The Château de Courcy 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 Courcy in the south of the

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples and/or pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Norman distillation was ma ...

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. The edifice, typical of 12th–13th century military architecture, is in danger due to the lack of protective measures, even since being added to the ''

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, ...

'' inventory 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 ...

in 1975.

History

* 1091: The castle, belonging to Richard de Courcy, was besieged by

Robert Curthose Robert Curthose ( – February 1134, ), the eldest son of William the Conqueror, was Duke of Normandy as Robert II from 1087 to 1106. Robert was also an unsuccessful pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of England. The epithet "Curthose" ...

or Courteheuse.Mondes Normands
Courcy, Château fort
/ref> * At the start of the 17th century, it was demolished by order of Richelieu and, losing all military function, slowly became an agricultural enterprise. In 1975, the remaining parts of the former castle including the gate on the road from Tôtes and the gateway to the second ''

enceinte Enceinte (from Latin ''incinctus'' "girdled, surrounded") is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the positio ...

'' were protected by being added to the supplementary inventory of historical monuments. In spite of this protection, the condition of the site has continued to deteriorate.

Successive owners of the property

*Baudric le Teuton obtained the Courcy land by homage to

Richard II, Duke of Normandy Richard II (died 28 August 1026), called the Good (French: ''Le Bon''), was the duke of Normandy from 996 until 1026. Life Richard was the eldest surviving son and heir of Richard the Fearless and Gunnor. He succeeded his father as the ruler o ...

. *Robert de Courcy

Description

The first castle in Courcy was probably built of earth and wood. The structure of the fortification was conceived as a succession of three

s (one surrounding the village, another around the lower court and the last constituting the heart of the fortress): only the last remains. Surrounded by

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 ...

s, the last enceinte was about 10 m high and defended by twelve towers, of which only nine round towers remain, and a square tower which probably served as 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 ...

. Elsewhere in the enceinte are the remains of the Saint Catherine chapel, datable to the 12th century but having been greatly remodelled in the 15th-16th centuries.

References

External links

* * , Service Départemental d'Archoléogie du Calvados, 1997
Aerial photograph of the castle
Castles in Calvados (department) Ruined castles in Normandy Monuments historiques of Calvados (department) {{france-castle-stub

History

Successive owners of the property

Description

See also

References

External links