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Origin and history

The Château de Rochebrune, located in Etagnac in Charente, has its origins since the first crusades. Initially a strategic fortified square at the crossroads of the roads of Limoges, Angoulême and Niort, it was equipped with a first round by Jordan I before its departure for Jerusalem in 1099. Three other towers, with thick walls pierced by murderers, were added a century later. The descendants of Jordan gradually expanded the building, giving it its present appearance.

In 1561, during the Wars of Religion, the castle passed to Blaise de Montluc, Marshal of France and Catholic defender. Fired by the Protestants in 1569, it was restored by the daughter-in-law of Montluc, who pierced openings to illuminate the facades. Rochebrune then became the property of the Escouubleau de Sourdis, then of the Colbert-Chabanais, who added windows and replaced the drawbridge with a fixed passage in the 18th century.

In 1805 the general of Empire Pierre Dupont of the Etang acquired the castle. His heir, without descendants, handed him over to the Count of Richemont, ancestor of the present owners. The current architecture includes three bodies of buildings flanked by four towers, surrounded by moat. The painted ceiling of 1581, with the arms of Montluc and Rochechouart, and the park planted under the First Empire testify to its rich past.

Ranked a historic monument in 1959, the castle retains medieval defensive elements, such as murderers and moats, while integrating 17th and 18th century modifications, such as large windows and the replacement of the drawbridge. The dardian roofs replaced the original flat tiles, and a wing was demolished in 1808.

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