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Origin and history

The tower of the Haute-Chaîne is part of the fortifications of Angers, built from the Lower Roman Empire and strengthened in the Middle Ages. The 3.8-km-long ramparts consisted of about 20 towers on the left bank and a dozen on the right bank, with shale walls and narrow towers on three levels. The defences were adapted to the guns between the 15th and 17th centuries, with mâchicoulis added to the tower of the Haute-Chaîne and bastions controlling the Maine River.

In the 15th century, Angers, a frontier square facing independent Brittany, saw its enclosure modernized under the impulse of Blanche de Castille, which ordered the construction of an urban fortress in the 1230s. The adaptations for artillery, such as the earth platforms near the doors (1560-1570s), meet the needs of the Wars of Religion. The current remains, including the Haute-Chaîne tower, have been protected as historic monuments since 1927, after the almost total dismantling of fortifications in the 19th century.

The most precise representations of the enclosures come from two cavalier views of the 16th century: that of Adam Vandelant (1576) and that of Hercules of Senfront (1589). These documents illustrate a complex defensive structure, with eight doors, polygonal barbacans and geometric bastions, such as that of Saint-Serge in iron-to-cheval. The systematic demolition, authorized by Napoleon in 1807, today leaves only a few elements, including the tower of the Haute-Chaîne, a witness of the Angelian military architecture.

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