Origin and history
The castle of Montreuil-Bellay found its origins in the 11th century, when Foulque Nerra, Count of Anjou, established a castrum on an oppidum to control the Loudunois and monitor the Viscounts of Thouars. This strategic site, located at the crossing of major roads between Angers and Poitiers and Le Mans and Saumur, already housed a monastery near a bridge over the Thouet. Foulque Nerra, known for its defensive constructions like Langeais or Montrichard, erected a fortress to secure its conquests against the Dukes of Aquitaine. The fief was granted in 1025 to Berlay (Berlai) I, whose lineage gave its name to the city: Montreuil-Bellay.
In the 12th century, the castle became an issue of struggle between the Counts of Anjou and the local barons. Berlai II, grandson of the first lord, recovered the seigneury in 1129 after a siege led by Foulque V d'Anjou. His son, Giraud II Berlai, opposed Geoffroy Plantagenet in the years 1130-1150, leading to a memorable siege (1147-1151) where the count used war techniques inspired by Vegèce, such as rolling towers and incendiary bombs. The fortress, described as a stone tower surrounded by two enclosures and ditches, is finally taken and partially destroyed. Giraud II, released under pressure from the king of France, must promise not to rebuild it.
In the 13th century, Philippe Auguste, after attaching Anjou to the Crown in 1205, undertook major modernization between 1204 and 1212. The royal quotes detail the construction of 11 turns, deep ditches, and a crenellated wall of enclosure, for a total cost of 2,500 pounds tournaments. A cylindrical master tower is built near the entrance, strengthening the defence. The castle, returned to Giraud IV Berlay for his loyalty, became a symbol of Capetian authority in Anjou. Conflicts with poitevin barons, such as Lovey VII of Thouars, continued its strategic role until the early 14th century.
The Hundred Years War (14th-15th centuries) imposed new transformations. Guillaume IV de Melun, Viscount and Sénéchal de Poitou, inherits the castle by marriage in 1417 and undertakes defensive arrangements between 1382 and 1415: digging of moat around the Boille (bass-cour), construction of the new tower and the mill door, and subdivision of the bass-cour into 150 houses to accommodate the inhabitants during the English rides. The castral chapel, in ruins since 1382, was replaced by a collegiate Notre-Dame financed by papal indulgences from 1472. The lords of Melun, then the Harcourt-Montgomery, also transformed the castle into a seigneurial residence, adding houses (15th century) and a pleasant gallery.
In the 15th century, William IV of Harcourt and his wife Yolande of Laval radically modernized the whole. Between 1445 and 1480, they built the old Logis (wings in squares near the entrance), the new Logis (face to the Thouet, with three towers and a stairway of appartment), and a circular barbacane adapted to artillery. The vaulted kitchens, the oven with hypocauste, and the collegiate Notre-Dame (completed around 1490) illustrate their desire to combine comfort and prestige. The castle then welcomed kings like Charles VII (1437) or Louis XI, marking its peak as a fortified palace.
After the Revolution, the castle, seized in 1792 and transformed into a prison for royalist women, was sold as a national property in 1796. It was purchased by La Tremeille in 1815 and sold to the Niveleau family in 1822 and restored in 1860 by architect Charles Joly-Leterme. Ranked as a Historic Monument in 1979, he now belongs to Thuy's family. Its medieval elements (premises, houses, collegiate) and its Renaissance layout make it a major witness to the military and aristocratic history of Anjou.
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