Clisson is a town in western France, located in the
Loire-Atlantique department, in the Pays de la Loire region. Clisson
was part of the Duchy of Gétigné, and was the keystone of the
defense of the Marches de Bretagne facing Poitou and Anjou with its
castle. The city is also known as Clisson the Italian because of its
Italianate style architecture inspired by the Tuscan model.
Clisson is located between Nantes, Cholet and La Roche-sur-Yon, on
the border between Maine-et-Loire and Vendée. The municipality had
7,187 inhabitants in 2017. It is at the center of an urban unit (or
agglomeration) also comprising three neighboring municipalities and
totaling 18,138 inhabitants in 2014.
Clisson castle
The Château de Clisson is a medieval castle
located in the town of Clisson (France), on a granite promontory
overlooking the left bank of the Sèvre in Nantes.
Built by
the powerful lords of Clisson from the eleventh century to the
fifteenth century, this fortified castle became a strategic and
defensive point of the Marches de Bretagne, protecting the border of
the Duchy of Brittany. The castle was then only a polygonal
enclosure decorated with defensive towers. After the fall of the
Lords of Clisson, the castle became the property of the Dukes of
Brittany and then of their descendants. Duke François II of Brittany
transformed the castle into a real fortress with the addition of a
second wall with numerous defensive towers covering the western
part, which is more exposed.
Deserted by its lords in the
middle of the 18th century, the castle was burnt down by republican
troops during the Vendée war. For a long time in ruins, it was
restored from 1974 to 1975, from 1986 to 1989 and from 1991 to 1993.
It has been classified as a historical monument since August 13,
1924. The fortifications and plots are subject to a registration as
historical monuments since August 30, 2004.
At the time of independent Brittany,
the castle located at the crossroads of the Marches de Bretagne,
Anjou and Poitou, is one of the great border strongholds of the
Duchy of Brittany. The site thus faces the French bastions of
Tiffauges and Montaigu.
The first lords of Clisson occupied
the site from the beginning of the eleventh century; they are
mentioned with certainty for the first time in 1061. The castle, at
its origin between 1058 and 1060 simple castrum, would have been
made up of wooden fences, or clis, which would be at the origin of
the name Clisson. Subsequently and until the beginning of the 13th
century, the site seems to have been defended by a "Roman fortress,
a massive keep supported by buttresses and surrounded by an
enclosure".
The oldest parts of the present castle date from
the beginning of the 13th century (before 1217). Guillaume de
Clisson (around 1175 - before 1225) then wanted to optimize the
defense of the building and therefore chose to establish its bases
on a rocky outcrop of granite overlooking the Sèvre. This primitive
enclosure appears at that time in the form of two irregular polygons
flanked by cylindrical towers and isolated from the rocky plateau by
a shallow ditch. A barbican defending the entrance to the castle is
added to the north, at the end of a curtain.
The castle was
undoubtedly demolished in the 1240s, by order of Duke Jean le Roux
(1237-1286), as part of a conflict between Olivier II de Clisson,
Guillaume's grandson, and his two half-brothers .
In the
fourteenth century, Olivier III de Clisson incorporated a châtelet
serving as access to the courtyard. This châtelet was subsequently
modified into a large quadrangular keep. The castle becomes the
setting for the eventful lives of Olivier IV de Clisson then Olivier
V de Clisson. Olivier IV, first of all, presumed guilty of
conspiring with the English, was beheaded at the Halles de Paris on
August 2, 1343, by order of the King of France Philippe VI of
Valois. His wife, Jeanne de Belleville, took refuge in England with
her son, Olivier V, who found his possessions after his alliance
with the French. But this rich lord, who became constable in 1380,
does not live very much in Clisson, whose castle, in which he was
born, may have been entrusted to a lord.
After 1420,
Marguerite de Clisson, daughter of Olivier V and Countess of
Penthièvre, accused of treason against the Duke of Brittany Jean V,
was dispossessed of her property: the castle became the property of
the Duke of Brittany and the prerogative of Richard d'Étampes, the
September 29, 1420. The Penthièvre fled, but all the same quartered
a garrison in the city. To finally dispose of his property, Richard
must besiege the castle and the city. The city's surrender was not
long in coming, shortly before October 5, 1420.
Extension of the fortress by François II
The
castle then became one of the favorite residences of Duke François
II of Brittany, son of Richard d'Étampes, who remarried there to
Marguerite de Foix in 1471. The Duke celebrated sumptuous festivals
there and organized hunts there. His main concern, and that of his
heirs, is to ensure the protection of the southern part of the
fortress to protect the southern access to Nantes. The castle was
enlarged to the west by a new rectangular enclosure nearly one
hundred meters long, armed with towers with casemates for the
artillery. François II appoints Guion le Heuc to carry out the work.
The work began in 1464, and was completed in 1488. The old
entrance was modified and the curtain was extended and completed by
a barbican. Two round towers are built at the western end of the
extension. In the southern pit, a rampart, known as "false braie",
is fitted out to facilitate the exit of the defenders. Orillon
bastions were built to complete the defense of the southern part;
thus, three lines of defense staggered in depth protect the
fortress.
Until the
seventeenth century, the castle was the residence of the family of
Avaugour, descended from François Ier d'Avaugour, illegitimate son
of François II of Brittany. It is then modified and transformed to
the taste of the time. We can note the use of tufa for the buildings
added during this period.
The second half of the sixteenth
century was troubled by the wars of the League. Brittany is
Catholic, while Poitou is held by Protestants, especially in
Montaigu. The Château de Clisson once again becomes a key
stronghold. The Duke of Mercœur, a supporter of the League, had
troops installed there in 1587, and in 1588 Charles d'Avaugour, Lord
of Clisson since 1586, had powder lent to defend his castle, which
had become a priority target for the Calvinists. Henri de Navarre,
future Henri IV, at the head of the Huguenots of Montaigu, threatens
to attack Clisson in September 1588, but he gives up, fearing a long
siege of the fortress.
Charles d'Avaugour sided with King
Henry III in 1589, and remained loyal to the French monarchy when
Henry IV ascended the throne. The fortress of Clisson therefore
becomes a point of support against the Duke of Mercœur. D'Avaugour
even led raids around Nantes against the Leaguers, and was taken
prisoner during one of these excursions. After the victory of Henri
IV, sums were taken in 1596 from the property of the Nantes leaguers
to allow work on the fortifications of Clisson, given the strategic
importance of the site.
The châtelet collapsed in the middle
of the 17th century. On September 2, 1746, Henri François d'Avaugour
died without descendants. The possessions and titles of the Avaugour
passed to Charles de Rohan who lost interest in the castle and
ordered the sale of the furniture, carried out on November 18, 1748
and the following days, which resulted in the disappearance of many
items of great historical value, in particular parchments. The
fortress was then abandoned by its owners, and various families
occupied the apartments until 1793.
During the Vendée war,
the army of Mainz established its headquarters there. Following
their defeat at the Battle of Torfou, Canclaux and his Republican
troops made a stop in Clisson. In 1793, they burned down the castle
and the city before leaving. On February 8, 1794, during the
murderous raids of the infernal columns, around thirty people hidden
in the ruins of the castle were slaughtered or thrown alive into a
well, or shot on the south esplanade.