Tags:   Schloss Wolfegg Wolfegg Castle Wolfegg Baden-Württemberg Germany.

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Creminil means 'manor of chalk'. The present castle was built in the 15th century on the ruins of a bastide destroyed by the English after the Battle of Crécy in 1346. It was badly damaged by fire in 1543 and restored/rebuilt in the 1600s. This typical late medieval residence consists of a twelve-sided irregular polygon, built on a rounded mound surrounded by large ditches fed by water from the River Laquette. The walls are high in chalk cut on older basements of flint and sandstone-paired checkerboard. The buildings are reinforced at the corners by towers, corbelled turrets and buttresses with watchtowers. The drawbridge and its old door, still with its old knocker (a door hammer mounted on a hinge), serve an inner courtyard lined with residential buildings and gardens which were remodeled in the 18th century. In this respect, Castle Creminil is a charming example of architecture designed for the approval of a lord.

The first known lord was Nicolas de Crasmainil in 1210. Then came Raoul Cros Maisnil in 1329. He was a vassal of the famous Countess Mahaut d'Artois. When Raoul died, the fiefdom returned to Mahaut. An archival piece dated 1443 mentions the delivery by the locksmith, Jean de Bailleul, to Jean Le May, vice-mayor of Saint-Omer, of several thousand nails "which were converted and used in the house belonging to the Le May Family". The supply of such a large amount of nails can only be explained by extensive carpentry or carpentry work, most likely marking the completion of the construction of the castle, which had to be largely restored after the ravages of troops in the sixteenth. After the Le May Family, mentioned again in 1461, came Hugues de Buleux in 1540. He was counselor of the regent of the Netherlands and Grand bailiff of Aire. In 1670, Antoine de Wignacourt took ownership, and from 1687 until the French Revolution, the castle was occupied by Le Merchier Family. After the Revolution, the castle belonged to Madame Lhéritier, whose family owned it until 1978.

Tags:   Château de Créminil Estrée-Blanche Pas-de-Calais France

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Creminil means 'manor of chalk'. The present castle was built in the 15th century on the ruins of a bastide destroyed by the English after the Battle of Crécy in 1346. It was badly damaged by fire in 1543 and restored/rebuilt in the 1600s. This typical late medieval residence consists of a twelve-sided irregular polygon, built on a rounded mound surrounded by large ditches fed by water from the River Laquette. The walls are high in chalk cut on older basements of flint and sandstone-paired checkerboard. The buildings are reinforced at the corners by towers, corbelled turrets and buttresses with watchtowers. The drawbridge and its old door, still with its old knocker (a door hammer mounted on a hinge), serve an inner courtyard lined with residential buildings and gardens which were remodeled in the 18th century. In this respect, Castle Creminil is a charming example of architecture designed for the approval of a lord.

The first known lord was Nicolas de Crasmainil in 1210. Then came Raoul Cros Maisnil in 1329. He was a vassal of the famous Countess Mahaut d'Artois. When Raoul died, the fiefdom returned to Mahaut. An archival piece dated 1443 mentions the delivery by the locksmith, Jean de Bailleul, to Jean Le May, vice-mayor of Saint-Omer, of several thousand nails "which were converted and used in the house belonging to the Le May Family". The supply of such a large amount of nails can only be explained by extensive carpentry or carpentry work, most likely marking the completion of the construction of the castle, which had to be largely restored after the ravages of troops in the sixteenth. After the Le May Family, mentioned again in 1461, came Hugues de Buleux in 1540. He was counselor of the regent of the Netherlands and Grand bailiff of Aire. In 1670, Antoine de Wignacourt took ownership, and from 1687 until the French Revolution, the castle was occupied by Le Merchier Family. After the Revolution, the castle belonged to Madame Lhéritier, whose family owned it until 1978.

Tags:   Château de Créminil Estrée-Blanche Pas-de-Calais France

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The Château d'Amboise is located on a spur above the river Loire. The strategic qualities of the site were recognised before the medieval construction of the castle, and a Gallic oppidum was built there. In the late 9th century, Ingelgarius was made viscount of Orléans, and through his mother, was related to Hugh the Abbot, tutor to the French kings. Ingelgarius married Adelais, a member of a prominent family who controlled Château d'Amboise. He was later made Count of the Angevins and his rise can be attributed to his political connections and reputation as a soldier.

Château d'Amboise would pass through Ingelgarius and Adelais' heirs, and he was succeeded by their son, Fulk the Red. As Fulk the Red expanded his territory, Amboise, Loches, and Villentrois formed the core of his possessions. Amboise lay on the eastern frontier of the Angevins holdings.

Amboise and its castle descended through the family to Fulke Nerra in 987. Fulk had to contend with the ambitions of Odo I, Count of Blois who wanted to expand his own territory into Anjou. Odo I could call on the support of many followers and instructed Conan, Count of Rennes, Gelduin of Saumur, and Abbot Robert of Saint-Florent de Saumur to harass Fulk's properties. While Conan was busy on Anjou's western border, Gelduin and Robert attempted to isolate the easternmost castles of Amboise and Loches by raiding the Saumurois and disrupting communications. To further threaten Amboise, fortifications were erected at Chaumont and Montsoreau, while Saint-Aignan was garrisoned.

There is actually a 12th-century Book of the Construction of the Castle of Amboise and the Deeds of Its Lords.

Since 1840, the Château d'Amboise has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. Today, the present comte de Paris, descendant of Louis-Philippe, repairs and maintains the château through the Fondation Saint-Louis.

Adapted from Wikipedia

PS: I took the panorama 10 mins ago. It's comprised of 3 separate images.

PPS: To the right of the castle, covered in scaffolding, is the Chapel of Saint-Hubert, the reputed burial place of Leonardo da Vinci (although there's no evidence to support this claim). Leonardo definitely lived in Amboise for the final three years of his life and was buried there at his own request, but his bones were lost during the turbulence of the French Revolution, and until DNA tests prove otherwise, no one knows where his remains are.

Tags:   Château Royal d'Amboise Amboise France Loire Centre-Val de Loire Indre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire region Loire River Loire Valley

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The Château de Lagarde is a ruined castle situated near the village of Lagarde, southeast of Mirepoix in the French département of Ariège.

Following the Albigensian Crusade, the castle was handed to the Lévis-Mirepoix family. It was fortified but, over time, it was modified to provide a more comfortable residence.

The first documented mention of Lagarde is from the 10th century. The first castle was a square tower with, in the corner, a circular covering tower, built in the 11th century. In the 12th century, four square towers were added as well as a rectangular gatehouse, the whole castle being linked by walls with arrowslits and crenellations. In the 14th century, the structure underwent important alterations. Buildings were erected behind each façade, the roofs were raised, a drawbridge was built and the entry gate and building openings were modified. In the 16th century, a large hanging spiral staircase was built (1526) with a flamboyant Gothic vault. Also in this period, the castle was doubled in size with the addition of walls and vaults, a new moat was created with four circular bastions in the corners and the drawbridge entrance was also bastioned. 17th century modifications included the addition of monumental statues on the bastions and the staircase tower, the creation of an esplanade surrounded by fortifications in the south east, the replacement of the drawbridge by a stone bridge with a monumental gateway, and an access ramp leading from the village.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Tags:   Château de Lagarde near Mirepoix France

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