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Origin and history

Pouzauges Castle, located in the Vendée department, is a former castle built in the 12th and 13th centuries by the Viscounts of Thouars. It embodies a typical example of Bas Poitou military architecture, comparable to the castles of Niort, Tiffauges or Châteaumur. First owned by the family of Zacharia of Pouzauges, he then passed to the hands of the Viscounts of Thouars, who gave him his definitive configuration. The site, occupied from the Merovingian period, is strategically located on a hill overlooking the town of Pouzauges.

The castle was dismantled in 1372 by Du Guesclin, then inhabited in the 15th century by Catherine de Thouars, wife of Gilles de Rais, although the latter had never resided there. Catherine makes major improvements, such as adding a floor to the dungeon and piercing windows to make it habitable. The castle changed hands several times: it passed to the Vendôme in 1441, then to the Gouffier in 1560, before being sold as a national good in 1792 during the Revolution.

During the Vendée Wars (1793-1794), the castle was the scene of a massacre: thirty-two inhabitants of Pouzauges, refugees in the enclosure, were shot there by a republican "infernal column". Ranked a historic monument in 1862, it was partially restored in 1970. Today, its remains, including an 11th century dungeon and an ovoid enclosure, testify to its strategic and architectural importance.

The 25-metre-high dungeon is characteristic of the "Niortais" style, with buttress turrets at angles. Three successive enclosures protected the site, including an inner wall (the "shirt") designed to counter enemy sappers. Recent excavations (2017-2019) confirmed that the dungeon dated from the 11th century, before the present fortress. The castle, symbol of the conflicts and transformations of the Vendée, remains a place full of history.

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