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Origin and history

The castle of Bré is an ancient castral motte located on the south side of a hill overlooking the valley of the Bouchesuse, in the hamlet of Bret in Coussac-Bonneval. This strategic site, today in Upper Vienna, bears witness to a medieval occupation linked to defence and territorial control.

The seigneury of Bré, attested from the 14th century, was a fief dispute and exchange between several noble families. Originally owned by the Viscounts of Limoges, she passed to the Maulmonts, and in 1307 was given to King Philippe V in exchange for the seigneury of Tonnay-Boutonne. In 1317 Philippe V offered Henry de Sully his bottler, marking the beginning of a series of transmissions between aristocratic lines.

In the 15th century, the seigneury was acquired by the Aubert family, which kept it 130 years before selling it in 1490 to Geoffroy Hélie de Pompadour. The Barony of Bret remained in this family until 1726, when Marie-Françoise de Pompadour, wife of the Marquis de Hautefort, died. His heir, Françoise-Augustine de Choiseul, handed the estate over to the Count d'Alais, then to the prince of Conti, who sold it in 1760 to Madame de Pompadour, the favorite of Louis XV.

The castle was finally exchanged with King Louis XV in 1761 by the Duke of Choiseul, thus integrating royal goods. The site, close to the Pompadour stud, founded in the 17th century, appears on the Napoleonic plane under the name of Haras Royal, highlighting its link to the elite equine breeding under the Old Regime.

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