A little history of Chalais castle
And also
The tops
Chalais fief used to belong to archbishops of Bordeaux: in the Middle-Ages, the castle was a principality.
Agnès de Chalais, who inherited the seigneury in the 13th century, married Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord, lord of Grignols; she brought the castle as a dowry.
During the Hundred Years War, the English seized control of the area, Chalais included.
King of France Charles VII besieged our fortress in 1542 with the help of Jacques de Chabannes, one of his lieutenant. The two men and their troops managed to take again the stronghold in only four days!
François de Talleyrand re-raised Chalais in the 16th century. One of those Talleyrand, Henri, was involved in a conspiracy: the man was king Louis XIII's favourite and he found himself implicated in a plot aimed at Richelieu. It was a lese-majesty crime, and Henri was executed...
Finally, let me introduce the famous Talleyrand, emperor Napoleon's most faithful councillor!
He spent his childhood in castle of Chalais at the end of the 18th century, with his great-grand-mother.
Then the castle was transformed into a hospital when Talleyrand's last member died and it was owned by French impersonator Yves Lecoq in 2011.