term Château may be used only if two conditions are fulfilled: * The wine concerned have to be made exclusively from grapes harvested from wine belonging to that vineyard, * The wine-making process was carried out there.


Loire Valley

The Loire Valley (Vallée de la Loire) is home to more than 300 châteaux. They were built between the 10th and 20th centuries, firstly by the French kings followed soon thereafter by the nobility; hence, the Valley is termed "''The Valley of the Kings''". Alternatively, due to its moderate climate, wine-growing soils and rich agricultural land, the Loire Valley is referred to as "''The Garden of France''". The châteaux range from the very large (often now in public hands) to more 'human-scale' châteaux such as the Château de Beaulieu in Saumur or the medieval
Château du Rivau The Château du Rivau is a castle-palace in Lémeré (Indre-et-Loire), in the Touraine region, France. In Rabelais' ''Gargantua'', it was given to captain Tolmere as a reward for his victories in the Picrocholean Wars. In 1429, towards the end ...
close to
Chinon Chinon () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. The traditional province around Chinon, Touraine, became a favorite resort of French kings and their nobles beginning in the late 15th and early 16th centur ...
which were built of the local
tuffeau Tuffeau stone — in French, simply ''tuffeau'' or ''tufeau'' — is a local limestone of the Loire Valley of France. It is characterized as a chalky or sandy, fine-grained limestone, white to yellowish-cream in appearance, and micaceous (cont ...
stone.


French châteaux—selected examples


Château de Chenonceau

The Château de Chenonceau is a French château spanning the River Cher, near the small village of
Chenonceaux Chenonceaux () is a commune in the French department of Indre-et-Loire, and the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is situated in the valley of the river Cher, a tributary of the Loire, about 26 km (16 mi) east of Tours and on ...
in the
Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire () is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.department of the Loire Valley in France. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire valley. The estate of Chenonceau is first mentioned in writing in the 11th century. The current château was built in 1514–1522 on the foundations of an old mill and was later extended to span the river. The bridge over the river was built from 1556 to 1559 to designs by the French Renaissance architect
Philibert de l'Orme Philibert de l'Orme () (3-9 June 1514 – 8 January 1570) was a French architect and writer, and one of the great masters of French Renaissance architecture. His surname is also written De l'Orme, de L'Orme, or Delorme. Biography Early care ...
, and the gallery on the bridge, built from 1570 to 1576 to designs by
Jean Bullant Jean Bullant (1515 – 13 October 1578) was a French architect and sculptor who built the tombs of Anne de Montmorency, Grand Connétable of France, Henri II, and Catherine de' Medici. He also worked on the Tuileries, the Louvre, and th ...
.


Château de Dampierre-en-Yvelines

Built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, 1675–1683 for the duc de Chevreuse, Colbert's son-in-law, the
Château de Dampierre The Château de Dampierre is a castle in Dampierre-en-Yvelines, in the ''Vallée de Chevreuse'', France. Built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1675–1683 for the duc de Chevreuse, Colbert's son-in-law, it is a French Baroque château of medium ...
is a
French Baroque French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
château of manageable size. Protected behind fine wrought iron double gates, the main block and its outbuildings (''corps de logis''), linked by balustrades, are ranged symmetrically around a dry paved and gravelled ''cour d'honneur''. Behind, the central axis is extended between the former
parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...
s, now mown hay. The park with formally shaped water was laid out by André Le Notre.


Château de Montsoreau

The
Château de Montsoreau The Château de Montsoreau is a Flamboyant Gothic castle in the Loire Valley, directly built in the Loire riverbed. It is located in the small market town of Montsoreau, in the Maine-et-Loire ''Departments of France, département'' of France, ...
is the only Château of the Loire Valley to have been built directly in the
Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
riverbed. It is also one of the first example of a
renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...
in France. Montsoreau was built in 1453 by Jean II de Chambes (first counsellor of Charles VII of France and ambassador of France to
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
and to
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
) by order of the king soon after the end of the Hundred's years war. The French dramatist Alexandre Dumas made the château de Montsoreau world famous with his trilogy on the
French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholics and Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estimates, between two and four mi ...
of which '' the lady of Monsoreau'' is the second volume.


Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte

The Château de
Vaux-le-Vicomte The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte (English: Palace of Vaux-le-Vicomte) is a Baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne department of Île-de-France. Built between 1658 and 1661 for Nicolas ...
is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near
Melun Melun () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of the Seine-et-Ma ...
, 55 km southeast of Paris in the
Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...
département of France. It was built by
Louis Le Vau Louis Le Vau (1612 – 11 October 1670) was a French Baroque architect, who worked for Louis XIV of France. He was an architect that helped develop the French Classical style in the 17th Century.''Encyclopedia of World Biography''"Louis Le Vau", ...
from 1658 to 1661 for
Nicolas Fouquet Nicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux (27 January 1615 – 23 March 1680) was the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV. He had a glittering career, and acquired enormous wealth ...
, Marquis de Belle-Isle ( Belle-Île-en-Mer), Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...
. The interior was lavishly decorated by painter
Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...
. Louis Le Vau as well as Charles Le Brun were later called by Louis XIV to work at Versailles.


Château de Versailles

The Palace of Versailles, or in French ''Château de Versailles'', is a royal château in
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
, in the
Île-de-France The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, Pa ...
region of France. When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a wealthy suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...
moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building but as a symbol of the system of
absolute monarchy Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism (European history), Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute pow ...
of the ''
Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for ...
''.


Gallery

File:Chateau de Montsoreau Museum of contemporary art.jpg,
Château de Montsoreau The Château de Montsoreau is a Flamboyant Gothic castle in the Loire Valley, directly built in the Loire riverbed. It is located in the small market town of Montsoreau, in the Maine-et-Loire ''Departments of France, département'' of France, ...
File:Chambord Castle Northwest facade.jpg,
Château de Chambord The Château de Chambord () in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with cla ...
File:The Chateau near the Loire river - Saumur, France - panoramio.jpg,
Château de Saumur A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowaday ...
File:Castle Brissac 2007 02.jpg,
Château de Brissac The Château de Brissac is a French château in the Brissac-Quincé area of the commune of Brissac Loire Aubance, located in the department of Maine-et-Loire, France. The property is owned by the Cossé-Brissac family, whose head bears the F ...
File:AzeyParkseite.jpg, Château d'Azay-le-Rideau File:Ancy-le-Franc - Cour interieure 1.jpg,
Château d'Ancy-le-Franc Château d'Ancy-le-Franc is a Renaissance-style château of the 16th century located in the town of Ancy-le-Franc in the department of Yonne, in France. History The site was originally occupied by a 12th-century fort, which survived until the ...
File:Oiron château.JPG,
Château d'Oiron The Château d'Oiron is located in Oiron, in the Deux-Sèvres ''département'' of western France. It has its origins in the 15th century war with the English for control of France when a victorious Charles VII of France gave the domain and great ...
File:Chateau de Hautefort 05.jpg, Château de Hautefort File:Château du Champ-de-Bataille (Eure) - Façade sur les jardins (49748791011).jpg,
Château du Champ-de-Bataille A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowaday ...
File:Épinay-Champlâtreux (95), château de Champlâtreux, façade principale ouest.jpg, Château de Champlâtreux File:Château de Vigny de face.jpg, Château de Vigny File:Saint-Goazec (29) Château de Trévarez Façade sud 05.JPG,
Château de Trévarez The Château de Trévarez is a stately home in the commune of Saint-Goazec in Finistère, in Brittany, France. The former manor house was built in the 16th century (the west part) and the 17th century (the east part). The present structure was co ...
File:Chateau de Ferrieres.jpg, Château de Ferrières


See also

* Châteauesque *
List of castles in France This is a list of castles in France, arranged by Region and Department. ;Notes: # The French word ''château'' has a wider meaning than the English ''castle'': it includes architectural entities that are properly called palaces, mansions or vine ...
*
List of châteaux in Languedoc-Roussillon This is the list of châteaux, which are located in Languedoc-Roussillon. Aude * Château d'Aguilar, in Tuchan * Château d'Albières, in Albières * Château d’Arques, in Arques * Château d'Auriac, in Auriac * Château de Blan ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chateau * Architecture in France House types