The Château de Courson was built in 1676 in Courson-Monteloup (the postal code is 91680; INSEE code 91186), on the south-west outskirts of Paris, France. It is in the Essonne département of the Île-de-France région.
Originally the home of the Lamoignon family, the château has been in the same family since the 18th century. Its historic park was laid out in formal style by a pupil of André Le Nôtre in the 18th century. During the 19th century the gardens were twice remodelled, first around 1820 for the Duc de Padoue by the landscaper Berthault, then again around 1860 by the Bülhers, who laid out many French parks and gardens, including those of Rennes, Lyon and Bordeaux.
In 1985, the movie "Bring on the Night" was filmed at the château.
It is now most famous as the venue for the Journées des Plantes de Courson. These extremely popular plant fairs have been held in mid-October since 1983. Since 1987 a spring plant fair has been held in mid-May.
The castle and park are open for tours.

Château de Courson

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The Château de Janvry is a stately home in the French village of Janvry, Essonne.
The château dates back to the 17th century. It is still partially surrounded by watered moats. Its main building includes a primary wing facing west and two attached side wings, the north wing and the south wing. All wings are linked, creating a U-shaped château. The château was listed as an historical monument by the Demeure Historique Association in the early 1980s.
History
The château was built around 1600 and 1650 in the Louis XIII architectural style. It has been part of the Reille family for many centuries. The château has always been passted from generation to generation by the women of the family. Therefore, each succession brought a new last name as the estate’s owner. The families of Anjoran and Reille are among those who inherited the château. During the French Revolution of 1789, the château was robbed, resulting in the family losing all of its older documents regarding the château, its estate and history. Since the mid-19th century, the château has been used as a secondary residence by the family. The monument located at the village entrance was built following the death while giving birth in 1847 of Elisabeth Anjoran.
The Baron Jean Victor Reille inherited the domain during the Second World War. As the château had been unoccupied by the Reille family during the war, German, English and French troops were successfully lodged in the château. Local inhabitants witnessed the degradation of the property by some of the French troops, unlike the Germans or the English who took care of the estate. Some soldiers extracted wood panels from the original 17th-century hardwood floors to use as fuel for the master living room chimney during the harsh winter months. Today, traces of the new and replaced wooden panels can be seen in some parts of the formal living rooms. Also, in a bedroom on the second floor of the north-west tower, some inscriptions and writings on the walls can be found, witnessing the occupancy by French soldiers.
When Baron Jean Reille arrived to the château returning from the war, nettles were growing in some of the rooms of the house. Over the next few years following the end of the Second World, he and his wife Liliane successfully gave the château back its ancient splendor by installing a new roof, adding modern plumbing and electricity, also remodeling the interior of the house. His son, the Baron Ghislain Reille, pursued this laborious work when he took responsibility over the house in the 1980s. The château is now a modern property where many renovations have been made within the original style and charm of the Louis XIII-style chateau.
In recent years, film and television production companies intended to use the château for production needs, but the only time the château has ever been open to the public was in 1995 for a fireworks show.
Tourism
Visitors access the main building using a bridge passing over the moats, through a very large wrought iron portal which leads to the formal courtyard (‘Cour d’Honneur’). The portal key weights around 1 kilo (two pounds) and measures up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) long. Leading to the château from the fields to the west is a 200-yard (180 m) alley, bordered with poplars (‘l’Allee des Peupliers’). This alley was the original château’s entrance, and is now covered with maintained grass as a paved village street which crosses the alley along the moats, separating the alley from the château, creating an easy access for visitors and owners. The Cour d’Honneur is a large 50 by 50 meter courtyard covered with white gravel. It is surrounded by grassy areas and plants separating the courtyard in symmetric areas, giving a perspective view of the main building to the arriving visitor.
The main building follows a Louis XIII architectural style. Following this architecture trends, the château shows a very typical dissymmetry, unique to the Louis XIII style. The west side of the main building has four windows left to the main entrance, and three on the right side. Similarly, on the east side of the building (facing the private park), five windows can be found on the right of the entrance door and four on the left.
The main building
The central part of the château (the west wing), includes the master living room, dining room, billiard and château’s formal entryway. All rooms have windows facing east and west. These rooms receive natural daylight from the sunrise over the park to sunset over the fields and the poplar alley. The second floor includes a long corridor leading to several bedroom suites overlooking the private park and garden.
The first floor of the north wing was originally designed to store stagecoaches for lords or visitors. Since then, the arches where the stagecoaches were stored have been filled, but are still easily visible.
The south wing faces the small courtyard and is a fully functional home with its own private entrance, kitchen and large living/dining room on the first floor. The second floor is accessible through private staircases. Four bedrooms and a bathroom can be found on the second floor. The south wing was originally intended for the staff’s use. The entrance to this wing used to be the fruit cellar. There is a separate apartment on the first floor. The kitchen was a bedroom, and the current living/dining room was a small studio. The second floor rooms were accessible through the staircases found on the southern part of the west wing.
The small courtyard
This courtyard is surrounded by barns and granaries forming a closed square where poultry, cattle and other farm animals used to be raised. All barns still have many traces of past activities. In one cowshed, some cows’ names can be seen. The stable is still functional and can house up to four horses. The attics above the barns are sumptuous with their vaulted ceilings and large oak beams from the local forests. One barn in particular has ceilings soaring 15–20 metres high. They were used to store cereals and grains. One of the barns leads to the south-western part of the tower, where four jail cells can still be found. In order to preserve its authenticity, no one has ever renovated these cells. Only a small and inaccessible fanlight gives air and light to the room. Two of the four jail doors are still present. It has been confirmed that these jail cells were being used during the Second World War for war prisoners.
The cellar
The cellar runs under the entire west and north wings. The vaulted cellar has been used to store food and wine for many years. The cider and apple liquor produced in the château were stored there to mature.
The well
Although the well is filled with rain water, it is still functional and filled each winter with water running down from the gutters.
The park
The château is surrounded by a 14 hectare (34.5 acres) park. The park offers complete privacy and is surrounded by stone walls except for a small section wire netted. The park includes 10 hectares of forest with large alleys for leisurely strolls. There is more than two hectares of grassy area, half of which is mowed lawn. A one hectare lake and a tennis court are also located in the park. The park is accessible to modern vehicles through the small courtyard. There are also two portals located on the east and north walls.
The park includes a high density of medium to small trees with primarily large oaks (some of which will reach maturity in a few years). Those multi-century old oaks stand all across the park. According to experts, the oldest oak is more than 300 years old. The park has been designed over the centuries to include many tree species: oaks, beeches (including the red beech alley), elms, hazel and chestnut trees.
To the north of the château is a large orchard with various fruit trees and an organic vegetable garden that is maintained all year. Chicken coops and other small farm animals (geese, etc.) are also in this garden.
The château’s icebox, where ice brought by horses was stored under the oak trees’ coolness, can be found close to the east portal. This icebox has long been used by the château’s staff.
A legend says that the nearby château called the Château de Saint Jean de Beauregard and a monastery (now disappeared) located in the Arpajon forest were linked through a network of subterranean tunnels. Those tunnels were built to allow the owners to escape in the event of danger. Traces of those tunnels are clearly visible in the park, but no confirmation has been given to the tunnel’s destination or length today.
The estate
Surrounding the village, the château and its park (mostly centered to the northern part of the château), the estate includes 65 hectares (160 acres) of farming fields and 105 hectares (260 acres) of forest.
Location
The Château de Janvry is located 30 kilometers (19 mi) from the center of Paris.

Château de Janvry

Le château de Saint-Jean de Beauregard est un château français situé à Saint-Jean-de-Beauregard dans le département de l'Essonne et la région Île-de-France.
Situation
Le château de Saint-Jean de Beauregard est situé dans la commune française de Saint-Jean-de-Beauregard, dans l'ancienne province de Hurepoix, aujourd'hui le département de l'Essonne et la région Île-de-France, à vingt-cinq kilomètres au sud-ouest de Paris.
L'accès se fait par l'A10, ou la RN118, depuis Paris, sortie Les Ulis, commune limitrophe de Saint-Jean-de-Beauregard.
Histoire
Le début de la construction du château date de 1612, sur la demande de François Dupoux, conseiller du Roi. Un nouveau château est alors construit à la place des ruines de Montfaucon qui faisait face à l'ancien château de Montlhéry. Le nouveau seigneur des lieux demande à Louis XIII la substitution du nom de Montfaucon, de sinistre renommée, en Beauregard. Le roi ordonne le changement de nom du lieu de Saint-Jean-de-Monfaucon en Saint-Jean-de-Beauregard.
François Garnier, écuyer, se rend acquéreur du domaine en 1638. Ensuite, le domaine passe dans les mains de Charles Doullet de Neufville, puis de Gabriel de Mehertin de Saint Pierre, puis en 1669 d'un conseiller du Roi, Pierre de La Mouche.
Cent ans plus tard le château est vendu à Laurent Charron, Receveur général des Domaines et Forêts de la généralité de Paris (1678-1751). Françoise Matagon, sa veuve, reste seule maîtresse du domaine. Habitant rue Sainte-Avoye à Paris, elle en fait sa maison de campagne. Elle décède en 1768 et son fils unique, Laurent Charron (bapt. 1706) décède à son tour l'année suivante. Le château et domaine revient à la troisième fille de ce dernier, Françoise-Mélanie Charron, épouse de Victor-Amédée d'Auberjon, comte de Murinais, brigadier, maréchal de camp, chevalier de l'ordre de Saint-Louis. Le parc évolue timidement alors vers la mode anglaise. Le château est légué en 1866 à M. Quatresolz de Marolles, puis en 1879 le comte puis duc de Caraman achète le domaine. Les propriétaires actuels font partie de la famille de Caraman.
Le nom de "Beauregard" provient, selon la coutume, du point vu des terrasses du château, sur la vallée de la Salmouille, le panorama étant le plus beau donné à son regard pour le premier occupant.
Le château fut inscrit au titre des monuments historiques le 28 octobre 1926, le domaine dans son ensemble a finalement été classé le 5 juillet 1993.
Architecture
Le bâtiment principal, en grès clair, est une construction classique du xviie siècle, sur 3 niveaux. Il est bordé par des communs, disposant d'un pigeonnier et d'une orangerie.
La perspective du parc, depuis les terrasses, ainsi que les alentours proches du château, sont composés d'un jardin dit à la française. Attenant aux communs, le domaine dispose d'un jardin potager (encore utilisé de nos jours, pour des légumes rares, lors des journées des plantes).
Le reste du domaine est une composition à l'anglaise, partie dans laquelle se situe une chapelle, en meulière et une glacière.
Le domaine de Saint-Jean-de-Beauregard est labellisé «Jardin remarquable».

Château de Beauregard (Essonne)

The château de Chamarande is a 17th-century French château in Chamarande, in the department of Essonne.
History
The first "castle" of this name was established at Bonnes around 811 by Arteld, missus dominicus and brother of Einhard, Charlemagne's biographer. However, excavations on the site have shown that the place was not fortified.
A fortified château was built in the 16th century, probably for François Hurault (prévôt des marchands de Paris and personal friend of king Henry IV), who in 1563 acquired the two seigneuries which make up the present estate and took up residence here. This castle corresponds to the present buildings of the commanderie. After the death of François Hurault in 1613, the château passed to his son Jean, who expanded the estate.
However, the château suffered in the Fronde and was in a poor state by the time it was sold in 1654 to Pierre Mérault, the former fermier des gabelles who had been promoted to a noble by buying a écuyership, who was also secretary to king Louis XIV. It was Mérault who built the present castle. Its design was formerly attributed to François Mansart without corroborating documentary evidence, but is now attributed to Nicolas de l'Espine. A rectangular building surrounded by a moat forms the living quarters, flanked on either side by the service wings The entrance to the main courtyard is flanked by two pavilions, with the left one containing the chapel. The estate was at the same time "ornamented with canals, lakes and fountains". André Le Nôtre helped design the park, though the dating and nature of his help are not known for certain.
In debt, Pierre Mérault sold the estate in 1684 to Clair Gilbert d'Ornaison known as Chamarande, top "valet de chambre" to Louis XIV. The year after the sale, Louis promoted Bonnes into the "county of Charamande" by letters patent. At d'Ornaison's death in 1737, the château passed to his first cousin and heir, Louis de Talaru, marquis de Chalmazel, maître d'hôtel of queen Marie Leszczyńska. The architect Pierre Contant d'Ivry worked on the château for de Talaru, building new service quarters beyond the secondary route near the village, and to the estate added an orangery, a belvédère, an oval bosquet for "Jeu de l'oie" with a temple of love at its centre and a cascatelle. He demolished the wall of the courtyard along the moat and put an ironwork gate with two lampholders in front of the bridge. He also modernised the interior decor, creating a little salon gros near the vestibule and the grand salon d'angle.
In the 1780s, a water feature was added, with an island bordered by bald cypresses from Louisiana at its centre - it is traditionally attributed to the painter and garden designer Hubert Robert. After the French Revolution, Louis-Justin, marquis de Talaru, bought the estate under the Consulate and carried out repairs, redesigning the park 'à l'anglaise'. Mayor of Chamarande, he lived at the Château until his death in 1850.
In 1852, the estate was sold to Pierre and René Robineau, and in 1857 it became the property of Victor Fialin, comte then duc de Persigny, interior minister to Napoléon III and French ambassador to the United Kingdom. He created a luxuriously-furnished gallery on the château's ground floor, built a fortified wall round the estate, completed the transformation of the park into the "à l'anglaise" style and planted exotic trees. New service buildings were added : a farm, stables, a bergerie, a birdhouse, a kennel, a new icehouse and a winter garden. Near the new gate was placed an obelisk inspired by the Songe de Poliphile, which probably referred to the love-affairs of Henry II with Diane de Poitiers. In 1862 (ten years before his death), Persigny held a fête at Chamarande for the birthday of empress Eugénie.
In 1876, the château was acquired by Aristide Boucicaut, founder of Bon Marché, who added a Renaissance-style dining room but died only a year after purchasing the château. His widow took it with her when she remarried in 1881, to the doctor Marie-Joseph-Laurent Amodru, mayor of Chamarande until 1922 and député for Seine-et-Oise. After 1913, the waterfall had copies of the river statues from the parc de Versailles added. From 1923 to 1951, the château was central to the creation of Scouting in France (the foundation of the regional heads of the Scouts et Guides de France is always called the Cham in reference to Chamarande). In 1950, the first À cœur joie festival took place at Chamarande, before becoming the Festival des Choralies at Vaison-la-Romaine.
In 1957, the last private owner was Auguste Mione, president of "La Construction moderne française", before the estate was bought in 1978, by the General Council of the Essonne.
The estate today
The parc de Chamarande covers 98 hectares.
The commanderie (i.e. les communs) has since 1999 been the main store for the Essonne department's archives. An eight-floor underground silo below the château's courtyard allows up to 32 km of shelving, of which 11 km are presently in use.
In 2001, a contemporary art centre was set up at Chamarande at the instigation of Dominique Marchès, founder of the Vassivière art centre. He was its first director, followed by Judith Quentel (2005 to present). It has a permanent collection (entitled L'esprit des lieux), bought with a fund of the Essonne department and including works by Lilian Bourgeat, Erik Samakh ("flûtes solaires", in the park), Miguel Egana (Feuilles scies, 2001, in the park), Bert Theis (giant white crosses, in the park) and Philippe Ramette. The permanent sculpture park in the estate, plays off the existing features - the icehouse houses a sound installation by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, and the orangery presents monograph exhibitions dedicated to young artists :
2007 :
Sammy Engramer
David Évrard
2008 :
Sylvain Rousseau
In season, from May to October, the centre hosts story-telling, music, dance and film festivals as well as gardening and heritage events in the park. The park (now one of the "Jardins remarquables") also hosts an important garden show in Île-de-France, as do the châteaux at Courson and Saint-Jean-de-Beauregard.

Château de Chamarande

The Château de Dourdan is a castle in the town of Dourdan in the Essonne department of France.
Construction
The fortification is characteristic of the military architecture of this period. It is built on a square pattern, with towers at three of the corners and an isolated donjon at the fourth. The walls are punctuated by towers in the middle of each side, and two, on the east side, flank the gatehouse. A deep stone-lined dry moat follows the outline of the castle.
The donjon, the major defensive component of the castle, measures approximately 30 metres in height and 13.6 metres in diameter. It is the typical of the donjons being built by King Philip II Augustus of France at this time, like at Rouen and other French nobility throughout the 13th century.
The conception of the geometric pattern and isolated donjon was similar to that of the castle of the Louvre. A near identical castle is found at Seringes-et-Nesles, department of Aisne in northern France.
The principle of the isolated keep was also employed at Flint Castle in Wales, a fortification begun by a Gascon master mason in the late 13th Century.
History
The châtellenie of Dourdan was part of the Crown lands of France (Domaine royal) from the 10th century. The present fortress was built at the request of Philip Augustus in the 1220s in the place of a wood structure.
The castle became the property of Jean de Berry in 1385. It was besieged during the French Wars of Religion. Among some of the notable personages who resided in the castle were Philip IV of France's daughter-in-law, Joan II, Countess of Burgundy, detained there from 1314 to 1315 in relation to the Tour de Nesle affair, and La Hire, one of Joan of Arc's comrades-in-arms.
At the end of the 17th century, the Château de Dourdan was given to the Duke of Orléans who turned it into prison. The donjon was used as a prison until 1852. It now houses a museum of local history.

Château de Dourdan

The Château de Breteuil (previously called the Château de Bevilliers) is a château situated in the Vallée de Chevreuse in Yvelines department of France, 35 km (22 mi) to the south-west of Paris. The château was designated a monument historique in 1973.
The family of the Marquis de Breteuil gave three ministers to the Kings of France. The château is still owned by the de Breteuil family.
The design is similar to the Château de Dampierre-en-Yvelines by Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
Relations with England
On March 12, 1881, the Marquis Henri de Breteuil organized a secret meeting at the Château with the Prince of Wales, future King Edward VII, and Léon Gambetta, President of the Chamber of Deputies. This constituted the beginnings of the Entente Cordiale.
In 1912, another Prince of Wales, the future Duke of Windsor, stayed with the Breteuil family for four months to improve his French.

Château de Breteuil

The château de Mesnil-Voisin is a French château, located at the heart of the hamlet of "Mesnil-Voisin" in the commune of Bouray-sur-Juine in the department of Essonne.
Le château was built by Michel Villedo, one of the famous "Maçons de la Creuse". It has an orangery, kitchens, coachhouses and workshops. At the centre of its communal courtyard a huge dovecote with 3000 niches and a wood-framed roof, and topped by a conical turret - it is rare in having its internal moveable staircase still intact.
The course of a canal bordering the rear of the château were entirely removed between 1999 and 2001. It has thus returned to its original course, leaving the Juine a short distance upstream of the château and rejoining it some distance downstream, just before the pont de Cochet.

Château de Mesnil-Voisin

The Château de la Madeleine is a castle located in the town of Chevreuse, in the French département of Yvelines (Île de France). In a good state of preservation, it was built on the top of a hill and dominates the town.
The name comes from the chapel of the castle, dedicated to Sainte Marie-Madeleine.
History
The construction of the Château de la Madeleine began between 1020 and 1090, under Guy I, lord of Chevreuse. The objective was to protect the village of Chevreuse against pillage. From this period, only the keep remains. At this time, the keep was surrounded by a wooden palisade; this palisade was replaced by stone curtain walls during the 12th century.
One century later, probably under the reign of Anseau de Chevreuse, the castle was modified, notably with the construction of the machicolations. The gatehouse was protected by a moat; the water was retained by a dam for domestic use.
The castles changed hands in 1356: Ingerger le Grand, lord of Chevreuse and Amboise, was taken prisoner by England during the Hundred Years' War. He was constrained to sell his domain to pay his ransom; the castle was bought by the future Pierre de Chevreuse.
The existing fortifications were largely improved under the reigns of Charles V and Charles VI; they financed the outworks with royal taxes. The modifications were completed under Louis XI (1461 – 1483). Along with the castle, the village was also fortified: a crenelated rampart, 3.5 m (11 ft) high with turrets, was built. The defence was completed by a 15 m large ditch (50 feet).
Circa 1661, Jean Racine supervised modifications of the keep; his name was given to the road from the convent of Port-Royal to the center of the village, passing by the Château de la Madeleine. The keep was partially restored during the 19th century.
The last modifications were in the 20th century. The heart of the castle now houses the park headquarters for the regional natural park of the valley of Chevreuse (French: Parc naturel régional de la Haute Vallée de Chevreuse); the modern architecture is mixed with the square towers, and uses old rooms.
Present state
The intact parts are:

the complete curtain wall with two square towers in the east, facing the village;
the main door surrounded by two towers; the stone pediment collapsed and was replaced by a wooden lintel;
two round towers; one is semicircular, the other is surmounted by a turret for watching;
the keep, having small openings from the 11th century on one side, and windows from the 15th century on the other front;
a well (15th century)
machicolations, on the top of the ramparts.
The castle is open to the public for free. A few rooms are accessible; an exhibition shows the history of the castle.
The Château de la Madeleine has been protected by the French Ministry of Culture as a monument historique since 1940.

Château de la Madeleine

The Château de Dampierre is the castle in Dampierre-en-Yvelines, in the Vallée de Chevreuse, France.
Built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1675–1683 for the duc de Chevreuse, Colbert's son-in-law, it is a French Baroque château of medium size. Protected behind fine wrought iron double gates, the main block (corps de logis) and its outbuildings, linked by balustrades, are ranged symmetrically around a dry paved and gravelled cour d'honneur. Behind, the central axis is extended between the former parterres, now mown hay. The park with formally shaped water was laid out by André Le Nôtre. There are sumptuous interiors. The small scale (compared to Vaux-le-Vicomte for example) makes it easier to compare it to the approximately contemporary Het Loo, for William III of Orange.
The grande galerie was reconstructed for the amateur archaeologist and collector, Honoré Théodoric d'Albert de Luynes, under the direction of antiquarian architect Félix Duban. Sculptor Pierre-Charles Simart contributed Hellenic friezes and reliefs for the project. Ingres' Age of Gold remains as testament to the abortive project of decorating it in fresco, not Ingres' habitual medium.
The park, which lost many trees in the storm of 26 December 1999, offers a formal canal and an eighteenth-century garden folly.

Château de Dampierre

Château du Haut-Buc is located in Buc, in Yvelines, France.Attached to the royal bailiwick in the late seventeenth century and located in the large park of Versailles at the time, the Haut-Buc served including Louis XIV, then King of France, to house his natural son and the Count of Toulouse Duke of Penthièvre, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon he had Madame de Montespan, and thus evade the eyes of the court before he was legitimized in 1681. In 1740, the castle was destroyed by order of Louis XV but another building was erected on the site between 1864 and 1866. This new castle was built for Leon Thomas, rich Parisian bourgeois, before being purchased in 1893 by Christmas Bardac . Sold in 1918 to Gentilli di Giuseppe, passionate astronomer will install even in the gardens a giant telescope in 1922. He left the castle in 1929 and the estate was acquired by an American couple, Mac Cune. The state bought the property in 1954 and used as a school building. The town meanwhile, does appropriates in 1988 and renovated in 2000. The Franco-German High School Buc, who left the premises of the Lycée Hoche in Versailles for the new site in the fall of 1981, was built on part of the field.
http://www.frenchchateau.net/chateaux-of-ile-de-france/chateau-du-haut-buc.html

Château du Haut-Buc

FROM THE 12TH TO THE 14TH CENTURY
THE EARLIEST KNOWN CONSTRUCTION ON THIS SITE IS A ROMAN VILLA OR HAMLET, WHICH GAVE ITS NAME (VILLARE IN LOW LATIN MEANS “FROM/NEAR THE HAMLET”) TO VILLIERS.
THE CASTLE STAYED IN THE CHAMPAGNE FAMILY UNTIL 13 NOVEMBER 1160, WHEN KING LOUIS VII MARRIED ALIX DE CHAMPAGNE AND THE PROPERTY PASSED INTO THE ROYAL DOMAIN.
ALIX DE CHAMPAGNE WAS KING LOUIS VII’S THIRD WIFE AND THE MOTHER OF KING PHILIPPE AUGUST, WHO BUILT THE FIRST LOUVRE IN PARIS.
IN 1220, WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF SENS, AMICIE DE BRETEUIL, THE WIDOW OF JEAN BRIARD LORD OF BRETEUIL, FOUNDED AN ABBEY ON A PARCEL OF VILLIERS PREVIOUSLY GRANTED BY THE KING.
THE CHÂTEAU OF VILLIERS AT THAT TIME WAS A MEDIEVAL CASTLE SURROUNDED BY A DRY MOAT WITH A DRAW-BRIDGE ACROSS IT, THE REMNANTS OF WHICH ONE CAN STILL SPOT.
OTHER REMAINS CAN STILL BE SEEN:
AN ANCIENT GUARD ROOM AND A CHAPEL
BUTTRESSES
DEFENCE TOWERS BASEMENTS
UNDERGROUND ROOMS
DURING ITS HISTORY THE CASTLE HAS BEEN EQUIPPED WITH A NUMBER OF UNDERGROUND PASSAGES LEADING TO THE CHURCH OF LA FERTÉ-ALAIS, VILLIERS ABBEY (DECONSECRATED IN 1793), MONTMIRAULT CASTLE. TRACES OF THESE STRUCTURES CAN STILL BE FOUND NOWADAYS.
WE HAVE EVIDENCE OF A STAY OF ISABEAU DE BAVIÈRE IN THE CHÂTEAU FROM 28 OCTOBER TO 1 NOVEMBER 1390. WHO OWNED THE CASTLE THEN ? WE ONLY KNOW THAT SHE TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THIS VISIT TO OFFER THE NEARBY ABBEY A “RACAMAS” CLOTH OF GOLD.
FROM THE 15TH TO THE 20TH CENTURY
VILLIERS IS MENTIONED AGAIN IN 1450. AT THAT TIME KING LOUIS XI GRANTED IT TO BE HELD IN FEE BY OLIVIER LE DAIM, HIS CONFIDENT AND HENCHMAN IN CHARGE OF DOING THE DIRTY WORK.
NOT ONLY WAS HE KING LOUIS XI’S MOST FAITHFUL SERVANT, BUT ALSO HIS ACCOMPLICE. HIS REAL NAME WAS OLIVIER NECKER. LE DAIM WAS A NICKNAME DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE USUALLY WORE A BUCKSKIN JERKIN. OFFICIALLY HE WAS THE KING’S BARBER, BUT ON OCCASIONS HE COULD ALSO BE HIS HATCHET MAN AND EXECUTIONER: AND WITHOUT ANY SCRUPLES HE FULFILLED THE VARIOUS MISSIONS HIS MASTER WOULD ENTRUST HIM WITH. ON THE VERGE OF DEATH LOUIS XI COMMENDED HIM TO HIS SON THE FUTURE KING. BUT CHARLES VII HAD HIM ARRESTED AND EXECUTED, AS HE CONSIDERED HIM TO BE HIS FATHER’S DAMNED SOUL.
HIS CASTLE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY DISMANTLED, ESPECIALLY THE DUNGEON AS A SYMBOL OF ITS MASTER’S POWER. LEGEND HAS IT THAT OLIVIER LE DAIM, FORESEEING HIS COMING DISGRACE, BURIED A FABULOUS TREASURE SOMEWHERE ON THE LAND OF VILLIERS.
AFTER HIS DEATH, THE LORDSHIPS OF VILLIERS LE CHÂTEL AS WELL AS THOSE OF HUISON WERE ALLOWED TO BE HELD IN FEE BY LORD JEAN DE FOIX, VISCOUNT OF NARBONNE AND COUNT OF ETAMPES, THEN CAME BACK TO THE CROWN. DURING THE RENAISSANCE KING FRANCIS 1 OFFERED THE CASTLE TO THE HOUSE OF SELVE IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SERVICES RENDERED TO THE CROWN.
THE DE SELVE FAMILY OWNED THE CASTLE FOR MORE THAN 400 YEARS. THEIR COAT OF ARMS IS BLAZONED “AZURE CHARGED WITH TWO BARS WAVY ARGENT”: IT CAN STILL BE SEEN ON THE CASTLE.
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY AS MANY AS 20 PEOPLE WERE STILL EMPLOYED BY THE CHÂTEAU AT THE PEAK OF THE SEASON, INCLUDING 7 GARDENERS.
ON AUGUST 22, 1944, THE CASTLE NEARLY WITNESSED A TRAGEDY: THE EXECUTION OF 197 HOSTAGES BY THE PANZERTRUPPEN. THEY WERE SAVED AT THE LAST MOMENT, THANKS TO THE ALERTNESS OF A POSTWOMAN IN LA FERTÉ-ALAIS WHO SENT A WARNING TO THE NEARBY AMERICAN TROOPS. THE GERMANS HAD MEANT TO GATHER 200 PEOPLE FOR ELIMINATION, BUT 3 KEPT MISSING, THUS PREVENTING THE OPERATION FROM STARTING. A NUMBER OF GRAVES HAD ALREADY BEEN DUG IN THE PARK BY THE HOSTAGES. THE HOLES ARE STILL THERE TO BE SEEN.
IN 1958 THE CASTLE WAS BOUGHT BY PHILIPPE CLAY, A SINGER AND FILM ACTOR. IT THEN BECAME A PLACE OF CELEBRATION.
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