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Origin and history

The castle of Madon occupies the location of a former pleasure house of the Counts of Blois, originally owned by the Abbey of Saint-Laumer (or Saint-Lomer) of Blois. This abbey had made it a place of rest as early as 1000, after having received it as a gift from a knight. The site was marked by historical events, such as the arrival of Louis XII on 26 October 1498 to be questioned by an ecclesiastical council on his request to cancel a marriage with Jeanne de Valois. The early castle, damaged during the Hundred Years War, was rebuilt between 1468 and 1505.

In 1698 the abbey of Saint-Laumer was attached to the bishopric of Blois, and the estate became the country residence of the bishops. The present castle was built around 1770 by Charles-Gilbert de May de Termont, then bishop of Blois. Its architecture includes a central body flanked by two wings, an access terrace, and a symmetrical posterior façade. A 16th century pavilion, a vestige of the old castle (known as the Louis XII pavilion), as well as a dome covered chapel, built on a well-known miraculous source for the eyes, complete the whole.

The monument was probably acquired in the 19th century by the banker Jean-Louis-Bernard of Etchegoyen, says the Baron of Etchegoyen, as evidenced by an equestrian portrait of his son Louis-Eugène (1810) preserved in local collections. The castle, including its park, chapel and communes, was listed as historic monuments by order of 10 April 1948. Its history thus reflects the transitions between religious, aristocratic and bourgeois power, from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

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