A little history of Pontivy castle
And also
The tops
This bold castle, with its squat silhouette, seems pretty unusual here, in middle of the narrow streets!
But we are here in the fief of the powerful and famous Breton family, the Rohan. Their device was Roi ne puis, prince ne daigne, Rohan suis. ("I can't be a king, I don't want to be a prince, I'm a Rohan that's all")
Whoa, pretty eloquent, don't you think?
A first castle was raised here in 1150, burnt by English troops in 1342. Jean de Rohan rebuilt it, in 1480, then between 1493 and 1503. With its 4 granite towers, the fortress already looked like our current castle!
During wars of Religion, the Rohan converted to Protestantism. Catholics troops led by duke de Mercoeur seized the castle... In 1603, the Rohan came back in Pontivy...
But the last member of the family was Jean III de Rohan: he lived here just before the Revolution... Seized in 1793, damaged, sold many times, the city of Pontivy bought the castle in 1952.