Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de la Jacopière, located 1,500 metres southwest of Craon in Mayenne, was originally a medieval manor house with a main body, an octagonal tower, a separate chapel and a dovecot house dating from 1545. The moats surrounded three sides of the estate, and an alley leading to the castle was crossed by the old railway line from Laval to Pouancé. This site, a fief of the Barony of Craon, was profoundly redesigned around 1825: the manor house was replaced by a square pavilion, and a new chapel incorporated Gothic elements from the original building, such as a moulded door and counter-curve.

The seigneury of the Jacopière changed hands several times during the 15th and 18th centuries. The family of the Fléchère was the owner of it as early as 1393, with members such as Jean de la Fléchère (1484), known for his conflicts with the local clergy, or Claude d-Armaillé (1599-1611), married to Marquise de la Fléchère. In 1688 Pierre Bodard, from a line of local notables, acquired part of the estate, before his progeny, of which Henri-Louis Bodard (1755), consolidated the property. The Bodard family of La Jacopière, marked by a three-headed coat of arms, kept the castle until the 19th century, despite the emigration of Pascal de Bodard during the Revolution.

The site also includes the Petite-Jacopière, mentioned in 1711 as property of the sacristy of Saint-Clément de Craon, then leased in 1783 by Henri-Louis Bodard. Frémond de La Merveillère, uncle of the Bodard brothers in 1789, illustrates the close links between the castle, the local church and the provincial aristocracy. The archives also mention funerary slabs, like that of the father of the abbot, affixed to the outer wall of the chapel, highlighting the memorial role of the estate.

The historical sources, compiled by Alphonse-Victor Angot in the early 20th century, are based on cartriers, parish registers and departmental archives of Mayenne. They reveal a monument at once seigneurial residence, place of worship (via its chapel) and symbol of local power, reflecting the architectural and social changes of Anjou-Maine between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

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