Vic-sur-Aisne Tower, locally known as Donjon de Vic-sur-Aisne, lies in the village with the same name, in the Aisne department in France.
The domain of Vic-sur-Aisne was first mentioned in 814 when it came into the possession of the Grand Royal Abbey of St. Médard de Soissons. It remained in their possession until the Revolution.
Vic-sur-Aisne Tower was first built out of wood on a stone foundation in the 8th century. At the end of the 9th century, the keep played an important military role stopping the Norman invasion to Soissons. In the 12th century the keep was completely rebuilt in stone. It is some 25 meters high and has walls of up to 2 meters thick.
In the late 16th century, during the French Wars of Religion, the castle at Vic-sur-Aisne was taken in turn by the Hugenots and the King's armies which caused the castle to be badly damaged. The battlements and parapets of the castle were dismantled and its towers were destroyed.
In the first decade of the 17th century the ruined castle was rebuilt by the abbot Father Francois Hotman. He equipped the old keep with a stairtower and erected a mansard roofed château next to it.
During the French Revolution the uninhabited castle was confiscated and sold to a Jean-Baptiste Clouet whose descendants, the Reiset family, owned the castle until the end of World War II. He embellished the castle.
During World War I Vic Castle was used as headquarters by the French Army as the front was only 2 kilometers away. During that time it was visited by Pétain amongst other generals. After the war the castle was emptied of its furniture. During World War II the castle was briefly occupied by the Americans who also damaged the castle and destroyed its library.
At present the château and the keep are privately owned and can sometimes be visited. Too bad that it was closed when I came by.
http://www.castles.nl/vicaisne-tower

Château et Donjon de Vic-sur-Aisne

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Le château de Montois est un château situé à Ressons-le-Long, à la croisée des vallées de l'Aisne et de Retz.
Localisation
Le château est situé sur la commune de Ressons-le-Long, dans le hameau de Montois, dans la région naturelle du Soissonnais et l'ancien Duché de Valois, dans le département de l'Aisne.
Description
Le château de Montois voit le jour en 1736 sous la forme d’un pavillon, constituant encore le corps central de l’édifice actuel. Il est agrandi entre 1875 et 1890 par la construction de deux pavillons latéraux dont les pignons à redents témoignent de l'architecture typique du Soissonnais et de deux tourelles octognales dans la lignée des manoirs du xvie siècle.
Historique
L'histoire du château de Montois, de son origine et de ses propriétaires est relatée en détail par Émile Gaillard en 1905 dans son ouvrage "Monographie de la ville de Ressons-le-long", publié dans la collection Monographies des villes et villages de France, dirigée par M.-G. Micberth et réédité en 300 exemplaires en 2007 . Doté de nombreuses illustrations du château de Montois, mais aussi du château de Mainville, du manoir de Poulandon, du moulin à papier de Pontarcher ou encore de la ferme de l'abbaye royale Notre-Dame de Soissons, dite aussi « ferme de la Montagne », la monographie d'Émile Gaillard donne également de précieux renseignements sur le partimoine de ce village reconnu comme l'un des plus remarquables du département par le CAUE de l'Aisne.
1587 ~ 1622	A l'origine, une simple ferme dont quelques bâtis sont encore visibles aujourd'hui ...
Le fief de Montois, dit aussi de Montoy, n'est alors qu'une petite ferme appartenant à Claude Molin relevant de l'Abbaye des Celestins de Villeneuve-lès-Soissons. Claude agrandit la propriété et l'améliore jusqu'en 1596 puis la met en location jusqu'en 1623. Il subsiste de cette ferme du XVIe quelques bâtis rattachés au château actuel dont une partie de la ferme ainsi que la totalité de la cave de l'ancienne ferme.
1623 ~ 1645	Acquisition du domaine de Montois par la famille Levesque de Roqueville
Jean Levesque de Roqueville, seigneur de Roqueville, marchand bourgeois de Compiègne, conseiller du roi, receveur admoniateur du revenu de la châtellenie de Vic-sur-Aisne, rachète le fief de Montois à Claude Molin en 1623. Jean Levesque de Roqueville, habitait jusqu'alors le château de Vic-sur-Aisne qu'il louait à François Hotman, abbé de Saint-Mard-lez-Soissons, également conseiller au parlement de Paris, seigneur de Mortefontaine, Plailly et de Vic-sur-Aisne qui préfère séjourner dans son hôtel particulier de la rue de Jouy à Paris.
En 1627, Jean Levesque de Roqueville marie sa fille ainée Jeanne au célèbre historien de France Adrien de Valois, conseiller du roi, seigneur de La Mare, alors secrétaire de l'abbé François Hotman. À la mort de François Hotman en 1639, remplacé par le cardinal Mazarin qui reprend entière possession du château de Vic-sur-Aisne, Jean Levesque de Roqueville rentre à Compiègne où il décède en 1645. Il ne séjourne donc pas au domaine de Montois.
1645 ~ 1735	Louis ignace Levesque de Rocqueville, 1er seigneur de Montois ...
Après plus de 50 ans d'indivisions entre les enfants et petits-enfants de Jean Levesque de Roqueville et suite à une vague de successions, de dons et ventes de parts, le domaine de Montois revient finalement à l'arrière-petit-fils de Jean : Louis-Ignace Levesque de Roqueville. Le fief de Montois relève à cette époque de la seigneurie de Cuise qui en a acquis les droits seigneuriaux au XVIIème auprès de l'Abbaye des Célestins de Villeneuve de Soissons.
En 1719, après en avoir obtenu les droits seigneuriaux lui autorisant l'aliénation du fief de Montois, Louis-Ignace Levesque de Rocqueville devient le 1er seigneur de Montois et le premier à habiter le domaine. La seigneurerie de Montois comprend alors quatre maisons avec cours, jardins, bois et vignes dont une ferme correspondant à la partie attenante à l'aile Est du château actuel. La grande cave et la fouilloire où étaient foulé le vin, situées sous la ferme sont encore visibles aujourd'hui.
En 1730, Louis ignace Levesque de Rocqueville décède, suivi de sa femme 3 ans plus tard.
1735	Le domaine de Montois entre dans la famille de Perticoz pour plus d'un siècle
En 1735, son fils Louis-François de Sales Levesque de Rocqueville, seul héritier du domaine, vend le fief de Montois à Antoine de Perticoz, écuyer et seigneur de Perticoz, chevalier de l'ordre de Saint-Louis. Le domaine de Montois comprend alors une ferme, une maison, correspondant au bâtiment Est du château actuel, les caves, une grange, une écurie, une bergerie, un colombier et quelques autres dépendances ainsi qu'un verger, un clos de vigne, un bois et de nombreuses terres partant de la plaine de Ressons jusqu'en haut de la montagne.
1736 ~ 1837	Antoine de Perticoz lance la construction du château de Montois
Antoine de Perticoz lance la construction du château de Montois afin d'en faire sa résidence d'été. Le château prend la forme d'un pavillon accolé à l'ancienne ferme située à l'ouest du château. Ce bâtiment constitue aujourd'hui le corps central du château. Cf. plan de Delettre du 17 mai 1736.
Antoine de Perticoz, sans postérité à sa mort en 1741, laisse à son neveu Louis de Perticoz, le Château de Montois, qui ne connaitra guère de grands changements jusqu'à la mort de ce dernier en 1804.
Louis de Perticoz laisse derrière lui 2 enfants : Louis Antoine de Perticoz qui vécut au château de Montois jusqu'à sa mort en 1837 et Marie Françoise de Perticoz qui épousa Pierre-Philippe Le Cornier de Cideville, parent éloigné de Pierre-Robert Le Cornier de Cideville, écrivain et cofondateur de l'Académie de Rouen, ami de Voltaire. De leur union vient au monde Jean-Baptiste-Julien Le Cornier de Cideville qui hérite du château4 en 1837 à la mort de son oncle Louis Antoine.
1837 ~ 1920	L'agrandissement du château sous l'ère le Cornier de Cideville
Dès 1837 Jean-Baptiste-Julien Le Cornier de Cideville procède à de grands travaux d'amélioration du château.
Des communs sont construit à l'Est du château. Au nord, le chemin vicinal qui passe devant le château est reculé pour agrandir la terrasse. L’ancienne entrée principale située à l'est où démarrait la rue Marin est transformée en passage vouté réservé aux piétons et la rue Marin est annexée au parc du château. Une nouvelle entrée voit le jour à l'ouest du château en bas du ravin avec la construction d'un portail en fer forgé.
Plus tard, en 1865, une chapelle est erigée et bénie par l'abbé Delahaigue, Chanoine de Soissons, que la famille Le Cornier de Cideville accueille au Montois alors qu'il s'était retiré de ses fonctions pastorales. Le blason avec armes de la famille est gravé dans la pierre qui surplombe la porte de la chapelle.
De son mariage avec Marie Anne-Victoire Marc, Jean-Baptiste Julien Le Cornier de Cideville naissent 2 enfants : le 3 février 1838,un fils Pierre-Marie Le Cornier de Cideville et en 1840, une fille, Marie Le Cornier de Cideville. Marie-Anne Victoire Le Cornier de Cideville, née Marc, s'éteint en 1863 tandis que son époux, Jean-Baptiste Julien Le Cornier de Cideville décède en 1874 au château de Montois. 
Le 17 décembre 1860, Marie Le Cornier de Cideville, épouse Gabriel Parent du Châtelet, fils d'Alexandre Parent du Châtelet, avec qui elle s'installe après son mariage au château de Nagel dont sa mère Anne-Victoire avait hérité. Gabriel Parent du Châtelet s'éteint en 1904 et son épouse, Marie, née Le Cornier de Cideville, s'eteint en 1921. De leur union en 1860, naissent 4 enfants dont Marie-Thérèse Parent du Châtelet (1863 ~ 1945) qui épousera Charles-Alexandre Geoffroy de Grandmaison au château de Nagel, où ils termineront leurs jours. Son frère ainé, Pierre-Marie Le Cornier de Cideville, se marie plus tardivement. Le 14 mai 1873, il épouse Hélène Marie de Fouler de Relingue, née le 28 décembre 1849, fille du comte Louis-Édouard Fouler de Relingue. À la mort de son père en 1874, c'est naturellement lui qui hérite du château de Montois. Entre 1875 et 1876, il procède à des modifications majeures du château, en lui adjoignant deux ailes de part et d'autre du pavillon central et une tour octogonale à l'Est. En 1884, le parc qui entoure le Château de Montois s'étend sur près de 25 hectares. Enfin, en 1890, il fait édifier une autre tourelle octogonale sur la façade nord du pavillon central. Dans l'édition du Figaro du 3 septembre 1894, dans un article sur les châteaux du Soissonnais, on peut y lire : "Il est certaines provinces qui tous les ans à la même époque, semblent jouir, au point de vue mondain, de véritables privilèges" ... "De ce nombre est sans contredit le Soissonnais, qui touche de si près au Valois, berceau de l'ancienne France et qui a toujours eu de seigneuriales demeures, dignes de rivaliser en beauté et en renom avec ses églises et ses monastères. Ces châteaux s'élèvent au penchant de toutes les collines, au fond de toutes les vallées, arrêtant le regard surpris et ravi du touriste." ... "En face de Fontenoy se dresse à mi-côte, le joli castel du Montois. M. Le Cornier de Cideville et madame, née Fouler de Relingue, y séjournent fort avant dans la saison."
En 1899, l'abbé Bourbonne, aumônier du premier Monastère de la Visitation de Paris, séjourne au Château de Montois, chez les époux le Cornier de Cideville. En 1909, les époux Le Cornier de Cideville partagent encore leur temps entre leur adresse parisienne, 100 rue de Grenelle dans le 7e arrondissement et le château de Montois, et après la mort de Pierre Marie Le Cornier de Cideville, son épouse Hélène, née Fouler de Relingue conservera le château de Montois jusqu'en 1920*.
1921 ~ 2013	Le château de Montois entre dans la famille Rigaut
René Louis Jules Rigaut, né à la Fère le 23 octobre 1871, propriétaire du fort de Liez, près de La Fère, riche entrepreneur et propriétaire agricole de la région, rachète le château de Montois entre 1921 et 1923 pour en faire sa résidence de chasse, certainement avec les dommages de guerre de la première guerre mondiale. Il a épousé Maria Josephine Anne Francez, née au Mas Rome à Limoges le 15 mai 1875 qui décèdera peu de temps après leur arrivée au Montois (13 juillet 1924). Suite à la seconde guerre mondiale et grâce aux dommages de guerre, René Rigaut entreprend de nombreux travaux de rénovation et de modernisation; Il agrandit notamment la terrasse centrale et l'entrée menant au vestibule d'honneur. René Rigaut décède à Neuilly-sur-Seine le 11 juin 1948 en laissant derrière lui deux fils : Pierre Henri Rigaut né à La Fère, le 25 aout 1903 et Christian Léon Camille Rigaut, né à Liez, le 20 août 1909.
Christian décède à San Gaetano en Espagne, le 13 novembre 1982 sans postérité Son frère, Pierre Henri Rigaut, hérite du château de Montois à la mort de son père en 1948. Nommé chevalier de la Légion d'honneur et croix de guerre 1939-1945, il épouse le 10 août 1947, la comtesse Armelle Claire Mathilde Anne Marie de La Moussaye, née le 24 janvier 1907, fille d'Amaury Armand Victor Marie de La Moussaye et de Diane de Monteynard, propriétaire du château de Tencin en Isère, dont elle hérite à la mort de ses parents. Résidant à Paris, les deux époux disposent dans l'Aisne et en Isère de plusieurs centaines d'hectares de terre et de plusieurs fermes. 
Entourré de plus de 100 ha d'un seul tenant autour du château de Montois, comprenant notamment les bois de Vaugousset et de Valencelin, ils font de ce dernier, leur résidence de chasse.
Pierre Henri Rigaut décédera le 19 juin 1983 à Neuilly-sur-seine dans sa 80e année tandis que son épouse s'éteindra à l'âge de 97 ans le 6 février 2004 et sera inhumée à Tencin, le fief de ses ancêtres.
En novembre 2013, François René Marie Armaury Rigaut, qui a hérité des châteaux de Tencin et de Montois, à la mort de sa mère, revend ce dernier. Ainsi s'achève l'histoire du château après près d'un siècle d'appartenance à la famille Rigaut.
Parc et jardins
Le jardin d'agrément du château de Montois est inscrit au pré-inventaire des jardins remarquables.

Château de Montois

Château de Pernant

The Château de Montgobert in the midst of the Forest of Retz, near Soissons, in Montgobert, Aisne, Picardy, is a neoclassical French château that was built for Antoine Pierre Desplasses between 1768-1775 on the site of an ancient seigneurie.
The château, which has the air of an English Palladian house, with four Ionic columns under an arced pediment, raised upon a high rusticated basement, was owned by Pauline Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister and wife of General Charles Leclerc who employed Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine to raise the house by adding an attic storey about 1798 and transformed the parterre into a terrace overlooking the park, which was re-landscaped in the naturalistic fashion, à l'anglaise, with meadows and clumps of trees and specimens against a background of woodland. He died in Santo Domingo in November 1802; his ashes were returned to Montgobert and a tomb in the park was designed by Fontaine and executed by a certain Laudier, but never finished.
The outbuildings were constructed before 1831, when they appear on an estate map. The pair of entrance pavilions date after 1835. In the early twentieth century the office of Achille Duchêne reorganized the grand terrace: a semi-circular parterre was flanked by terraces connected by stairs.
The château passed by inheritance to maréchal Davout, then to the Cambacérès and Suchet d'Albuféra families. Today the chateau belongs to the Cambacérès and Suchet d'Albuféra families. Since 1974 it has housed a collection of wooden ware ("treen") and some 3000 different tools.

Château de Montgobert

The Château de Pierrefonds is a castle situated in the commune of Pierrefonds in the Oise département (Picardy) of France. It is on the southeast edge of the Forest of Compiègne, northeast of Paris, between Villers-Cotterêts and Compiègne.
The Château de Pierrefonds includes most of the characteristics of defensive military architecture from the Middle Ages, though it underwent a major restoration in the 19th century.
History
In the 12th century, a castle was built on this site. Two centuries later, in 1392, King Charles VI turned the County of Valois (of which Pierrefonds was part) into a Duchy and gave it to his brother Louis, Duke of Orléans. From 1393 to his death in 1407, the latter had the castle rebuilt by the court architect, Jean le Noir.
In March 1617, during the early troubled days of Louis XIII's reign, the castle, then the property of François-Annibal d'Estrées (brother of the beauty Gabrielle d'Estrée), who joined the "parti des mécontents" (party of discontent) led by Henri II, Prince of Condé, was besieged and taken by troops sent by Richelieu, the secretary of state for war. Its demolition was started, but not carried through to the end because of the enormity of the task. The exterior works were razed, the roofs destroyed and holes made in the towers and curtain walls.
The castle remained a ruin for more than two centuries. Napoleon I bought it in 1810 for less than 3,000 francs. During the 19th century, with the rediscovery of the architectural heritage of the Middle Ages, it became a "romantic ruin": in August 1832, Louis-Philippe gave a banquet there on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter Louise to Léopold de Saxe-Cobourg Gotha, first king of the Belgians. Among other artists, Corot depicted the ruins in several works between 1834 and 1866. The Château de Pierrefonds has been classified as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1848.
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (later Napoleon III of France) visited the castle in 1850. As emperor, he asked Viollet-le-Duc in 1857 to undertake its restoration, continuators are Maurice Ouadou and Juste Lisch until 1885. There was no question of a simple repair to the habitable parts (the keep and annexes): the "picturesque" ruins in front were to be kept for decor. In 1861, the project grew in scale: the sovereign wanted to create an imperial residence, so the castle was to be entirely rebuilt. The works, which would cost 5 million francs, of which 4 million were to come from the civil list, were stopped in 1885, six years after the death of Viollet-le-Duc. The departure of Napoléon III had halted the reconstruction and, through lack of money, the decoration of rooms was unfinished. Inside, Viollet-le-Duc produced more a work of invention than restoration (polychrome paintings). He imagined how the castle ought to have been, rather than basing his work on the strict history of the building. On the other hand, with the exterior he showed an excellent knowledge of the military architecture of the 14th century.
Castle today
Château de Pierrefonds has been a monument historique since 1862. It is now managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux.
Media
The castle has often been used as a location for filming including les Visiteurs, Le Capitan, Highlander: The Series, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc and the 1998 version of The Man in the Iron Mask. The castle was used as the setting for Camelot in the BBC series Merlin; a cut scene of this castle was used to portray Wiz Tech Academy in Disney's TV series, Wizards of Waverly Place. In 2017, the castle was used for filming during the Canal+ Netflix series Versailles).

Château de Pierrefonds

In 1917, Anne Morgan, daughter of the American banker JP Morgan, came to stay at Château de Blérancourt, near Noyon, to undertake the work of the American Committee for Devastated France (CARD), a humanitarian organisation that was set up to help the civilian population of Aisne, an area which had been badly affected by the devastation and by supply problems during the First World War. After the war, the organisation continued its work with a commitment to rebuilding the Picardy region from an economic, educational, social and moral point of view.
Supported from 1923 by "The French Friends of Blérancourt Museum", in 1924 the château became a museum for objects and works of art. Its collections are testament as much to French support for the American War of Independence as to American commitment to the French during the First World War.
In this museum, which has been recreated by Studio Adrien Gardère and Ateliers Yves Lion, visitors are invited on a tour of discovery in three sections – "Ideals", "Ordeals" and "Arts". Each will highlight the historical and cultural exchanges specific to different eras.
Films and audiovisual tools will explore the ordeals which have united the two countries (especially the two World Wars) and also the artistic exchanges between Paris and New York in the 20th century. As well as screens installed in each room, a multimedia guide on digital tablets will enrich the commentary and make the tour interactive.
https://www.gouvernement.fr/en/the-franco-american-museum-at-chateau-de-blerancourt-reopens

Château de Blérancourt

The Donjon de Vez lies in the heart of the Vallée de l'Automne. This striking medieval fortress goes back to Gallo-Roman times, when it was an army camp designed to protect Gaul against the Barbarians.
With the invasion of the Franks, Vez was made the military centre of an entire province. After the battle of Soissons in 486 it was the capital of the Valois region for five centuries. The stone and wood castle, of which nothing now remains, overlooked the valley from its hill-top position.
In 1214 Philippe Auguste, king of France, granted Vez to a certain Raoul Duchemin, who had distinguished himself by his protection of the king at the battle of Bouvines. Duchemin Latinised his name to "de Stratis", which in time became d’Estrées. Under its new master the castle was replanned, restored and fortified. Raoul d’Estrées added the three-story living quarters, of which there now remain only sections of walls and collapsed chimneys. He also built ramparts along the valley side and a wall on the side giving onto the plain.
In 1360, with the help of the local people, d’Estrée's great-grandson Jehan de Vez built the pentagonal Donjon and the second segment of the ramparts, thereby enclosing what was left of the old castle. Taken over and further fortified by Louis d’Orléans at the end of the century, Vez remained the capital of the Valois region for five hundred years.
EUGÈNE VIOLLET-LE-DUC
The 19th century saw the rediscovery of medieval architecture through the efforts of architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and writer Prosper Mérimée, who was made Inspector-General of Historical Monuments in 1834 and held the post for almost thirty years.
Produced during the period 1854–75, Viollet-le-Duc’s copious illustrations and writings on France’s medieval heritage were collected in dictionaries of the nation’s architecture (from the 11th to the 16th century) and furniture. Volume 5 of his Dictionnaire Raisonnée de l’Architecture Française devoted a section to the Donjon de Vez:
Few 14th and 15th-century castles possessed donjons as extensive, handsome and well-suited to seigneurial needs as that of Pierrefonds. Most of the donjons of the period, although more comfortable and agreeable than those of the 12th and 13th centuries, comprised only a more or less well protected residential building.
An example of these seigneurial abodes, on a smaller scale, is to be found in the same region. The Château de Vez shows resemblances with Château de Pierrefonds; situated not far away on the fringe of the Forest of Compiègne, near Morienval, it stands on a high plateau overlooking the valleys of L’Automne and Vandi. Its military situation was excellent in that it complemented the lines of defence of the edge the forest, and was protected by the Château de Pierrefonds to the northeast, by the narrow gorges of the Forêt de l’Aigle and the river Aisne to the north, by the Champlieu plateaux and the town of Verberie to the west, and by the river Oise to the north-northwest. The Château de Vez is a very ancient site, at the tip of a promontory between two small valleys. Louis d’Orléans had to rebuild it almost entirely to ensure his safety north of Paris and resist the pretensions of the Duke of Burgundy, who was himself preparing fortifications to the south of the royal domains. Compared to Pierrefonds Vez is no more than a military post protected by a wall and a marvellously sited donjon built with the greatest care, probably by the architect of the Château de Pierrefonds.
This donjon [illustration 45] stands at point A, at the angle formed by two curtain walls, B and C: B overlooks the steep slope B’, and C, with a watchtower at each end, is separated from a farmyard, or bailey, by a broad ditch. On the side marked G the plateau descends steeply into a deep valley; this means that the curtain walls H and H' were lower than B and C, and their parapet was at the level of the plateau, where the 12th-century residence K was almost entirely rebuilt in the early 15th century. This latter residence, now a ruin, was a charming building. The castle gate, defended by two small towers, is at the point marked I. Remains of the defences of the bailey E can still be seen, but have since become terrace walls.
The donjon is detailed in the ground-floor plan X. Its original entrance is at L and consisted of a narrow postern3 reached by a balance bridge and giving onto a wide, full-height spiral staircase. Each floor had two rooms, one larger than the other, with fireplaces and recesses. There is a well at P. At F is the ditch and at M the entrance to the castle with its towers and balance bridge. The curtain wall C is defended by the projecting turrets O, while curtain wall B which, because of the steepness of the slope, had very little cause to fear an outside attack, was protected inside the site by the projecting turrets R. The turrets S and S’, built at the two ends of the high curtain walls, gave access to the parapet via staircases. At V was a postern descending from the platform onto the escarpment. Examining the situation of the plateau, one understands perfectly the plan of the corner donjon, whose outer walls follow the most accessible approaches to the castle. The full-height turrets form a secondary flanking defence in cases where the attackers are close to the castle.
Illustration 46, which provides the perspective elevation of the Donjon de Vez as seen from inside the compound, shows the layout of the turrets R of curtain wall B, the postern with its small ditch and balance bridge, the well, the machicolations and latrines, the staircase, and the top of the staircase in a tower serving as a lookout. From the first floor of the donjon one reached the parapets of the two curtain walls by small, well-protected doors. Thus, in the event of an attack, the garrison could promptly take up position on the curtain walls on the only two sides where attack was possible. If one of these sides was taken – C, the weaker of the two because of the nature of the terrain and the presence of the door – the defenders could still retain the other, B, reinforced by the interior turrets R (see the plans). If they could not hold this second side, they took refuge in the donjon either to go on the offensive again or ultimately to surrender. In such a skilfully laid-out stronghold a garrison of fifty could easily hold off an army for several days. Moreover the enemy, once held in check on this terrain surrounded by ravines, streams and forests, was very vulnerable to attack by a relief party. The Château de Vez was quite simply a fort designed to protect a given point on a well-chosen line of defence emplacements. Perhaps not enough attention has been given to the almost systematic relationship, in the Middle Ages, between the various fortresses built on a particular territory; they are examined in isolation, but not in terms of their overall importance and relative utility. From this point of view it seems that medieval fortifications offer a fresh field of study.
Such is the enduring influence of tradition, even in periods when that influence is supposedly ignored, that we see the last vestiges of the feudal donjon reappearing in châteaux built in the 17th century, when the fortified dwellings of lords had been forgotten. The majority of our 16th and 17th-century châteaux still have, at the centre of their residential buildings, a sizeable pavilion which is certainly not of foreign origin, but rather a last relic of the Middle Ages. Examples are to be found at Chambord, Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Tuileries, and from a later period at the châteaux of Richelieu-en-Poitou, Maisons, Vaux near Paris, Coulommiers, etc.
https://www.donjondevez.com

Donjon de Vez

Septmonts Castle, locally known as Château de Septmonts or Donjon de Septmonts, lies in the village with the same name, in the Aisne department in France.
Septmonts Castle was built in the 13th century by Jacques de Bazoches, bishop of Soissons, as his summer residence.
In the second half of the 14th century the castle was rebuilt on the orders of another bishop of Soissons; Simon de Bucy. The architect came from the royal court of the French king; Charles V. He built the castle in the style of the princely castles of the 14th century; combining elegance with defensive military art and residential comforts. The 43 meters high keep, with 7 floors, dates back to that period.
In the 16th century bishop Symphorien de Bullioud built the Renaissance palace. The bishops of Soissons finally ceased to reside in Septmonts Castle in the late 17th century. Later it was abandoned and fell to ruin.
In 1835 the castle was visited by the famous Victor Hugo who even left a small piece of graffiti on a wall in the keep. In 1864 Septmonts Castle was bought by the painter Jacques Edmond Leman. He set out to restore the castle in 1877 and his work was finished by Antoinette Leininger, Baroness of Ezpeleta.
In 1918, during World War I, Septmonts Castle was bombed which caused a lot of damage and left the Renaissance palace roofless. It again fell to ruin until the 1970's when it was restored.
Septmonts Castle is now owned by the local community and is used for cultural activities. There is an Association of Friends of Septmonts which aims to safeguard and maintain the site. The castle grounds and the keep are freely accessible.
This is a very nice castle with a fantastic keep which you can climb all the way to the very top. When I visited the Renaissance palace was undergoing restoration works and not accessible.
http://www.castles.nl/septmonts-castle

Château de Septmonts

The Château de Coucy is a French castle in the commune of Coucy-le-Château-Auffrique, in Picardy, built in the 13th century and renovated by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century. In April 1917, the German army dynamited the keep and the four towers using 28 tons of explosives to prevent their use by enemy artillery spotters as the Germans fell back in the region. During its heyday, it was famous for the size of its central tower and the pride of its lords, who adopted the staunchly independent rhyme: roi ne suis, ne prince ne duc ne comte aussi; Je suis le sire de Coucy ("I am not king, nor prince nor duke nor count; I am the Lord of Coucy").
The castle was constructed in the 1220s by Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy. The castle proper occupies the tip of a bluff or falaise. It forms an irregular trapezoid of 92 x 35 x 50 x 80 m. At the four corners are cylindrical towers 20 m in diameter (originally 40 m in height). Between two towers on the line of approach was the massive donjon (keep). The donjon was the largest in Europe, measuring 35 meters wide and 55 meters tall. The smaller towers surrounding the court were as big as the donjons being built at that time by the French monarchy. The rest of the bluff is covered by the lower court of the castle, and the small town. Coucy was occupied in September 1914 by German troops during World War I. It became a military outpost and was frequented by German dignitaries, including Emperor William himself. In March 1917 the retreating German army on the order given by general Erich Ludendorff destroyed the keep and the 4 towers. It is not known whether this act had some military purpose or was merely an act of wanton destruction. The destruction caused so much public outrage that in April 1917 the ruins were declared "a memorial to barbarity". War reparations were used to clear the towers and to consolidate the walls but the ruins of the keep were left in place.
One of its lords, Enguerrand VII (1340–1397) is the subject of historian Barbara Tuchman's study of the fourteenth century, A Distant Mirror. It also features extensively in British author Anthony Price's 1982 crime/espionage novel The Old Vengeful.
Château de Coucy has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1862, and is managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux.

Château de Coucy

The Château de Compiègne is a French chateau, a royal residence built for Louis XV and restored by Napoleon. Compiègne was one of three seats of royal government, the others being Versailles and Fontainebleau. It is located in Compiègne in the Oise department and is open to the public.
Even before the chateau was constructed, Compiègne was the preferred summer residence for French monarchs, primarily for hunting given its proximity to Compiègne Forest. The first royal residence was built in 1374 for Charles V, and a long procession of successors both visited it and modified it. Louis XIV resided in Compiègne some 75 times. Louis XV was perhaps even more favorably impressed; the Comte de Chevergny described his infatuation: "Hunting was his main passion... and Compiègne, with its immense forest, with its endless avenues amongst the trees, with its stretches down which you could ride all day and never come to the end, was the ideal place to indulge that passion."
In 1750, prominent architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel proposed a thorough renovation of the chateau. Work began in 1751 and was finished in 1788 by Gabriel's student Le Dreux de La Châtre. The ancient town ramparts dictated the château's triangular plan; the resultant building covers about 5 acres (20,000 m2). It is Neoclassical in style, with simplicity and clarity governing both its external and interior features.
During the French Revolution, the château passed into the jurisdiction of the Minister for the Interior. In 1795 all furniture was sold and its works of art were sent to the Muséum Central; it was essentially gutted. Napoleon visited in 1799 and again in 1803. In 1804 the château became an imperial domain and in 1807 he ordered it be made habitable again. Architects Berthault, Percier and Fontaine, decorators Dubois and Redouté, and cabinetmakers Jacob-Desmalter and Marcion restored the château. Its layout was altered, a ballroom added, and the garden was replanted and linked directly to the forest.
The result is an example of First French Empire style (1808-1810), though some traces of the earlier décor survive. The writer Auguste Luchet remarked that "Compiègne speaks of Napoleon as Versailles does of Louis XIV". From 1856 on, Napoleon III and Eugénie made it their autumn residence, and redecorated some rooms in the Second Empire style.
Today's visitors can find three distinct museums within the chateau: the apartments themselves; the Museum of the Second Empire; and the National Car Museum (Le Musée de la Voiture), founded in 1927, with a collection of carriages, bicycles, and automobiles.