Château du Plessis-Bourré is a

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, 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 re ...

in the

Loire Valley The Loire Valley (, ), spanning , is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about . It is r ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, situated in the commune of Écuillé in the

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indr ...

department. Built in less than 5 years from 1468 to 1472 by Finance Minister Jean Bourré, the principal advisor to

King Louis XI King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by ...

. The château has not been modified externally since its construction and still has a fully working drawbridge.Château du Plessis-Bourré: video of working drawbridge
It was classified as a

Monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

in 1931. Château du Plessis-Bourré was once owned by La Maison De Nuchèze. Jacques de Nuchèze the fourth child of Guillaume de Nuchèze IV Seigneur de Baudiment, des Francs, de Brain, de Chincé & de Batrisse died after 1486 and married Catherine des Francs whose parents were Louis des Francs, Seigneur des Francs & Bartholomée de Torve who died in 1505. Jacques de Nuchèze married Françoise d'Anlezy they had a child called Jean De Nuchèze, Seigneur du Plessis. Jean De Nuchèze, Seigneur du Plessis then proceeded to marry Catherine de Viry on 02.08.1579 and they had a child called Antoine du Plessis. see the De Nuchèze wiki for more info The château was purchased in 1911 by Henry Vaïsse who, when he died in 1956, bequeathed it to his nephew, François Reille-Soult, Duke of Dalmatie, descendant of the marshals of the French empire

Soult Marshal General of France, Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman. He was a Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars, and served three times as P ...

, Reille and Masséna. In 1978, Antoinette de Ferrières de Sauvebœuf, born de Croix, granddaughter of the Duke of Dalmatie, and her spouse Bruno de Ferrières de Sauvebœuf took the responsibility of heading the renovation and maintenance of the château until 2009. They lived there with their three children, Victor (1976)
Matthias
(1978), and Jean-Baptiste (1980), for 31 years, the longest stay of a single family since 1473. Since 2010, it has been inhabited by descendants of François Reille-Soult of Dalmatie and managed by Aymeric d'Anthenaise and Jean-François Reille-Soult de Dalmatie. The Château du Plessis-Bourré has been the location for numerous films, including: * ''

Peau d'Âne ''Donkey Skin'' (; also known in English as ''Once Upon a Time'' and ''The Magic Donkey'') is a 1970 French musical fantasy romance comedy film directed by Jacques Demy, based on '' Donkeyskin'', a 1695 fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a kin ...

'' (1970) by

Jacques Demy Jacques Demy (; 5 June 1931 – 27 October 1990) was a French director, screenwriter and lyricist. He appeared at the height of the French New Wave alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Demy's films are celebrated ...

* ''Louis XI'' by J.C. Lubtchansky * ''Jeanne d'Arc'' (1989 telefilm) by Pierre Badel * '' Le Bossu'' (1997) by

Philippe de Broca Philippe Claude Alex de Broca de Ferrussac (; 15 March 1933 – 26 November 2004) was a French film director. He directed 30 full-length feature films, including the highly successful ''That Man from Rio (''L'Homme de Rio'')'', ''Le Magnifique, ...

* ''

Fanfan la Tulipe ''Fanfan la Tulipe'' is a 1952 French comedy adventure film directed by Christian-Jaque. It has also been categorized under swashbuckler films. The film starred Gérard Philipe and Gina Lollobrigida. TIME magazine placed it on its ten-best ...

'' (2003) by

Gérard Krawczyk Gérard Krawczyk (17 May 1953, Paris) is a French film director. He is of Polish people, Polish descent (his grandparents were from Częstochowa). Filmography Director * ''Homicide by Night'' (1984 in film, 1984) * ''Je hais les acteurs'' (a.k.a ...

* ''La Reine et le Cardinal'' (telefilm) * ''

The Princess of Montpensier ''The Princess of Montpensier'' () is a 2010 French period romance film directed by Bertrand Tavernier, inspired by a short story of the same name published anonymously by Madame de La Fayette in 1662. It stars Mélanie Thierry in the title ro ...

'' (2009) by

Bertrand Tavernier Bertrand Tavernier (; 25 April 1941 – 25 March 2021) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. Life and career Tavernier was born in Lyon, France, the son of Geneviève (née Dumond) and René Tavernier, a publicist and writer, ...

* Louis XI, Le Pouvoir Fracassé (2010) by

Henri Helman Henri Helman (born 1947) is a French Film director, director and screenwriter. Filmography References External links

* 1947 births Living people Film directors from Paris French male screenwriters French screenwriters {{France-fi ...

with

Jacques Perrin Jacques Perrin (; born Jacques André Simonet ; 13 July 1941 – 21 April 2022) was a French actor and film producer. He was occasionally credited as Jacques Simonet. Early life Jacques André Simonet was born on the Boulevard Port-Royal in ...

References

External links

Château du Plessis-Bourré
- official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Plessis-Bourré, Chateau De Châteaux in Maine-et-Loire Castles in Pays de la Loire Historic house museums in Pays de la Loire Museums in Maine-et-Loire Monuments historiques of Maine-et-Loire