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Origin and history

The castle of Nesles was built around 1226 by Robert III de Dreux, Count of Braine and Capetian descendant, under the permission of Count Thibaud of Champagne. Inspired by the Dourdan castle built by Philippe Auguste, this monument adopts a symmetrical quadrangular plan, characteristic of the so-called philippian architecture. Its eight identical towers and its large cylindrical master tower (30 meters high, walls 5 meters thick) make it a remarkable example of a streamlined medieval fortification. The entrance door, framed by two towers, opens into the north court.

The seigneury changed hands by marriage alliances: she passed to the Châtillon (family of the connétable Gaucher) until 1370, then to Jehan de La Personne, companion of arms of Du Guesclin and first captain of the Bastille in 1385. The castle was besieged and taken by the English between 1421 and 1423, before being passed on to Guillaume de Flavy in 1436. The latter, accused of having betrayed Joan of Arc at the time of his capture at Compiègne, held in prison Marshal Pierre de Rieux, who died there in 1439. Flavy was murdered in 1449 by his wife Blanche and his lover Pierre de Louvain, triggering a family vendetta.

The remains of the castle, including the enclosure and its towers (excluding later agricultural buildings), were classified as historical monuments in 1922. The site testifies to feudal struggles and military strategies of the Middle Ages, while reflecting the political intrigues and alliances that marked the region. Its architecture, copied on Dourdan, highlights the influence of Philippe Auguste's defensive innovations in northern France.

Blanche de Flavy, widow after the murder of her husband, remarried with Pierre Puy, adviser to the Paris Parliament, illustrating the matrimonial recompositions and power games among the aristocracy of the time. The castle, now in ruins, nevertheless retains major structural elements that allow us to study the evolution of castles between the 13th and 15th centuries.

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