Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château du Plessis-Macé, located in Longuenée-en-Anjou in Maine-et-Loire, is a medieval building transformed at the beginning of the Renaissance. It was built on the bases of a 11th century fortress, successively owned by the families of the Plessis, The Hague-Joulain, Beaumont and the Bellay, bound by matrimonial alliances. Its architecture combines defensive elements (doves, towers) and Renaissance additions such as windows pierced in walls and symmetrical balconies.

In the 15th century Louis de Beaumont (1407–77), the chamberlain of Louis XI and the senechal of Poitou, undertook a major reconstruction after the destruction of the Hundred Years' War. It modernized the castle in flamboyant Gothic style, adding a remarkable staircase tower and a dungeon adorned with family shield. The site welcomed four kings of France: Louis XI (1472), Charles VIII (1487), Francis I (1518 and 1532) and Henry IV (1598). Thibault de Beaumont, son of Louis, enlarged the moat and received Charles VIII in 1487.

The seigneury passed to the Bellay in 1510, an illustrious family from which the poet Joachim du Bellay and Cardinal Jean du Bellay descended. René I of the Bellay welcomed François I in 1532, the year when the treaty of union between Brittany and France was finalized. The castle remained in this line until 1678, despite partial sales in the seventeenth century. After a visit to the Bautru, it was acquired in 1749 by the Walsh, the Norwegian shipowners of Irish origin.

In the 19th century, Sophie Legrand, Countess Walsh, undertook "gothizing" restorations and decorated the interiors of tapestries. The castle changed hands again before being classified as a historical monument in 1962. Given partly to the state in 1967 by Philippe Langlois-Berthelot, it still houses descendants of the latter in certain wings. Today, it hosts visits and cultural events, such as the Anjou festival.

The site, classified in 1962 for its ensemble (doves, garden, ruins of the dungeon), illustrates the architectural evolution of the Ligerian castles, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Its walls have seen the parade of major figures in the history of France, from warrior lords to humanist poets, to kings in military or diplomatic campaigns.

External links