Le Plessis-Macé castle
The castle Le Plessis-Macé is located in the French town of the same name, Le Plessis-Macé, in the Maine-et-Loire department near Angers .
Fortress construction
The early 11th century fortress in Plessis-Macé was used to defend the Anjou. The structure was certainly made of wood and was not much later replaced by a stone castle. It was destroyed in the 14th century and in 1427 the Beaumont family acquired the property, which had been abandoned for a century. From 1450, Louis de Beaumont and his son Thibaut built a new complex on the old foundations, whose dark, 2.20 to 2.50 m thick walls made of slate still form the structure of the castle today.
Louis de Beaumont probably stuck to the old floor plan of the castle: on one side the mansion wing, on the other the outbuildings, the squires' chambers and the guard rooms. The moats were enlarged and provided with a stable artillery wall. The fortress was an important border post and helped the city of Angers from the attacks of the Duke of Brittany against Louis XI. to protect.
Expansion to a country residence
After Louis de Beaumont had been in the field as chamberlain to the kings of France for over 40 years, he retired to Le Plessis-Macé and began to expand the castle. He had the curtain wall repaired, towers raised and fitted with conical roofs, and a stair tower added. Only the tower hill remained of the original donjon at the end of the Hundred Years War . The new donjon was rebuilt in the same place without any connection to the surrounding wall.
The Gothic chapel, which was also newly built and consecrated in 1472, was dedicated to the Archangel Michael , probably as a thank you from Louis de Beaumont to the king who made him one of the first knights of the Order of St. Michael for his services. The openwork paneling of the chapel, which form two galleries, is one of the most beautiful and rarest carvings that have survived in France from this period.
In the course of the expansion, two opposing balconies were added to the farm building and the mansion wing, which, like the door and window frames of the buildings, are made of white tuff. In contrast to the balcony of the adjoining building, the one on the manor house is much more splendid. On the one hand, it offered spectators space, but at the same time took on the function of a gallery through which one could get from one wing of the building to the other.
Opposite the main gate, equipped with a drawbridge, on the other side of the courtyard is the old field gate, the Porte des Champs, surmounted by a tower . Both gates date from the 15th century and had specific functions. Through the field gate one entered an extensive park laid out by Louis de Beaumont, which was adjoined by two leased properties, a pond, high forests and enclosures. The Porte de la Ville led directly into the village and to the Palais Plessis-Macé, where the main court day of the feudal lordship, which consisted of 22 surrounding parishes, was held.
Time of the du Bellays
In the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, the noble du Bellay family was the mistress of Le Plessis-Macé. Its members were in the service of the House of Anjou and the Valois . During this period of splendid occasions, the family was able to receive high-ranking guests such as the French kings Franz I and Henry IV as well as the poet Joachim du Bellay .
An inventory list from 1627 gives an idea of how the premises might have been equipped at that time. There were Aubusson carpets, carpets from Turkey, four-poster beds, and gold and crimson velvet sheets. Sideboards , crockery shelves, lounge corner and library were part of the equipment of all halls. In contrast, the arsenal contained only about twenty bombards , arquebuses and field snakes , and there were still three cannons in the donjon; Le Plessis-Macé was truly no longer a fortress.
literature
- Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos, Robert Polidori : Castles in the Loire Valley . Könemann, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-89508-597-9 , p. 290 .
Web links
Le Plessis-Macé Castle as a 3D model in SketchUp's 3D warehouse
Coordinates: 47 ° 32 ′ 41.1 " N , 0 ° 40 ′ 32.5" W.