Timeline

Heritage classified

Origin and history

The Château de la Tour du Pin is a medieval monument located in the Bois d'Anjou department of Maine-et-Loire. Built in the lower Middle Ages, it features a typical 12th-XIIIth century architecture, with a gemini window and three towers protected by murderers. Its dimensions (20 m long, 10 m wide) and altitude (48 m) make it a strategic site, although its exact history and genealogy remain unknown.

The site is occupied since Neolithic, as evidenced by a dolmen today destroyed, located in front of the ruins. The building underwent architectural modifications until the 15th century, before falling into ruins, perhaps due to the Hundred Years' Wars. He was listed as a historical monument in 1926, and kept traces of his military and seigneurial past, although his precise role and owners remained unknown.

There is no document to trace the detailed history of the castle or the reasons for its abandonment. The current, though partial, remains offer a glimpse of medieval defensive architecture, with characteristic elements such as murderers and towers. The precise location of the site, in Fontaine-Guérin (today Les Bois d'Anjou), is attested by the Mérimée and Monumentum bases.

The castle illustrates the evolution of fortifications in Anjou, an area marked by medieval conflicts. His inscription in 1926 underlined his heritage interest, despite the absence of detailed written sources. Future archaeological or documentary research could inform its history, now limited to hypotheses such as the Hundred Years' War.

The region of the Pays de la Loire, and more particularly Anjou, was in the Middle Ages a territory of passage and conflicts, where castles played a key role in defending local lords. The Tower of Pine, though modest in size, is part of this network of fortifications, reflecting the strategic stakes of the time, between territorial control and protection of the populations.

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