The Château de la Preuille is an 11th-century castle at

Saint-Hilaire-de-Loulay Saint-Hilaire-de-Loulay () is a former commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Montaigu-Vendée. Monuments The Château de la Preuille, one of ...

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

, France, one of the oldest ''

château 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 ...

x'' in the Loire Valley. It took its present form in the 13th and 15th centuries. The wide moat defending the northern aspect of the walls and towers indicates its origins as a stronghold. From 1350, the castle was owned successively by the families of Boux, Bastard (1460), Gastiniere (1541), Pâris (including Claude-René Pâris de Soulanges, comte de Soulanges) (1728), and through the late 18th century, the family of D’Nacquart or De Nacquard. In 1832, Marie-Caroline of Bourbon, Duchess of Berry, visited the château to launch her coup against

King Louis-Philippe Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wa ...

in order to crown her son Henri,

comte de Chambord Henri, Count of Chambord and Duke of Bordeaux (french: Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonné d'Artois, duc de Bordeaux, comte de Chambord; 29 September 1820 – 24 August 1883) was disputedly King of France from 2 to 9 August 1830 as Hen ...

, the last legitimate Bourbon. The coup failed and Marie-Caroline was arrested. During the 20th century, the castle was abandoned and was left in a state of disrepair. It was saved and restored by the Fradin family in the 1970s and 1980s. Renovation was continued by the family Ribow between 2003 and 2019.

References

11th-century establishments in France 11th-century fortifications Châteaux of the Loire Valley Châteaux in Vendée Henri, Count of Chambord {{France-castle-stub