The Château de Châteaurenard is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

in the '' commune'' of Château-Renard in the

Loiret Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434.

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of France.

History

There have been three distinct castles on the site. The château de Renard, 961–1131, was situated within the upper part of the ''enceinte''. The king, Louis VI, attacked and destroyed this castle in 1110 and again in 1131 when it seemed that it was secretly being rebuilt. Little trace of this is visible. During the next 100 years, the church inside the castle was rebuilt and a priory constructed. The second castle, château de Gaucher II de Châteaurenard, count de Joigny, built 1232–1241, provides the layout as seen today. The third castle or ''chastellet'', 1570–1662, reused the upper part of the second castle.Paul Gache
"Le Château-haut de Châteaurenard
''Bulletin of the Société d'émulation de l'arrondissement de Montargis'', vol 3, no. 57, pages 55-68 December 1976 . Retrieved 3 November 2018. In the 12th century, the property was owned by Milon de Courtenay, ''seigneur'' of Châteaurenard, Saint-Maurice and other places. His sons went to the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crus ...

with

Louis VII Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger or the Young () to differentiate him from his father Louis VI, was King of France from 1137 to 1180. His first marriage was to Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and ...

. When the eldest son, Guillaume, was killed in Palestine in 1148, the second son, Renaud, rushed back to France to claim his inheritance. In 1232, Gaucher II, a descendant of the original Renard, was given permission by Blanche de Castille, regent during the minority of Saint Louis, to rebuild the fortress. Gaucher was married to

Amicie de Montfort Amicie de Montfort (before 1210 – 1253) was a French noblewoman and nun. In the Montfort family, which had many people called Simon or Amicie, she became widely known as the daughter of the man, Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, who foug ...

, daughter of

Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester ( – 25 June 1218), known as Simon IV (or V) de Montfort and as Simon de Montfort the Elder, was a French nobleman and knight of the early 13th century. He is widely regarded as one of the great militar ...

. The castle was completed in 1242 when Gaucher was crucified in the Holy Land. The result was a structure exhibiting the height of medieval military architecture. The castle has 16 towers connected by walls, including the ''Grant Tour'', a massive keep. The current names of the towers date at least from the 14th century: anticlockwise from the main gate, these were ''tour de la Citerne'', ''tour Ronde'', ''tour Rouge'', ''tour feu Louis de Girolles'', ''tour de Perrichoy'', ''tour de Gastelier'' (or ''du Chastellet''), ''tour de la Fausse Porte'', ''la Grant Tour'', ''tour Clément'', ''tour Sesneau'', ''tour au Breton'', an unnamed turret behind the priory, ''tour au Marichaut'' and ''tour au Portier''. The castle passed to the Coligny family in 1531. During the

Wars of Religion A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war (), is a war and conflict which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent ...

, the castle was occupied by Protestants until 1568, when it was attacked and partially destroyed. However,

Gaspard II de Coligny Gaspard de Coligny, seigneur de Châtillon (; 16 February 1519 – 24 August 1572), was a French nobleman, Admiral of France, and Huguenot leader during the French Wars of Religion. He served under kings Francis I and Henry II during the ...

was restored to his rights in 1570, repaired the castle and built a second ''enceinte''. These rights passed via

Louise de Coligny Louise de Coligny (23 September 1555 – 9 November 1620) was a princess consort of Orange as the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent. She was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny, seigneur de Châtillon by his first wife, Charlotte de L ...

to the children of her second husband, William of Orange, founder of the Netherlands. At the start of the 17th century, Orange installed Gédéon de Vaufin (or Waulfein) as governor in the castle with a small Protestant garrison. Vaufin forbade Catholics entry to the church. In May 1622, with Vaufin and some of his men lured away by an agent 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. ...

the castle was occupied by townspeople. Louis XIII ordered the chastellet's destruction.

Description

Most of the medieval castle is in ruins. It comprised a

keep A keep 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 castles that were fortified residen ...

and sixteen towers and a six-metre

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

. It had five doors, the most famous of which, the ''Porte Rouge'' (red door), is the current entrance. It was reached via a

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 b ...

across the moat and is so-called because hunting trophies were hung there."La Forteresse Médiévale"
Syndicat d'initiative de Château-Renard et de ses environs . Retrieved 3 November 2018. It is flanked by two dismantled round towers. Much of the structure has been stripped of its dressed stone for use in local buildings. The property of the commune, it has been classified since 1911 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, ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chateaurenard, Chateau de Castles in Centre-Val de Loire Monuments historiques of Loiret

History

Description

See also

References

External links