Château de Brissac

The Château de Brissac is a French château in the Brissac-Quincé area of the commune of Brissac Loire Aubance, located in the department of Maine-et-Loire, France. The property is owned by the noble Cossé family, whose head bears the French hereditary title of Duke of Brissac. The château is listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

The château was originally built as a castle by the Counts of Anjou in the 11th century. After the victory over the English by King Philip II of France, he gave the property to Guillaume des Roches. In the 15th century, the structure was rebuilt by Pierre de Brézé, a wealthy chief minister to King Charles VII of France. During the reign (1515–47) of King Francis I, the property was acquired by René de Cossé, who was named by the King as governor of Anjou and Maine.

During the French Wars of Religion, the château was made a possession in 1589 by the Protestant leader, Henry of Navarre. Severely damaged, the fortress was scheduled to be demolished. However, Charles II de Cossé sided with Henry of Navarre, who soon was crowned King of France. In gratitude, King Henry gave him the property, the noble title of Duke of Brissac and the money to rebuild the château in 1611.

Its construction made it the tallest château in France, and its façade reflects the influences of the 17th century's Baroque architecture. Through marriage, the Cossé-Brissac family also acquired the Château Montreuil-Bellay but later sold it.

In August 1620, King Louis XIII and his mother, Marie de Medici, met to discuss their differences in the "neutral" territory of the Château de Brissac. A temporary truce between the two was reached. Still, it did not last long, and the Queen Mother was eventually banished.

The descendants of the first Duke of Brissac maintained the château until 1792 when the property was ransacked during the French Revolution. It lay in waste until a restoration program began in 1844 and was carried on by subsequent Dukes of Brissac.

Today, the Château de Brissac is still owned by the Cossé-Brissac family. The property is currently managed by Charles-André de Cossé, 14th Duke of Brissac (b. 1962), who is the elder son of François de Cossé, 13th Duke of Brissac (1929–2021).

The château has seven stories altogether, making it the tallest château in the Loire Valley.

Text adapted from “Château de Brissac” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Château de Brissac ranks #626 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #56 of the 469 mapped in France. Founded c. 1050, it is older than 90% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 317 atlas entries founded in the 11th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 8,452 times in the last 60 days, more than 91% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Angers, 16 km away. It is one of the 58 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Loire Valley. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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