Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Merpins, built on a rocky spur overlooking the Charente, Ne and Antenne rivers, was a strategic fortress from the 10th century. Occupied since Neolithic, the site is said to have housed a Gallo-Roman mansio called Condate, although this hypothesis remains debated. Its location, less than 2 km from the Saintes-Perigueux route, made it a major checkpoint between Poitou and Aquitaine.

Tradition attributes its foundation to Charlemagne around 810 to counter Norman invasions, but no documentation confirms this origin. In 850 the Normans seized it according to oral accounts. In the 10th century, the châtellenia belonged to the Taillefer Counts of Angoulême. The castle, originally made of wood, was reinforced in stone between the 11th and 12th centuries, with the addition of a dungeon and a enclosure.

In 1176 Richard Cœur de Lion took Merpins and handed him over to his illegitimate son, Philippe de Falcombridge, husband of Amélie de Cognac. In 1204, John without Earth became the owner of the land after it was bought, and then passed it on to Hugues X de Lusignan. The fortress changed hands several times: taken over by France after Taillebourg (1242), returned to England by the Treaty of Bretigny (1360), then besieged and destroyed in 1387 by order of Charles VI after six years of siege led by the Marshal of Sancerre.

The Wars of Religion revived his military role: alternately occupied by Catholics and Protestants, he was finally taken over in 1577 by the Duke of Mayenne. The excavations of the 1970s revealed sophisticated defensive developments, such as a 30 m underground corridor dug in the rock, linking the ditch to the interior buildings. This passage, 3.50 m wide, included a staircase and a secret door 5 m below the current level.

Architecturally, the castral moth (60 x 40 m) was surrounded by walls and flanked by four towers, including a dungeon whose location remains uncertain. Between 1179 and the 13th century, the English added three towers, reinforced the ramparts and dug a dry moat. The barbacan housed a broken arch door of the 12th century, reflecting the defensive evolutions of the site. Today, the ruins, classified as Historical Monument in 1973, offer an overview of medieval military techniques.

External links