The Château de Clisson is a
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
in the ''
commune'' of
Clisson ''For other uses, see Clisson (disambiguation)''
Clisson (; Gallo: ''Cliczon'', ), is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department, in the region of Pays de la Loire, western France.
It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Sèvre Nan ...
in the
Loire-Atlantique
Loire-Atlantique (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Louére-Atantique''; ; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', ) is a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. ...
''
département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...
'' of
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
It stands on the right bank of the
Sèvre Nantaise.
History
Within then independent
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
, the castle, situated at a crossroads for
Anjou 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 ...
, was one of the great fortified places on the frontiers of the
Duchy of Brittany
The Duchy of Brittany (, ; ) was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of France, bordered by the Bay of Biscay to the west, and the English Channel to the north. ...
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 dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...
. In the 14th century, Olivier III de Clisson incorporated the gatehouse into a massive quadrilangular
keep
A keep 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 castles that were fortified residen ...
. 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 (c. 1300–1343), was a Breton 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 husband of Jeanne de Clisson who ev ...
and
Olivier V de Clisson, named
Constable of France
The Constable of 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 chancellor) and the commander-in ...
in succession to
Du Guesclin 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 people, Breton noblewoman who became a privateer to avenge her husband after he was executed for treason by King Philip VI of Fr ...
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 ) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes.
Europe
Medieval Europeans typically b ...
. 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 Brittany. In different epochs the rulers of Brittany were kings, princes, and dukes. The Breton ruler was sometimes elected, sometimes attained the position by conquest or intrigue, or by hereditary right. Hereditary ...
. 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'' flanked by artillery towers. Around 1590, the troubled period of the
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...
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 a ...
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 () was a counter-revolutionary insurrection that took place in the Vendée region of French First Republic, France from 1793 to 1796, during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately so ...
, the town and its castle were burned by the
Infernal columns of
Jean-Baptiste Kléber. In 1807, the estate was bought by the sculptor
François-Frédéric Lemot 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
() 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 collection of buildings, ...
'' by a
French Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...
decree of 13 August 1924.
[ In 1962, the castle was sold by the Lamot family to the '']Conseil général
The departmental councils ( ; 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 departmental elections they were known ...
'' of the Loire-Atlantique
Loire-Atlantique (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Louére-Atantique''; ; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', ) is a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. ...
, 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
The Fine Arts Museum of Nantes (French: Musée d'Arts de Nantes), along with 14 other provincial museums, was created, by consular decree on 14 Fructidor in year IX (31 August 1801). Today the museum is one of the largest museums in the region.
...
. The Fauve artist André Derain
André Derain (, ; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse.
In 2025, all of Derain’s work entered the public domain in the United States.
Life and career
Early ...
also depicted the castle, in a drawing sold at auction in 2023.
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 Regions of France, region and Departments of France, department.
;Notes:
# The French word ''château'' has a wider meaning than the English ''castle'': it includes architectural entities that are p ...
*Clisson ''For other uses, see Clisson (disambiguation)''
Clisson (; Gallo: ''Cliczon'', ), is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department, in the region of Pays de la Loire, western France.
It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Sèvre Nan ...
* 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 Loire-Atlantique