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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Marcillé-Robert is a castle in ruins located in Ille-et-Vilaine, on the Marches de Bretagne. He belonged to Vitré's castle and had a right of high justice. Built without dungeon, it was composed of five towers, the highest of which still reaches 11 meters. Since 2012, it has been owned by the Communauté de communes de la Roche-aux-Fées.

The site, strategic from the Gallo-Roman era, housed a castral motte in the 11th century, occupied by Riwallon le Viaire, ancestor of the Vitré family. It was abandoned for Vitré in 1049-1050 and was rebuilt in stone in the second half of the 12th century by Robert III de Vitré, who gave it its name. The fortress then dominates the Seiche, near the old mound, covered by a pond.

Over the centuries, the castle passed from the lords of Vitré to those of the Lavals, then from the Dukes of La Tremeille until the Revolution. It was fortified in the 15th century, but its absence of mouths to fire revealed its inadaptation to military progress. In 1488 he was occupied without combat by Louis II de La Tremeille, then dismantled in 1595 by royal order, after having served as residence for Jeanne de Brienne.

In the 18th century, its ruins were sold as national goods. Ranked a historic monument in 2017, the castle, being restored, still bears witness to the feudal dynamics of Brittany, between seigneurial conflicts and family alliances. His history is marked by figures such as Jean Meschinot, captain of the castle in 1471, or Guy XIV de Laval, whose court regularly stayed there.

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