Castles of Poitou-Charente Journal 2020-21REV4...THE CASTLE STUDIES GROUP 141 JOURNAL NO. 34 Castles of Poitou-Charente Report by Peter Purton The medieval counties of Poitou, Angoulême

141THE CASTLE STUDIES GROUP JOURNAL NO. 34

Castles of Poitou-Charente

Report by Peter Purton

The medieval counties of Poitou, Angoulêmeand the lordship of Saintes lie within themodern region of Poitou-Charente. In medievaltimes the land was low-lying, fertile and richapart from some zones of marshland and itslocation on a pilgrim route to Santiago deCompostela created further opportunities forwealth. In the north, major rivers such as theVienne drain into the Loire and in the south theCharente is the largest. Castles and towns werefrequently sited at crossing points of theserivers. Castle building began early in the regionand more than 450 have been located byhistorians and archaeologists, many of whichdeveloped from earth and timberconstructions - there are many hundreds ofpossible mottes, most not further studied - intolarge stone buildings. A prosperous part of theRoman empire, south west France also hasmany monuments of the early Frankishsettlement, and large tombstones of theMerovingian era are to be seen. There is a 6thcentury baptistery in Poitiers itself.

Led by Pamela Marshal with the help ofRichard Eales, 20 CSG members toured the

medieval sites in June 2019 and sawnumerous castles and many fine churchesand abbeys, some with glorious wall paintingssurviving. Many of the castles founded in the11th century went on to become strongly-walled seats of power expressed through theconstruction of a donjon, whose lordscompeted for land and influence.

The territories became part of the Angevinempire when Eleanor of Aquitaine marriedthe future King Henry II (1152) but manypowerful families continued to vie for power,sometimes involving conflict with theiroverlords of whom Richard I (1189-99) whobecame count of Poitou before he becameking played a major role in local struggles.Later, as the Capetian kings of Franceundermined Angevin rule, they played oneking against another and switched sidesdepending on calculations of who was goingto win. Henry III’s failed attempt to recoverthese lands in 1242-44 effectively saw the endof English involvement until a brief recovery inthe first decades of the Hundred Years War,and the peace of Brétigny (1360) gave thelands to Edward III. However, the French ledby Du Guesclin quickly recaptured the regionin the 1370s. In the 15th century,as elsewhere,wealthy castle owners tended to invest inlavish building in new styles, often on the samesite as their now old castles, and the 16thcentury wars of religion, which had asubstantial impact here because FrenchProtestantism was well-rooted in the southwest, saw many castles re-used militarily, withnumerous gun loops inserted into old walls.

Among the families who ‘succeeded’ were theLusignans whose home castle is near Poitiers,who went on to become kings of Jerusalemand to rule Cyprus. Other regional potentatesincluded bishops who created enduring secularlordships for their families as well. Two ofthese featured on the tour.

Castles of Poitou-CharenteThe CSG tour 19-27 June

2019Report by Peter Purton


Scorbie-Clairvaux (fig. 1)

The castle at Scorbie-Clairvaux (Vienne) standson a hill to the north of Poitiers. Excavations bythe university of that city over the last five yearsare led by Dr. Nicolas Prouteau who was ourguide. It was built at the end of the 11th centuryby one of three major families in the area,serving as an officer of the count of Poitou. Therectangular great tower dated to the early 12thcentury and was compared with those ofSaumur, Loudon and Mirebeau, but today onlythe lower section stands. Nearby the chapeland small sections of the curtain wall survive.Richard I strengthened it in 1182 in order toreinforce control of the north of his county - hisfather tried but failed to stop him. Building workcontinued into the 1190s. Slots for hoardingwere placed at the top, and a horseshoe-shaped tower was erected around the foot ofthe donjon, which is attributed to Richard – 21metres in diameter, 28 metres in height, it hasbeen compared with the tower at Conisbrough.By this time the original tower was alreadyruined. The entry to the castle was through agate and passage that curled around in front ofand below the donjon, cut deep into the rock.The excavation recovered 12th and 13thcentury pottery from here and also identified ahorse drinking trough at the side of the passage.The large chapel is dated to 1120-1150. It wasgiven to an abbey in 1180 and became a priory.Now sporting a new roof the interior containswall paintings. 23 dogs’ bodies were foundsuggesting a hunting role. Dr Prouteauproposed that in its 12th century form thecastle had a largely military function.

Chauvigny (fig. 2)

Close to the major episcopal city of Chauvigny(Vienne) the church of St Peter les églisescontains wall paintings dated to the late 10thcentury although the building was foundedby the Carolingians. Chauvigny itself is aremarkable hill-top town with a city wall and

gates dating from the hundred years’ war butinside five separate castles. From the 11th tothe 13th centuries members of the Isembertfamily were successively bishops of Poitiersand created lordships for the rest of thefamily, making Chauvigny a site of co-seigneurie on a grand scale. At one end of thepromontory stands the bishop’s castle alsoknown as the Baronial castle as the bishophad both functions. It comprises buildings ofmany periods including an original donjonand structures up to the 15th century: visitingit involves competing with a large collectionof birds of prey. Next to it is the Châteaud’Harcourt, a rectangular enclosure of the13th century, once but no longer with a ditchand with lodgings and a tower overlookingthe valley. The Château Gouzon is a donjon(now a museum) originally built in the late11th century then extended by another bay,and raised in height, in the 12th. The stagescan be observed in the differences betweenthe buttresses. The other two sites are the(private) early Tour de Flins (a small donjonmodified in later centuries) and vestiges ofMontleon. Between this and Gouzon wassqueezed (another) St Peter’s churchcontaining spectacular Romanesque carvings.

The abbey of St Savin, east of Chauvigny, wasoriginally walled and sat by a walled townwith an important, surviving bridge (dating tothe 13th /14th century) and a motte castle.The surviving abbey buildings are from 1050-1100 and contain spectacular paintings onthe roof. The town and abbey played a partin the hundred years’ war, switching fromEnglish to French control in 1369, and themedieval defences were among thecasualties of the wars of religion.Grand Pressigny (figs. 3, 4)North-east of Poitiers is the castle of GrandPressigny (Indre et Loire), a very early fortifi-cation first mentioned by the 6th century




Left: Fig 1. ScorbieClairvaux - donjonand chemise.

and chemise.Left: Fig 2. Chauvigny- panorama of 5castles with Bishop’stower on the far left.

Below Left: Fig.3.Grand Pressigny -gatehouse.

Below Right: Fig.4.Grand Pressigny - half adonjon and its chemise


chronicler Gregory of Tours and noticed in an8th century charter. Guillaume de Pressignycertainly had a castle there by the 1190s. Thedonjon was of four wooden floors over abasement and occupied a walled space withattached buildings. It was entered at groundfloor level from a narrow passage in thecomplex. In 1202 King John tried to confiscateit but Guillaume did not leave and insteadpledged himself to Philip Augustus, king ofFrance. He also doubled the thickness of thedonjon walls and created a stone, toweredcurtain around the inner ward. By the 13thcentury the gate tower at the far end of thecomplex had been made into a gatehouse withround towers. Later, new owners erectedlodgings in renaissance style and reconfiguredthe donjon to have seven floors, five of themvaulted. Sadly, half of this great tower col-lapsed in dramatic fashion in 1988 – beforeand after photographs are on display alongwith reconstruction drawings and archaeolog-ical finds in a modern museum now separatingthe inner from the outer wards.

A few miles south stands the walled town andcastle of La Roche Posay (Vienne), on animportant crossing of the river Creuse. Thetown gate survives as does the 12th centurydonjon of the castle and an interestingfortified church with a turret built onto theside overlooking the river.

Angles sur Anglin (fig. 5)

More impressive are the remains of the 300metre-long hill-top castle of Angles sur Anglin(Vienne), dominating a crossing point of thatriver, and also boasting a fortified town thoughlittle remains of the urban defences. The castleby contrast dominates the landscape. LikeChauvigny, not far distant, it was owned by theIsembert family and the bishops they spawnedbetween 963 and 1087, then fell into thehands of the Lusignans before returning to thebishops in 1300. Thereafter it ceased being a

point of conflict and construction up to the15th century. The first castle on the site was amotte with a small bailey, dated to c. 1025,which was left standing at the opposite end tothe later entrance, but cut off from the newcastle by a natural ravine possibly widened byhuman effort – it is known as the ‘tranchée desAnglais’ after a possibly legendary account ofEnglish soldiers using it to gain entry duringthe 100 years’ war. A chapel still stands in thisearly castle, which preserves some originalstone walls. A 12th century chapel (St Mary)stands over the gate (an arrangement notuncommon in France)¹, to which a barbicanwas added in 1470. Inside, between the innerand outer wards, lies a donjon, or rather two:the first, much smaller, with a survivingRomanesque vault, was partly demolished anda grand new structure was built on one endacross the width of the ridge from 1301.Further work to modernise the tower isrepresented by the lower levels of a grandstaircase dating to the 15th century. Thebishop’s coat of arms decorating the castlegate is of the same date. In the barbican-likestructure built to host a postern gate into theravine are a number of gun loops, and severalmore in the curtain wall on the north face (theother side being against the river): some wereof 14th century origin and others appear tohave been inserted presumably during thewars of religion.Parthenay (figs. 6, 7)

To the north west of Poitiers the lords ofParthenay were the significant family,following first the counts of Poitou then thebishops of Bordeaux. The first reference is in1020 but no archaeological remains earlierthan the 12th century survive. It is the chieftown of a region known as the ‘gatine’(i.e.,‘waste’). Its construction in the 13thcentury is identified in a period of war withKing John and English subsidies assisted thework. The upper town occupies a long hill



Above: Left: Fig. 5. Angles sur Anglin - curtain, donjons centre.Right: Fig. 6. Parthenay - Porte St Jacques.


Left:: Fig. 7. Parthenay Castle - 15th century Richemont bastion.Right: Fig. 8.1. Coudray Salbart - aerial view from the south-west (Image: © Jean-Michel Goulard)

Left: Fig. 8.2 Coudray Salbart - main gate and towers, seen from the now destroyed barbican. Viewfrom the north-west. Right: Fig. 9. Coudray Salbart - drawbridge chamber above gate (restored).


surrounded by a powerful, towered curtainwith a prominent gate from the lower town,in which more of the wall is preserved alongwith the splendid Porte St Jacques. The castleoccupies the end of the ridge, cut off by aditch and the 13th century castle is shapedlike an irregular triangle with six roundtowers, one of which was incorporated intoa strong artillery fort, the bastille deRichemont built in the 15th century, namedafter the lord who was granted the townwhen the Archeveque family died out, and anew frontal wall pierced for guns was erectedin front of the old wall along the ditch. Theother half of the original twin-toweredgatehouse has disappeared. Nothing remainsof the interior buildings. The old town itselfstill contains many medieval houses andinteresting churches.Le Coudray-Salbart (figs. 8-11)

The same family was responsible for buildingthe intriguing castle of Le Coudray-Salbart,when as an ally of the Angevins they obtainedfinancial subsidies from John from 1202 andremained loyal until the province was defini-tively lost in 1228, after which the castle lostits strategic significance. In the form of atrapezium c. 55 by 35 metres, ditched andwith an outer bailey with a barbican nowlargely disappeared, the inner castle isflanked by six large but different towers. Thisfinal form emerged after a rapid period ofbuilding during which the original moremodest castle of c. 1200 was extended sub-stantially to the north almost as soon ascompleted, doubling the area and requiringa relocation of the entrance. Foundations ofthe demolished curtain can be seen inside.The gate is a passage through a single circulartower (compare the Dublin gate at Trim) andthe drawbridge mechanism has been recon-structed in the room above. Also circular isthe tour Bois-Berthier, 12m in diameter withfinely vaulted chambers. Two of the towers

are beaked, and one has been doubled inwall thickness by the addition of masonrystanding to half the height of the tower. Aremarkable feature is the gallery that runsaround at ground level inside the thicknessof the curtain wall with regularly spacedloops which must surely be designed fordefence while numerous other loops standin embrasures inside the towers, althoughthose in the Tour Bois Berthier must be fordisplay since they could not have functionedfor shooting from. Displayed in one of thegalleries are reconstruction drawings of theproposed building sequence – some doubtswere expressed about what was suggested.The great tower has a pronounced beak andis provided with spacious and ornate cham-bers inside, now restored as is some of therest of the castle which is administered bythe ‘Friends of Coudray-Salbart’. JeanMesqui (Châteaux forts et fortifications enFrance, 2000, 138-41) has identified manyconnections with Plantagenet castle-buildingat Loches and Dover including the crossedand stirrup loops which are among the earli-est in France. It is, he states, ‘un châteauexceptionnel’.Niort (fig. 12)Also exceptional is the Plantagenet castle atNiort (Deux Sèvres) consisting of twodonjons in an enclosure, linked by a logisbuilding in the 15th century. Both are rectan-gular with cylindrical buttressing at the cor-ners. Exact dating is uncertain but they areattributed to Henry II and to Eleanor ofAquitaine or to Henry and Richard. Presum-ably signifying joint sovereignty, they maydate from either the 1160s or possibly (asproposed by the writer of an authoritativemonograph, Marie Baudry) 1174-85. Theinterior has been transformed into amuseum containing interesting archaeologyand medieval tombstones; the castle’s actualdefences, comprising a towered curtain wall,




Fig. 10. Coudray Salbart - one of the galleries inside the curtain walls.


as well as the city’s own wall, have beendemolished leaving the twin towers isolated,and looking very different from how theywould have appeared when serving as royalor comital residences.Cherveux (figs. 13, 14)A short distance north of Niort is the castle ofCherveux (Deux Sèvres) which is a two-wardcastle on a low lying site, but Cherveux-le-vieux, constructed by the Lusignan family, hadbeen destroyed by the 13th century and thenew version was put up by Robert Cunning-ham, a Scottish soldier who was rewarded forhis service in the guard of king Charles VII andbuilt the castle from 1470. A prominent coat ofarms on the front displays his ownership along-side the fleur de lys and the current owner, M.François Redien, whose family bought the farmon which it stands, is proud to display theScottish connection to visitors. A small toweredcourtyard, very ruinous, lies inside a wet moat.One tower has been demolished. The originalentrance survives as a keep-gatehouse but wasreplaced by a new bridge and gatehouse. Thedonjon has five floors, much ruined or partiallyrestored. There are fireplaces and garderobesand a remarkable amount of original timber hasbeen preserved in the roof both of the donjonand of the adjacent great hall, which now lacksits original plaster and tiles. There is a galleryaround the top of the donjon pierced with 15thcentury gun loops and here and there 16thcentury loops have been driven through thewalls, dating from the wars of religion. Fourcarvings on each of the top corners of the towerinclude a pisser, a crapper and a bagpiper! Theowner prefers looking after his castle to farmingand should ensure its future.Château Larcher (fig. 15)

Château Larcher (Vienne) was also a Lusignancastle. Following the final defeat of thePlantagenets after Henry III’s failedexpedition of 1242 the king of France (Louis

IX) kindly allowed the family to retain thecastle in exchange for 400 livres per year andthe maintenance of a royal garrison inside –an expensive lesson in choosing the losingside. The pentagonal castle occupies a hill topnow shared with private dwellings thatprevent access to the ruinous pentangulardonjon but there remain a fortified churchwhich is part of the castle perimeter, a loopedtwin-towered gatehouse of the first half ofthe 13th century and stretches of curtain wallpierced with gun loops in the 15th century.

Gençay (figs. 16, 17)

Close by is Gençay (Vienne) standing likeChâteau Larcher high above the river Clouère,where Clément Arnaud, who is doing hisdoctorate on the castle under Dr Prouteau,led the tour. Originally a 10th century castrumof the counts of Poitou, when it was burnt inwar, it fell to the counts of La Marche. Later(12th century), a donjon with buttresses wasbuilt there by new owners the lords ofRancon, and its foundations remain inside thelater curtain wall. In the 1240s the castle fellinto the hands of the victorious French kingwhose brother (Alphonse de Poitiers) gave itas a reward to a loyal supporter who startedto build what stands now. The donjon wasabandoned and a new great hall built on theother side of the gate - a 14th century windowin the curtain remains as evidence. Therewere further changes when during thehundred years’ war the heiress married anEnglish settler, Gregory Says, and it took a twoyear-long siege by Du Guesclin to restore it toFrench possession in 1374, the last Englishpossession in Poitou to hold out. In front ofthe twin towered gatehouse is a small butwell defended châtelet of 1240-70 with 14thcentury gun loops added by Gregory, whomay also have heightened the front curtain(or it may have been done later by the Dukeof Berry, the king’s brother who took it over).




Top: Left: Fig. 11. Coudray Salbart - TourDouble (left), Tour Bois Berthier (right).Top: Right: Fig. 12. Niort - the two donjons.

Middle, Left: Fig. 13. Cherveux - Great towerwith moat and bridge.

Middle, Right: Fig. 14. Cherveux- Great Towerwall-walk carving of bagpiper.

BELOW: Fig. 15. Château Larcher - the churchis built into the castle


The gate is protected by a double portcullisand a drawbridge at the end of the stonebridge. The curtain forms a triangle followingthe contours of the hill with towers at eachcorner, though the north tower has gone. Aremarkable covered passage snaked downfrom a gate in the south curtain to a posternin the ditch far below.

St Germain de Confolens (fig. 18)

The castle at St Germain de Confolens(Charente) is now represented by twoprominent towers of the 15th centurystanding high on a hill overlooking the riverVienne and bridge and a much ruined innerbailey in which is located the foundations ofthe castle’s original 11th century donjon. Thepreserved chapel of St Vincent stands in theouter bailey close by. In the 16th century, gunloops were pierced in all the towers severalof which are accessible.

La Rochefoucauld (fig. 19)

Further south, in the old county of Angoulême,stands La Rochefoucauld (Charente), a castlewith a long history of ownership by the samefamily since its foundation in 980 by oneFoucauld, allegedly as a protection againstViking attacks. The dowager duchess, anelderly lady whose son is the current duke,provided a personal tour in which her grasp ofhistory was a little shaky but her pride in herlineage was evident. Built into a Renaissancefaçade, the first donjon is dated to 1010. Thetwin towered gatehouse and the curtain walldate from the 1220s. In 1453, three additionaltowers were added to the structure and at theend of the fifteenth century the internalbuildings were constructed and the ancientdonjon was raised in height (it was long just atwo-storey keep) to match the new height ofthe walls and residential wings. The then dukewas a cousin of King Francis I (1515-47) andunder the influence of his wife Ann thesurviving three storeys of galleries were

added; inside there is a magnificent staircasedesigned by Leonardo da Vinci (then residingat the French court). Damaged by fire andabandoned for years the castle survived theFrench revolution and was returned to thefamily and restoration began in the lastcentury. Visitors can also see inside thegatehouse towers and CSG were able to inspecta superb family archive with original medievaldocuments carefully preserved. It was possibleto visit much of the interior including thepassage down to the river to a cave where thestands the rock from which the castle andfamily have taken their name.

Angoulême

The former Roman city of Angoulême itselfstill boasts Gallo-Roman ramparts and manychurches including a large cathedral. Thecastle of the counts, however, was reducedto two surviving towers and the rest buriedbeneath the current city hall. Access wasobtained through the good offices of JacquesBaudet of the Société Archéologique etHistorique de la Charente who opened up theSociety’s museum which contains awonderful collection of antiquities of manyages including medieval capitals andtombstones from the former castle and localabbeys. The male line of counts died out andthe heiress married into the Lusignan family:when the region became French in 1242 thenew regime was marked physically by theerection of a new royal castle inside the city(which has now disappeared totally). Duringthe brief period of English conquest in themid-14th century the Black Prince held courtin the old comital castle. Access would havebeen impossible without M. Baudet’sassistance although the interior of bothsurviving towers, one of them the donjon, hasbeen set up with information boards andmodels including one of the disappeared latercastle. The route involved climbing to the rooflevel of the originally thirteenth century Tour




Above: Fig. 16. Gençay: ditch bridge, chatelet, gatehouse. Right: Fig. 17. Gençay south front

Above left: Fig. 18. St Germain de Confolens frontage.Right: Fig. 19. La Rochefoucauld - donjon 1010 behind 13th century gatehouse; one of the 15thcentury towers far left.

Above left: Fig. 20. Aubeterre - castle stands above rock-cut church.Right: Fig. 21. Villebois-Lavalette - chapel (or two) at gate.


Isabelle then crossing the original roof line toaccess the upper levels of the donjon.

Aubeterre (fig. 20)

South of the old city is the remarkable churchat Aubeterre excavated from the rockoriginating as a late Roman Mithraeum thentaken over by the Benedictines and convertedover a long period up to the 12th century intoa church that is now the size and height of thecathedral, with galleries carved out of the rockoverlooking the interior in which hundreds oftombs have been found. From the uppergallery there ran a tunnel up through the rockto reach the castle, now inaccessible becauseprivately owned, which occupied the top ofthe rock. The motte of the first castle can beseen behind the later curtain wall, and a smallbut impressive gatehouse, the pedestrianroute to the dependent town below, andsome of the curtain walls and its turretsremain visible.

Villebois-Lavalette (fig. 21)

The impressive remains of Villebois-Lavalette(Charente) – the final part of the name is a19th century addition – was, like Aubeterre,a castellany attached to the county ofAngoulême. The first reference to Fourchierde Villebois (in a Latin form) is found in the8th century. Its location on the Roman roadfrom Perigueux to Saintes may account for itsexistence, and its Romanesque chapel relatesto it being on a pilgrim route. It was takenthen retaken in the 100 years’ war eventuallyfalling to the Duke of Berry and was the seatof a prominent local family. At the end of thesixteenth century a new château was built onthe medieval castle by the duke D’Epernonafter he captured it in 1589. Today, the site isa mixture of all these periods, sometimes hardto disentangle, and some excavation andrestoration has taken place. The early motteis still visible but built into its side (and ofmuch greater dimensions) is an immense

basement dating to the 12th or 13th century.Recent discussion suggests it may never havebeen roofed so what was it for? It appears tobe the lower level of a vast hall block and itpossesses its own well. The chapel building isalso undergoing restoration, it stands over agate passage (though the main entrance wasthrough twin 13th century towers at theopposite end of the castle) but the actualchapel building on the ground floor isinaccessible. Access was gained to the upperlevel which is largely plain and there wasdebate as to whether this was a chamber, orperhaps an upper chapel, one for thepilgrims, the other for the castle? A circuit ofthe exterior of the towered curtain revealedit had been provided with almost everyknown variety of arrow loop.

Montignac (fig. 22)

A few miles north of Angoulême is theimportant early castle of the counts atAndone, undergoing excavation and nowinaccessible, but nearby is the castle ofMontignac (Charente) which replaced it as acentre of comital power in 1028. The fine butsmall two storey donjon has been dated (byBaudry) to the 1140s. Andone did not have agate tower but Montignac has a fine thoughmodest specimen providing access to thetown, and bits of a once substantial curtainwall enclosing a large area. The council’sgardeners working on the grounds kindlyfetched the key to allow access to the interiorbut the building was much messed with inlater centuries and not much could be learnt.

Cognac (Title image)

Cognac (Charente) is better known forreasons other than its castle and a brandyplant now occupies its site. It had beenimportant into early modern times: there areparts of the 13th century curtain wall and amassive city gate and a large tower of thecastle logis, substantially rebuilt in the 14th



and 15th centuries. It is revered as thebirthplace of King Francis I.

Pons (figs. 23, 24)

Pons (Charente Maritime) today is anenormous donjon visible for miles as it standson a height above its town. Originally acastrum, its ovoidal shape can be traced in thepattern of the roads though little remains ofthe curtain. The first reference to Geoffrey dePons was in 1067, when he was a supporterof the Angevin counts. The donjon itself datesfrom the late 12th century although it isthought possible that another lordship (as atChauvigny and elsewhere) also existed insidethe walls. In 1136 the first donjon wasdestroyed by the count of Angoulême and itwas rebuilt when it was recovered. Richardthe Lionheart punished the current Geoffreyin the 1180s by confiscating the castle so it ispossible that the present structure dates froma rebuild after he got it back. Later, it had tobe retaken by force by its lord from hisestranged wife who held it against him in1372. The site has been excavated and it isclear that the immense tower was a result ofextending the earlier version by removing twowalls and also heightening it. There is noquestion of its fundamentally symbolic andceremonial role: there are only two floors andthe main room above the basement soars intothe air in breath-taking fashion. It was pointedout that the double set of garderobes setbehind the high end of the room resembledthe arrangement at Norwich.

Talmont sur Gironde (fig. 25)

Talmont sur Gironde (Charente Maritime) wasa bastide built at the end of a promontory atthe mouth of the estuary of the river as it camedown from Bordeaux, allowing ships basedthere to interfere or assist the wine trade thatwas so vital. From around 1083 there was acastrum and the original motte was put up nextto the church of Ste Radegonde (12th century).

It remained in English control and Edward Ibought the town and immediately ordered thebastide built in the 1280s. In 1337 it fell to theFrench after a two month siege and was neverrecovered by the English. In 1405, the Castiliannaval captain Pero Nino was based there withships to harass the Gascon wine trade. Thetown is now a tourist destination but thereremain large parts of the walls and a beautifulchurch which stands next to what appears tohave been a water gate that would have beenadjacent to the motte.

La Rochelle (fig. 26)

The city of La Rochelle (Charente Maritime) iswell known to many visitors chiefly because ofthe towers built to protect the harbour. It wasestablished as a new town by the counts ofPoitou in the 1130s, it boomed as a trading portand grew in size requiring an extension to itswalls. A castle was built inside that excavationrevealed had a huge area. The French capturedit in 1224 and although regained by the BlackPrince it was recovered in 1372 when theEnglish garrison was overpowered by the inhab-itants, allegedly (according to a story told byFroissart) because a stupid governor wasconned by the townsfolk into bringing histroops to parade outside the castle. When theythen handed the place over to the King ofFrance they first demanded the demolition ofthe castle. The two towers between which achain could be suspended to block the harbour(called St Nicholas and Chain towers) were builtin the 1370s and 1380s while the Lanternetower (serving as a lighthouse) was put up inthe 1450s. Of the city walls the only survival isthe magnificent Grosse Horloge, a clockmounted on top of one of the city gates. Unlikemost places visited, detailed information on thehistory and construction of the towers is readilyavailable on site.

The final leg of the tour was based in theancient Roman city of Saintes (Charente-



Above left: Fig. 22. Montignac donjon from theS-E. Right: Fig. 23. Pons - donjon from the S.


Left: Fig. 24. Pons - donjon interior is a single hall. Right: Fig. 25. Talmont sur Gironde -curtainwall and 12th century church of Ste Radegonde.



Fig. 26. La Rochelle - St Nicholas (left) and Chain towers.

Maritime), capital of the region in which theubiquitous Saintonge pottery originated. Ithas a number of medieval churches includingan immense but sombre Gothic cathedral,and an enormous Romanesque crypt housingthe bones of an early Christian martyr (StEustoque) but only fragments of the Gallo-Roman and medieval town walls and parts ofthe 17th century bastioned fortress built overthe site of the medieval castle and count’spalace.

Further readingGuidebooks to the sites mentioned are rare.Baudry, M-P, Les fortifications des Plantagenets enPoitou 1154-1242, 2001Baudry, M-P, Chateaux Romans en Poitou-CharentesX-XII siècles, Cahiers du Patrimoine 95, 2011Baudry, M-P, Le Château de Niort, EditionsPatrimoines 2013Bonnin J-C and Faucherre, N, The towers of LaRochelle (Eng. Ed.), Editions du Patrimoine, 2004.

Chaboisseau, M-C, Chauvigny, des origines au XX s.,Chauvigny, 2012.Montigny, A (et al), Le château de Villebois-Lavalettedes origines à nos jours, Collection les amis duchâteau et du patrimoine de Villebois-Lavalette, 2018Office de tourisme Angles sur l’Anglin, Angles surL’Anglin, la ville, le château, 1993.Rochefoucauld, M de la, Stumm, F, La Rochefoucauldcastle. An epic family tale, Editions sud-ouest, nd.Otherwise, brief information is provided in the standardguides to French castles by Mesqui and Salch.

Notes¹ Paul Duffy has proposed a link between thisstructure and the St Mary chapel over the gateat Carrickfergus as Angles sur Anglin stands ona possible route north from Carcassonne (whichhas a similar chapel) followed by Hugh de Lacy:P Duffy et al (eds)., From Carrickfergus to Car-cassonne. The epic deeds of Hugh de Lacyduring the Albigensian crusade, Turnhout,2017, p. 319. Reviewed by Rachel Swallow inthe CSG Journal 32 (2018-19), 316-20.

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Castles of Poitou-Charente Journal 2020-21REV4...THE CASTLE STUDIES GROUP 141 JOURNAL NO. 34 Castles of Poitou-Charente Report by Peter Purton The medieval counties of Poitou, Angoulême