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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Thecastral site of Milly-le-Meugon, located in Gennes-Val-de-Loire (former municipality of Milly-le-Meugon, Maine-et-Loire), is an architectural complex marked by four successive phases of construction. The oldest remains, dating from the 13th / 14th century, include a castral mound, a dungeon and stone ramparts, built on the foundations of a wooden fortress. These feudal elements, partially searched some 20 years ago, testify to the medieval occupation of the site by the family of Maillé, owner of the fief since 1248. The motte also houses collapsed troglodytic galleries, probably dug in the Renaissance.

In the 16th century, Arthus de Maillé-Brézé, the king's chamber gentleman, launched a Renaissance construction campaign around 1560, including a vermiculated door, stables designed for a hundred horses, and a palm playroom — one of the largest in France at the time, destroyed in 1835. His son Charles and his daughter-in-law Jacqueline de Thévalle continued the work, obtaining in 1615 the elevation of the seigneury in marquisat. The Urban Marshal of Maillé, governor of Anjou, made him his principal residence until his death in 1650. The present house, partially rebuilt around 1835, incorporates elements of the Renaissance castle.

The site undergoes profound transformations in the 18th and 19th centuries: the fortress, in ruins since the 18th century, is consolidated and embellished (add of a scallop), while more than half of the third castle (that of the Maillé-Brézé) disappears, perhaps used as a stone quarry. Despite these changes, the estate retains remarkable elements such as the medieval chapel (now parish church), the 16th century "galleries" with painted decorations, and the 17th century stables. Ranked a historic monument in 2000, the site remains a private property, still inhabited.

The castle illustrates the architectural and social evolution of an angelvin fief, from a medieval fortress to a Renaissance seigneurial residence, then to a modern estate. Its history also reflects the political and economic hazards of Anjou, marked by frequent changes in owners and successive adaptations to tastes, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.

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