Manoir de Souvigné en Mayenne

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Key figures

Origin and history

Souvigné Manor House is a historic building located in Marigné-Peuton, in the department of Mayenne (Pays de la Loire). This place, also known as the Michinottiere, is 4 km from the village and 2 km from Laigné. It appears on the map of Cassini under the name Souvigné, village and castle. Its history is closely linked to that of local lords and feudal tensions in the region.

Souvigné was originally a fief dependent on Château-Gontier. In 1520 Émard de Seillons, lord of the place, brought a lawsuit against Charles de Rohan for the destruction of the altar of his chapel, in a dispute concerning the rights of founder in the church of Laigné. The conflict resulted in a rejection of his complaint. Nearly a century later, in 1592, the mansion was taken and looted by Pierre Le Cornu, illustrating the continuing disturbances in the region.

The estate once consisted of a pond, dried in 1840, marking a major transformation of the landscape. The departmental archives of Mayenne and sources such as the Dictionnaire historique de la Mayenne (1900-1910) attest to its local importance. The mansion thus embodies the seigneurial dynamics and territorial changes of Mayenne between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

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