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Origin and history

The castle of Sagonne, mentioned as early as 832 in a charter linking the Count of Bourges Wicfried to his daughter Agane, was originally a strategic site along a Roman way from Lyon to Bourges. Raised in the 14th century by the Counts of Sancerre to control the route to Sancoins, it became a medieval stronghold with moat and fortified enclosure. His ditches were replaced by water moats at that time, reinforcing his defensive role against invasions, especially English during the Hundred Years War.

In 1423 the Dauphin (later Charles VII) set up a garrison there to counter the English occupying La Charité-sur-Loire. The seigneury then passed into the hands of the Amboises through the marriage of Pierre d'Amboise with Anne de Bueil in 1428, and was sold in 1542 to Jean Babou de La Bourdaisière. In the 16th century, improvements were made by this family, before the estate was acquired in 1632 by Charles de L-Aubespine, Marquis de Châteauneuf. His heir, in debt, was dispossessed for the benefit of the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1699.

Hardouin-Mansart, annoyed in 1682 and recently appointed superintendent of the King's Buildings, bought Sagonne for £100,600 thanks to a feudal withdrawal right. He undertook important work between 1700 and 1703: redevelopment of the accesses, creation of a new wing (known as "Monsieur"), a chapel decorated with trompe-l'oeil, and French gardens (longtime attributed to Le Nôtre). These adjustments, conferred on his disciple Pierre Cailleteau, reflected his social status and his taste for classical art, inspired by the Grand Trianon.

When he died in 1708, the castle was echoed by his son Jacques, and then by his grandson Jacques Hardouin-Mansart de Sagonne, the last architect of the lineage, who tried to restore it. After trials, the property returned in 1765 to Anne Claude Louise d'Arpajon, Countess of Noailles, guillotined in 1794. The Revolution marked its decline: looted, dismantled for its materials (lead, stones), it served as a farm before being classified as a historical monument in 1914.

Since 1977, volunteer projects organized by the Rempart association have saved the medieval ruins, now open to the public. Paradoxically, the classic part of the 18th century has disappeared, while the dungeon and remains of the fortified enclosure, witnesses of the 14th–15th centuries, remain. The moat, fed by the Sagonin Ru, and the traces of the Hardouin-Mansart gardens recall its dual heritage, both military and seigneurial.

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