The Château de Noirmoutier is a

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 ...

on the Île de Noirmoutier in the

Vendée Vendée () 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.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. It dominates the town of

Noirmoutier-en-l'Île Noirmoutier-en-l'Île (), commonly referred to as Noirmoutier, is a Communes of France, commune located in the northern part of the island of Noirmoutier, just off the coast of the Vendée Departments of France, department in the Pays de la Loir ...

with its almost

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 ...

. The castle is very well preserved and a fine example of 12th-century medieval architecture.

History

The first traces of the castle appeared in 830 with the construction of a ''castrum'' by the abbot Hilbold, from the monastery of Saint-Philbert. It served to defend the monks and the island's population from the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

. The castle was rebuilt in stone in the 12th century by the feudal power who was trying to stabilise the region, notably by preventing

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

pillaging. The island at that time was under the control of the barons of La Garnache. The keep was built by Pierre IV of La Garnache, then an enclosure equipped with towers was built around the lower courtyard. In the 16th century, the castle was held by the La Trémoille family, then viscounts of Thouars. The castle resisted numerous attacks: * the English in 1342 and 1360, and again in 1386 under the command of the

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and it is used (along with the earldom of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title ...

* the Spanish in 1524 and 1588 but in 1674, it was taken by the Dutch troops of Admiral

Cornelis Tromp Cornelis Maartenszoon Tromp, ''Count of Sølvesborg'' (3 September 1629 – 29 May 1691) was a Dutch naval officer who served as lieutenant-admiral general in the Dutch Navy, and briefly as a general admiral in the Royal Danish-Norwegian ...

. The castle was sold in 1720 to Louis IV Henri de Bourbon-Condé, who resold it in 1767 to

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

. During the French Revolution, the castle was used as a military prison. During the 19th century, it was used as a barracks. In 1871, during the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

, insurgents were imprisoned there. The castle was used to intern German nationals during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1960, a house was built within the castle grounds by the governor of the island and the castle. Today, the keep houses the Noirmoutier Museum.

Architecture

The

at the centre of the castle is solid and rectangular. Built of rubble, it has three floors, with the lords' residence at the top. The keep has numerous

murder holes A murder hole or meurtrière is a hole in the ceiling of a gateway or passageway in a fortification through which the defenders could shoot, throw or pour harmful substances or objects such as rocks, arrows, scalding water, hot sand, quicklime, ...

and defensive turrets at the corners. The rectangular fortification consists of two towers, a single gate and two watch turrets in the four corners. At the beginning of the 18th century, the towers were reconstructed and the keep adapted for artillery. Property of the '' commune'', the Château de Noirmoutier is listed 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

Official site of the Île de Noirmoutier
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Noirmoutier, Chateau De Castles in Pays de la Loire Museums in Vendée Local museums in France Monuments historiques of Vendée

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links