A little history of Lusignan castle
And also
The tops
Lusignan kept the memory of the famous fairy Mélusine, the presumed ancestor of this mighty family, the Lusignan lords...
In the heart of this quiet city, let’s go to the Blossac walk.
We are here on the foundations of the old medieval castle (the legend said Mélusine raised it)! Nowadays, few vestiges of this big, big fortress are still standing. Such an impressive and beautiful castle!
French writer Brantôme said Charles Quint, who visited France, stopped in Lusignan “in order to hunt deers, in one of the oldest and most beautiful park in France, such a nice and amazing place...”
The castle was probably raised by Mélusine, but... in fact, it was Hughes II de Lusignan who did it!
In short... what happened to our castle? Well, it was destroyed by king Henri III in 1586, and completely razed by count de Blossac in the 18th century: a walk lined with trees was later laid out.
Now, come on: do you see the tourist office, on the place du Bail? Well, this building is one of the castle’s vestige: this part was fortified by Vauban (famous Louis XIV’s military architect).
And yet, in the Middle-Ages, the fortress seemed impregnable! Sieges succeeded one another and enemies came a cropper!
Solid bastions, strong towers and deep moats were pretty intimidating! During wars of Religion, admiral de Coligny besieged it in 1569, then Catholics and Protestants in 1574.
Finally... duke de Montpensier took the place one year later and demolished it.