A little history of Crozant castle

Since the Gallo-Roman era, Crozant was a very strategical place. The first fortifications were raised by Visigoths. Charlemagne then came in Crozant: it was one of his favourite residence in winter! Then the fief fell to lords of Crozant in the 11th century then in the 13th century to Lusignan family.

In 1301, Hugues XII gave the land to king Philip the Fair, who raised it to a county. The king gave it to duke of Bourbon, Louis I. But Crozant was seized by king Louis XIII because the duke betrayed the Crown... Henri Foucault, lord of Saint-Germain-Beaupré, owned it. Crozant was abandoned little by little...

The castle used to be 450 metres long and 80 metres large!

We still can see the big square keep (12th century), where lords lived; Isabelle of Angoulême’s tower raised between 1217 and 1245; Renaud’s tower and Colin’s tower (13th century). All those towers are linked by a double wall. Men could draw water from a well, in case of siege. And they needed lot of water! Because the castle could house a 10 000 men garrison...