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Origin and history

The Château d'Yèvre-le-Châtel, located in the Loiret in the Centre-Val de Loire region, is an ancient castle with origins dating back at least to the 10th century. At that time, the site belonged to the abbey of Fleury, but Baron Arnoul de Yèvre committed abuses, pushing his wife Lucinde to found an abbey in the enclosure to calm tensions. After Arnoul's death, King Hugues Capet intervened several times to subdue his successors and dismantle their wood fort, then built on a mound.

Around 1112, the castle was attached to the crown of France when Louis VI the Gros forced Viscount Foulques to yield it to him, making a powerful strategic chestnut. At the beginning of the 13th century, under Philippe Auguste, the castle was rebuilt according to military techniques reported from the crusades, such as the anti-sap dump arches. This key position between Île-de-France and the Duchy of Orleans played a role in the unification of the kingdom.

During the Hundred Years War, Yèvre-le-Châtel remained, with Montargis, the only strong place north of the Loire to resist the English and the Bourguignons. His captain, Nicolas de Giresme, took an active part in the liberation of Orléans alongside Joan of Arc. However, by the end of the 15th century, the extension of the royal domain and the evolution of artillery made its defences obsolete. An inventory of 1610 already attested to its state of ruin.

The castle, surrounded by dry moats, adopts a diamond shape flanked by four semicircular towers. Several times, notably between 1982 and 1984 by volunteers, and from 1999 to 2002, it now houses medieval gardens of aromatic and medicinal plants. Since 1994, the association Les Compagnons de la Châtellenie has ensured its development, perpetuating its historical and architectural heritage.

Access to the high courtyard was once made by a mobile bridge, now replaced by a wooden staircase. The lower courtyard, protected by a châtelet from the harrow, retains a poterne in its eastern rampart. The site offers an exceptional panorama of the Beauce, the Gâtinais and the forest of Orléans, recalling its past role of surveillance and territorial control.

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