Château de la Porte en Mayenne

Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de la Porte is an emblematic monument of Daon, in Mayenne (Pays de la Loire), located 4 km north of the village, on the left bank of the river Mayenne. Mentioned from 1406 under the name of the house of the Gate, this fief belonged to the castle of Daon and enjoyed extensive seigneurial rights, such as hunting, the use of wood for heating, or a chapel dedicated to the local church. A stationer and the fief de Mauvinet (Saint-Michel-de-Feins) were united, reinforcing its territorial importance.

In the 19th century, the castle was completely renewed in 1859 by the Parisian architect M. Lévy, transforming his appearance into an elegant building with white walls and slender roofs overlooking the valley. The Abbé Angot, at the end of the century, highlighted its picturesque setting, between wooded hillsides and streams. At that time, the exhibition housed a painting commemorating the naval battle of the Crown (1625), commissioned by Isaac de Razilly, a symbolic link with French maritime history.

During the French Revolution, the domain was the scene of tensions: servants and tenants, such as Marie Bienvenu (guardian imprisoned for suspicion of collusion with the Brigands) or Pierre Bigarré (accused of fanaticism), were persecuted. The cellars, alternately visited by Chouans de Coquereau and Les Bleus de Ménil in 1794, illustrate the local divisions. The chapel, dedicated to Saint Catherine and then to the Virgin, played a religious and social role until the 19th century, welcoming marriages and processions.

The archives reveal a statutory evolution of the site: firm on the map of Cassini, the castle preserves traces of its seigneurial past, like the rights of use in the wood of the Gate. An eau-forte of Tancrède Abraham and the descriptions of Abbé Angot perpetuate its memory, between architectural heritage and living history of the Pays de la Loire.

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