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A little history of Brézé castle

The castle | ManuD / CC-BY-SA
Castle of the Loire Valley Castle Louis de Brézé Brézé castle

An ″accommodation″

Castle of Brézé is pretty famous for its troglodyte caves… but do you know the story of this castle from Anjou, a nice château de la Loire? In the 11th century, a chart mentioned Brézé as an ″accommodation″, a kind of stronghold with troglodytes caves in the rock.

The Brézé family was pretty famous: in 1101, one of them, with 3 other lords, gave one of his lands in order to raise future Fontevraud abbey (Maine-et-Loire)! In the 14th century, the Maillé became lords of Brézé: we already met them in their castle of Luynes, an other château de la Loire!

In 1448, Gilles de Maillé, king René’s chamberlain, re-raised his castle destroyed by the English during the Hundred Years War. And in 1682, brand new owners turned up! Thomas de Dreux settled and became marquis de Brézé. His descendants, the Dreux-Brézé, entirely restored their estate, especially in 1850 with the coming of architect René Hodé, who altered the current Neo-Gothic buildings.

Did you know this Brézé?

Hey… we know the most famous Brézé member: Louis, great seneschal of Normandy… Diane de Poitiers’ husband! We also know his gorgeous grave in cathedral of Rouen... He had famous relatives. His father was Jacques de Brézé, his mother Charlotte de Savoie, daughter of Agnès Sorel and king Charles VII! Whoa, upper crust… We know how the poor Charlotte died, killed by her husband in castle of Brissac... Aaah, it’s a small world!

About the the author

Vinaigrette
I'm fond of strolls and History, with juicy and spicy details!