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Château de Montbron (Charente)

France · 9th century

Founded
852
Heritage status
monument historique inscrit · classified historical monument
Location
Montbron
Coordinates
45.6679°, 0.4971°
Open on the map →Wikipedia ↗
Château de Montbron (Charente) in France
Photo: Père Igor · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Château de Montbron, known locally as the Vieux Château (old château) is the remains of a castle in the commune of Montbron in the Charente département of France.

The ancient castle of Montbron (the name is derived "Mons Berulphi"), is known from before the 12th century.

The castle was mentioned in a diploma of Charles the Bald in 852.

In the 15th century, it was razed, with its simple rectangular keep, as a sign of infamy, by order of King Charles VII. Marguerite de Rohan, Countess of Angoulême (wife of John, Count of Angoulême), rebuilt the castle, of which parts still remain including the Romanesque-style keep.

Jacquette de Montberon, last representative of the elder branch of the Montberon family, married André de Bourdeille in 1558 and brought him the lordship, which then passed to Louise de Savoie (Countess of Angoulême and mother of François I).

In 1624, the heirs of Henri de Luxembourg had to sell the Montbron title to the Loménie family, who kept Montbron as well as the county of Brienne until the end of the 17th century.

In 1699, Étienne Chérade acquired the title. His grandson, Adrien-Alexandre-Étienne Chérade de Montbron, obtained by letters patent in December 1766 the title of Montbron, but he was dispossessed during the French Revolution.

All that remains is the polygonal turret. Drawings show a single pitched roof building. The dungeon was pierced with rectangular windows in the 17th century.

The two painted chimneys dating from the 17th century and situated on the first floor were classified as monuments historiguqes by the French Ministry of Culture in 1985.

Text adapted from “Château de Montbron (Charente)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Château de Montbron (Charente) ranks #7,245 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #670 of the 787 mapped in France. Founded 852, it is older than 94% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 85 atlas entries founded in the 9th century. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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