Château de Clisson
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The Château de Clisson is a
castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
in the ''
commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
'' of
Clisson Clisson (; br, Klison), is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is situated at the confluence of the Sèvre Nantaise and the Moine southeast of Nantes. The town and the celebrat ...
in the
Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...
''
département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...
'' of
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. It stands on the right bank of the
Sèvre Nantaise The Sèvre Nantaise () is a river in the Pays de la Loire regions in western France. It is a left-bank tributary of the Loire. Its total length is . Its source is in the Deux-Sèvres department, near Secondigny. It flows from south to north thro ...
.


History

Within then independent
Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
, the castle, situated at a crossroads for
Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France * County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France **Duk ...
and
Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...
, was one of the great fortified places on the frontiers of the
Duchy of Brittany The Duchy of Brittany ( br, Dugelezh Breizh, ; french: Duché de Bretagne) was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of Europe, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
The first Lords of Clisson occupied the site from the 11th century. They are mentioned for the first time in 1040. Clisson was then the seat of a powerful châtellenie covering 23 parishes. Most of the present castle was built in the 13th century. Constructed by Guillaume de Clisson, on a rocky outcrop dominating the Sèvre Nantaise, its form at that time was an irregular polygon flanked by round towers and isolated from the rocky plateau by a shallow
moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...
. In the 14th century, Olivier III de Clisson incorporated the gatehouse into a massive quadrilangular
keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
. The two semicircular towers of the gatehouse collapsed in the 17th century. The castle became the setting for the turbulent lives of
Olivier IV de Clisson Olivier IV de Clisson (1300–1343), was a Breton people, Breton March (territory), Marche Lord and knight who became embroiled in the intrigue of Vannes and was subsequently executed by the King of France for perceived treason. He was the husba ...
and
Olivier V de Clisson Olivier V de Clisson (23 April 1336 – 23 April 1407), nicknamed "The Butcher", was a Breton soldier, the son of Olivier IV de Clisson. His father had been put to death by the French in 1343 on the suspicion of having willingly given up the c ...
, named
Constable of France The Constable of France (french: Connétable de France, from Latin for 'count of the stables') was lieutenant to the King of France, the first of the original five Great Officers of the Crown (along with seneschal, chamberlain, butler, and ...
in succession to
Du Guesclin Bertrand du Guesclin ( br, Beltram Gwesklin; 1320 – 13 July 1380), nicknamed "The Eagle of Brittany" or "The Black Dog of Brocéliande", was a Breton knight and an important military commander on the French side during the Hundred Years' ...
in 1380. The castle is said to be haunted by
Jeanne de Clisson Jeanne de Clisson (1300–1359), also known as Jeanne de Belleville and the Lioness of Brittany, was a French / Breton former noblewoman who became a privateer to avenge her husband after he was executed for treason by the French king. She cros ...
wife of Olivier IV. In the 15th century, the fortifications were modernised to permit the use of artillery. In the second half of the century, the former entrance was modified and the curtain wall was extended and completed by a
barbican A barbican (from fro, barbacane) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer fortifications, defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe ...
. At the same time, the castle was enlarged to the west with a new rectangular enclosure nearly 100 m long, armed with towers with artillery casemates. After 1420, the castle became the property of the
Duke of Brittany This is a list of rulers of the Duchy of Brittany. In different epochs the sovereigns of Brittany were kings, princes, and dukes. The Breton ruler was sometimes elected, sometimes attained the position by conquest or intrigue, or by hereditary r ...
. It was one of the favourite residences of Duke Francis II who was remarried there, to Marguerite de Foix in 1474. He built a second rectangular ''
enceinte Enceinte (from Latin incinctus: girdled, surrounded) is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the position. For ...
'' flanked by artillery towers. Around 1590, the troubled period of the
French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estim ...
necessitated the construction of three terraced bastions on the south. Thus, three lines of
defence in depth Defence in depth (also known as deep defence or elastic defence) is a military strategy that seeks to delay rather than prevent the advance of an attacker, buying time and causing additional casualties by yielding space. Rather than defeating ...
protected the site. Until the 17th century, the castle was the residence of the Avaugour family, descendants of François Ier d'Avaugour, illegitimate son of François II. He modified and transformed the castle to suit the tastes and fashions of the day. During the
War in the Vendée The war in the Vendée (french: link=no, Guerre de Vendée) was a counter-revolution from 1793 to 1796 in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the river Loir ...
, the town and its castle were burned by the
Infernal columns The infernal columns ( French: ''colonnes infernales'') were operations led by the French Revolutionary general Louis Marie Turreau in the War in the Vendée, after the failure of the Royalist Virée de Galerne. Following the passage on 1 Augus ...
of
Jean-Baptiste Kléber Jean-Baptiste Kléber () (9 March 1753 – 14 June 1800) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. After serving for one year in the French Royal Army, he entered Habsburg service seven years later. However, his plebeian ances ...
. In 1807, the estate was bought by the sculptor
François-Frédéric Lemot François-Frédéric Lemot (4 November 1772 — 6 May 1827) was a French sculptor, working in the Neoclassical style. Biography Lemot was born at Lyon. Having briefly studied architecture at the Academy of Besançon, then having made his way to P ...
with the goal of conservation. During the 19th century, the ruined castle attracted Romantic painters and sculptors. The remains of the castle were classed as a ''
monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
'' by a
French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, ...
decree of 13 August 1924. In 1962, the castle was sold by the Lamot family to the ''
Conseil général The departmental councils ( French: ''conseils départementaux''; singular, ''conseil départemental'') of France are representative assemblies elected by universal suffrage in 98 of the country's 101 departments. Prior to the 2015 French depa ...
'' of the
Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...
, who carried out important restoration works with the assistance of the French Ministry of Culture.


Art

The castle was the subject of
Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...
's painting, ''Le château de Clisson'' (1905), displayed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes.


Gallery

File:ChateaudeClisson.JPG File:CastleClissonFrance20100404.jpeg File:DonjonChateauClisson20100404.jpeg


See also

*
List of castles in France This is a list of castles in France, arranged by Region and Department. ;Notes: # The French word ''château'' has a wider meaning than the English ''castle'': it includes architectural entities that are properly called palaces, mansions or vine ...
*
Clisson Clisson (; br, Klison), is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is situated at the confluence of the Sèvre Nantaise and the Moine southeast of Nantes. The town and the celebrat ...
* Église Notre Dame de Clisson *


References


External links

* *
Official website of the town of Clisson


Bibliography

* Leaflet ''Château de Clisson, forteresse médiévale'', by the Conseil Général of Loire-Atlantique {{DEFAULTSORT:Clisson, Chateau de Ruined castles in Pays de la Loire Monuments historiques of Pays de la Loire