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Origin and history

The Château de Bois-Geslin, located in Armaillé in Maine-et-Loire, is an ancient seigneurial residence built in the second half of the 16th century. It replaces a first medieval castle of which there is no trace, although the family of Armaillé owned it from the fourteenth century. The land of Bois-Geslin, mentioned in 1406 in a confession given to the lord of Pouancé, became the seat of the seigneury of Armaillé in 1550. In 1570 Jacques de la Forest, a lawyer and then adviser to the Parliament of Brittany, acquired the estate and undertook its reconstruction, adopting the name of La Forest-Armaillé. The castle, rectangular in plan, is flanked by circular towers and schauguers, with facades adorned with blue sandstone bays and pediments.

The north facade was redeveloped at the end of the 17th century, as evidenced by the date 1689 engraved on a skylight. Defensive elements, such as the murderers and archer-canoners, recall its seigneurial origin, while the commons, the dovecote and the court of honour complete the whole. Inside, a ramp-on-rail staircase in blue sandstone and wood-walled torchi partitions illustrate the constructive techniques of the era. The castle, registered with the Historical Monuments in 1991, belongs to the 20th century to the Broglie family. Its architecture blends Renaissance influences (baths with braces, layout of facades) and medieval remains (sheep-carpent-carpent-farms).

The estate rises along the Verzea river, once feeding its moats. Local materials, such as the tuffeau for modillons or the schist for cornices, highlight its anchor in Haut-Anjou. The successive transformations (perceived windows in the 17th century, recent restorations) reflect its adaptation to the eras, while maintaining traces of its military and seigneurial past. The land, originally linked to the seigneury of Pouancé, embodies feudal history and then Renaissance of this region of the Pays de la Loire.

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