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Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Gourville, in Charente, was under the Ancien Régime the seat of a Poitevin seigneury with high, medium and low justice rights. Its origins date back to a gothic citadel, as evidenced by the 11th century protoman remains, including two underground rooms, an underground and an aqueduct. An act of 1098 mentions Ermengarde de Joinville transferring part of the estate to the Abbey of Saint-Cybard. The seigneury, attested to in the 12th century, was taken by Richard Coeur de Lion in 1178.

In the 13th century, the Gourville family built the eastern and western dungeons, as well as a drawbridge, whose foundations remained. The seigneury passed to the Chasteigner in 1351, then to the Roffignac in the 14th century. The castle, taken by the English in 1358 and 1438, was occupied in the 15th century by Thomas de Corlieu, an English soldier, who married the heiress Perrotte Dufresne after the war. In 1441, Jeanne Paute, lady of Gourville, married Philippe Taveau, Baron de Morthemer.

In the 16th century, Guichard de Roffignac was lord of it before its sale in 1550 to Marshal Anne de Montmorency, who beautified in the Renaissance style. After the execution of his son in 1632, the castle was partially destroyed, except for the drawbridge. He passed to the Lévis, then to the Bourbon-Condé, before being inherited by Anne-Geneviève de Bourbon, wife of the Duke of Longueville. During the Fronde (1649-1655), the Duchess welcomed François VI of La Rochefoucauld, who wrote his Maximes there.

In 1660, Jean Héraut (known as Gourville), a former valet of La Rochefoucauld enriched by Fouquet, bought it for 100,000 pounds. The baronie then changed hands until its court sale in 1780. In the 19th century, the castle, often resold, was restored between 1974 and 1983. He welcomed figures such as Charles Quint (1539), Henri IV (1604), and Louis XIV (1651).

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