Château de Montsoreau

Timeline

1. 990

   First fortress

   Eudes, first count of Blois, raises a fortress close to the Loire at a site already occupied since Gallo-Roman times, on what was then called the domain of Restis.

2. 1001

   Anjou takes the castle

   Foulques Nerra of Anjou seizes the fortress and grants it to Gautier I of Montsoreau, founder of one of the great Angevin lineages. The site becomes Castrum Monsorelli.

3. 1101

   Fontevraud Abbey founded

   Gautier de Montsoreau supervises the foundation of nearby Fontevraud Abbey on direct orders of the count of Anjou. His stepmother Hersende de Champagne serves as first abbess and co-founder.

4. 1152

   Siege by Henry II

   The future King Henry II of England, husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine, besieges and captures the castrum at the end of August, taking Guillaume IV of Montsoreau prisoner.

5. 1213

   Passes to Montbazon line

   On the marriage of Gautier's grand-daughter Ferrie to Pierre II Savary de Montbazon, the lordship of Montsoreau passes to the Montbazon family.

6. 1450-1460

   Present chateau built

   Jean de Chambes, chamberlain to Charles VII and Louis XI, demolishes the older fortress and erects the present Flamboyant Gothic chateau directly in the bed of the Loire — a siting unique among Loire chateaux.

7. late 16th c.

   La Dame de Monsoreau affair

   Under Henri III, Charles de Chambes kills Bussy d'Amboise, lover of his wife Françoise. The court scandal will later supply Dumas with his plot.

8. 1845-1846

   Dumas's novel

   Alexandre Dumas publishes La Dame de Monsoreau, the second volume of his Renaissance trilogy between La Reine Margot and The Forty-Five Guardsmen, fixing the chateau in French literary memory.

9. 1862-1938

   Monument historique listings

   Sections of the chateau are classed as monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture in three successive listings: 1862, 1930, and 1938.

10. 30 Nov 2000

    World Heritage inscription

    UNESCO inscribes the Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes as a World Heritage cultural site. Montsoreau is one of its constituent properties.

11. 2015

    Méaille's 25-year lease

    Contemporary art collector Philippe Méaille signs a 25-year emphyteutic lease with the Maine-et-Loire department, paving the way for the chateau's reopening as a museum.

12. 2016

    Museum of Contemporary Art opens

    The Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art opens, with the world's largest permanent collection of works by the conceptual art collective Art & Language.

Detailed History

The site of Montsoreau has been occupied since Gallo-Roman times, and the first written source — naming the domain Restis — dates from the 6th century. The story of the chateau itself begins in 990, when Eudes, first count of Blois, raised a fortress on a low rise close to the Loire. In 1001 the stronghold was seized by Foulques Nerra of Anjou, who entrusted it to Gautier I of Montsoreau, founder of one of Anjou's most pre-eminent families. The Castrum Monsorelli became one of the forty fortified castles of Anjou and one of the few to be raised to a lordship around the year 1000. In 1101 Gautier de Montsoreau supervised the foundation of nearby Fontevraud Abbey on direct orders of the Count of Anjou; his stepmother, Hersende de Champagne, served as its first abbess and co-founder with Robert d'Arbrissel. In 1152 the future King Henry II of England, husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine, besieged and took the castrum at the end of August, capturing Guillaume IV of Montsoreau, who was later restored to the lordship. In 1213 the lordship passed by marriage of Gautier's grand-daughter Ferrie to Pierre II Savary de Montbazon. The chateau standing today was built between 1450 and 1460 by Jean de Chambes, senior councillor and chamberlain to Charles VII and Louis XI. He demolished the older fortress and erected a Flamboyant Gothic chateau directly in the riverbed, an unprecedented siting for a Loire residence. In the late 16th century, under Henri III, the court scandal in which Charles de Chambes killed Bussy d'Amboise, lover of his wife Françoise, fixed the chateau's name in popular memory. Sections of the chateau were classed as monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture in 1862, 1930, and 1938. On 30 November 2000 UNESCO inscribed the Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes as a World Heritage site, and Montsoreau became one of its constituent properties. In 2015 the French contemporary art collector Philippe Méaille signed a 25-year emphyteutic lease with the Maine-et-Loire department, and in 2016 the Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art opened, housing the world's largest permanent collection of works by the conceptual collective Art & Language.

Cultural Significance

Montsoreau carries cultural weight on three distinct axes. First, it is a French monument historique, sections of it inscribed in 1862, 1930, and 1938 — among the earliest Loire chateaux placed under national heritage protection. Second, it forms one of the constituent properties of the UNESCO World Heritage site Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes, listed in 2000, which celebrates the architectural ambitions of French kings and feudal lords from the high Middle Ages through the early modern period. Third, the chateau owes much of its modern fame to Alexandre Dumas, whose 1845-1846 novel La Dame de Monsoreau — the second volume of his Renaissance trilogy, after La Reine Margot and before The Forty-Five Guardsmen — fictionalised the late-16th-century murder of Bussy d'Amboise on the site and ensured the name Monsoreau entered French literary memory. The toponym itself first appears on a Latin map of 1086 as Castrum Monte Sorello or Mons Sorello. "Mons" or "Monte" refers to a rocky promontory; the meaning of "Sorello" remains disputed, possibly "bald" or "red", though no certainty has been reached. Since 2016 the chateau has also been a major node of the international contemporary-art circuit, hosting the largest permanent collection of works by the conceptual collective Art & Language.

Architectural Details

Montsoreau is distinguished by two features: its singular siting directly in the riverbed of the Loire, and the Flamboyant Gothic envelope of its 1450-1460 main building. The principal wing is a rectangular three-storey block flanked by square and polygonal towers, including a polygonal stair tower set in the inner courtyard. That spiral staircase, with its openwork ajourage carving, sits at the threshold between late Flamboyant Gothic ornament and the proportions and motifs that the French Renaissance would soon make canonical at Chambord and Chenonceau. The walls are built of tuffeau, the chalky white limestone of the Loire, which gives the chateau its luminous pale facade and its reflection in the river. Restoration work at the end of the 20th century recovered, from the floor of the moat, a fluted stone column from a Gallo-Roman temple or public building, confirming the deep antiquity of the site; portions of the late-10th-century castle of Eudes of Blois were also identified by archaeologists at that time. Inside the main wing the historic stone shell has been retained, but the interiors have been adapted for contemporary art display since the 2016 reopening as the Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art.