Château de Tancarville is an 11th-century

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 ...

on a cliff overlooking the

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/ Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributa ...

in France. It is located near

Tancarville Tancarville () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Geography Tancarville is a farming village surrounded by woodland, by the banks of the river Seine in the Pays de Caux, some east of Le H ...

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inféri ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. It has been classified 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 col ...

'' since 1862 by the

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 (visua ...

History

Raoul, chamberlain of the Duke of Normandy, first had walls and the old tower built. In the 12th century the square tower with walls 1.65 metres thick was built. In 1316, Jeanne de Tancarville, sole heiress, married Jean II de Melun and their son became the second earl of Tancarville. In 1417, the Countess Marguerite married Jacques d'Harcourt . In 1418 at the time of the conquest of Normandy by Henry V of England, the title of Count of Tancarville was given to John Grey, while in the kingdom of France it was used by the

House of Harcourt The House of Harcourt is a Duchy of Normandy, Norman family, and named after its Fief, seigneurie of Harcourt, Eure, Harcourt in Normandy. Its mottos were "Gesta verbis praeveniant" (Olonde branch), "Gesta verbis praevenient" (Beuvron branch), ...

who recovered the castle after the departure of the English. In 1709, a wing in classical style was added to the medieval parts of the building by the Count of Evreux. After the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

in 1789, the castle was looted and partly burned down. For 29 years, from 1910 to 1939, the castle was rented by Mr. Fernand Prat and his wife born Jehanne Leblanc (sister of Maurice Leblanc) who received many personalities of the arts and letters such as

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

and his companion Georgette Leblanc,

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...

, Margaret Caroline Anderson,

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

, Bertrand de Jouvenel, Pierre Lecomte Nouy and Louis Fabulet. In the 1960s, the castle served as a summer camp for children in the area. The title of

Earl of Tankerville Earl of Tankerville is a noble title drawn from Tancarville in Normandy. The title has been created three times: twice in the Peerage of England, and once (in 1714) in the Peerage of Great Britain for Charles Bennet, 2nd Baron Ossulston. His ...

is still extant in the Peerage of Great Britain. The castle now belongs to Saqqara, a real estate company in Figeac (Lot), which has been offering luxury apartments since 2001. While waiting to be renovated, it remains closed to the public.

Notes

External links

*
History of the chateau with images and updates on current restoration
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tancarville, Chateau De Castles in Seine-Maritime 11th-century establishments in France Ruined castles in Normandy Monuments historiques of Orne

History

See also

Notes

External links