The Motte-Beauvoir or Beauvais Castle is a modernised

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

located in the heart of the town of

Nangis Nangis () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Nangis station has rail connections to Provins, Longueville and Paris. Coat of arms Azure with six argent roundels. Demographics The i ...

, in the

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne (river), Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It protected the population of the "seigneurie" ( lord's domain) during the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...

. Today, it houses the town hall.

History

The name "La Motte" suggests the

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

that indicates the middle-age origin of the place. Fleury (c. 1093-† c. 1147), son of the king

Philip I of France Philip I (23 May 1052 – 29 July 1108), called the Amorous, was King of the Franks from 1060 to 1108. His reign, like that of most of the early Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time. The monarchy began a modest recovery from the low i ...

, is its oldest known lord ("seigneur"). In 1245, the castle came into the ownership of the Montmorency family. A well known fortress in 1397, the English inflicted important damage to the castle in 1429. The king Charles VII the Well-Served gave the domain to Denis de Chailly from

Chailly-en-Bière Chailly-en-Bière () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Painters Claude Monet and Frédéric Bazille spent time there together in 1865, and Bazille painted Monet in his work ''The I ...

as a reward for his help to

Jeanne d'Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...

. He rebuilt the fortress in 1436. By marrying Marie de Vères in 1507, Louis de Brichanteau became the new lord; his descendants kept the domain until 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 November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. Around 1590, Antoine de Brichanteau modernised the residential building. The domain became a

marquisate A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

in 1612. The castle was visited by

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 Vers ...

in 1678. When Armand de Brichanteau died in 1742, a distant cousin, the count of Guerchy, became the new marquis. His son, Anne-Louis of Guerchy, the last marquis of Nangis, almost ruined, sold the castle to a Paris notary in 1795, who destroyed two of the three buildings, keeping only the left wing. The castle was purchased by the city in 1859 and became the town hall. Viewed from the outside, the left wing has not changed much since then. Six paintings in the marriage room are portraits that were classified as historical monuments despite the fact that the building itself is not.

Description

Today, one can still see the moats of the old motte that were then filled with water. In those days, Jeanne d'Arc had crossed the

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

to reach the

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

. The left wing that remains today has two corner towers. One can also see a cylindrical outer wall tower including loopholes. The "Mémoire" picture base of the Ministère de la Culture comprises two photos taken around 1907-1909, one showing the front view and the other, an outer wall tower.Façade vue en perspectiveTour de l'enceinte
Base Mémoire, French Ministry of Culture

History

Description

References in French

External links

See also