Château de la Bossivière en Mayenne

Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of the Bossivière, located in Argenton-Notre-Dame (Mayenne), was an ancient noble estate built in tuffeau. It had a 13th century seigneurial house, with a wing flanked by a hexagonal tower with a base, which became square on the floor thanks to corbellations. The windows, decorated with Renaissance sculptures, and the decorated chimneys (without coats of arms) showed its past prestige. Weather and weather have reduced the castle to ruins, whose stones were used to erect a nearby sanctuary.

Around 1740, Françoise de Bonneau, widow of Thomas Rallier, provost of the maré chambre, lived at the Bossivière. During the Terror, the estate became a refuge for the refractory priests, including Pierre Maline, parish priest of Ménil. Louise-Olympe Rallier de la Tertinière, wife of René-Emery Déan, lived there with her three daughters and mother. Their commitment cost them dearly: betrayed in 1793, they were arrested with a vicar, sentenced to death in January 1794.

Déan and her eldest daughter, Catherine-Madeleine, were shot at the Champ-des-Martyrs in Angers on 1 Feb. 1794. The other two sisters, sentenced to guillotine in March 1794, escaped death by the dissolution of the revolutionary court. After their release, Françoise-Olympe founded a school of charity in Angers, while Louise-Aimée married a knight of Saint-Louis. A monument near the Coudray road today commemorates their sacrifice and the old castle.

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