The Château du Fou 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 ...
in the ''
commune'' of
Vouneuil-sur-Vienne in the
Vienne Vienne may refer to:
Places
*Vienne (department), a department of France named after the river Vienne
*Vienne, Isère, a city in the French department of Isère
* Vienne-en-Arthies, a village in the French department of Val-d'Oise
* Vienne-en-Bessi ...
''
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
The Château du Fou was constructed by Yves du Fou, ''
Sénéchal Senechal or Sénéchal may refer to:
People
* Florian Sénéchal, French racing cyclist
* Marjorie Senechal (née Wikler), American mathematician and historian of science
* Michel Sénéchal, French tenor
* Robert Sénéchal, French industrialist/m ...
'' of
Poitou
Poitou ( , , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe.
Geography
The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical ...
at the end of the 15th century.
In 1539,
François I met
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) ...
, there.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the lordship of Fou was held by the family (Tiercelin) of Appelvoisin, marquess of La Roche du Maine, in
Prinçay.
In 1795, Charlotte Félicité Elisabeth (Tiercelin) d'Appelvoisin de La Roche du Maine married François-Gabriel-Thibault de La Brousse, marquis de Verteillac, baron de la Tour-Blanche, bringing to him the Château du Fou, where he died on 26 October 1854
In 1855, the castle was sold. In the late nineteenth and twentieth century, it belonged to the family of La Borie de Campagne.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the castle suffered bombardment on 2 August 1944, particularly damaging the south and north wings,
[ British bombers had attempted to flush out a German general, who had been occupying the castle as if a lord among his staff. German soldiers were buried under the castle, some dead or wounded, but the general escaped by plane the next morning.Le château du Fou]
official website of the commune of Vouneuil-sur-Vienne . Retrieved 23 February 2019 The damage has since been restored.
The
postern
A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often placed in concealed locations, allowing inconspicuous entrance and exit. In the event of a siege, a postern could act as a s ...
, the
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 ...
, the
tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
s, the
turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...
, the staircase and the vault were classified as historical monuments by a decree of 6 February 1953. The rest of the castle, including the parts not built on, were registered with the Supplementary Inventory of Historical Monuments by a decree of 9 November 2010.
[
]
Architecture
The castle remains are the moat, the remains of the entrance postern with its two towers and the turret staircase with its vault.
See also
*List of castles in France
This is a list of castles in France, arranged by Regions of France, region and Departments of France, department.
;Notes:
# The French word ''château'' has a wider meaning than the English ''castle'': it includes architectural entities that are p ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fou, Chateau du
Castles in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Fou, Chateau
Monuments historiques of Vienne (department)