A little history of Fougères-sur-Bièvre castle
And also
The tops
A Danish and his swan
Who raised the primitive castle of Fougères? A Danish! A lord mentioned since the 11th century… he was named Frangal. He was very powerful, very naughty too: a bold warrior!
He settled in Touraine and married Chana (″swan″), daughter of the famous Gelduin, lord of Chaumont-sur-Loire and Saumur, father of Geoffroy Puella, nicknamed the ″Young Girl″…
From this primitive castle of Fougères, destroyed in 1356 during the Hundred Years War, nothing remains...
A shelter for Refuge
The new owner soon turned up: Pierre Refuge. He was Louis XI’s treasurer and he was allowed by the king to ″transform the castle of Fougères into a stronghold.″
But in 1497, Refuge died. His grand son Jean de Villebresmes, duke d’Alençon’s chamberlain, completed the construction. He added the little Renaissance touch!
You know what? The lower gallery was inspired by castle of Blois’ gallery! This one was raised in the beginning of the 16th century, 10 years before Fougères’ one...
Cotton!
In the 17th century, the family de Refuge sold the castle, which fell to several owners. In 1789, the industrialist René Lambot owned it, but he seldom came…
They even transformed Fougères into a cotton factory! So the gorgeous Renaissance decoration were destroyed, inside…
After the factory’s closing in the end of the 19th century, the castle was very deteriorate when the French State owned it in 1932.