Chateau de Langeais

Langeais was rebuilt from 1465 by Louis XI and stopped there, so unlike the Loire chateaux that kept being modernised it stayed a late medieval building; the drawbridge still works and is raised and lowered for visitors. Charles VIII married Anne of Brittany here in 1491, the marriage that began Brittany's union with France, and the ceremony is staged in one room with wax figures in reconstructed costume. Jacques Siegfried, who bought it in 1886, furnished the rooms with fifteenth-century pieces and tapestries and gave the whole thing to the Institut de France. In the park stand the ruins of a stone keep built around 994, among the oldest in France.

History

Fulk Nerra, Count of Anjou, founded Langeais in 992 as a wooden motte and bailey, 24 km from Tours, which was held by his rival Odo I, Count of Blois; when Odo's first attack failed, Fulk built the stone keep whose ruins still stand, complete by 994 and one of the earliest datable stone keeps, its thin walls suggesting haste. Odo besieged it again in 994 with Norman, Flemish and Aquitanian allies until the king's army arrived, and once more in 995-996, until he fell ill and died in March 996; the castle changed hands during the long rivalry of Anjou and Blois, and Fulk took it back in 1038. Destroyed in the Hundred Years' War, it was rebuilt by Louis XI into one of the best-known examples of late medieval architecture, noted for its great carved chimneypieces, and after restoration in the late 19th century it passed to the Institut de France (Wikipedia, Château de Langeais).

What's there

• The working drawbridge - raised and lowered at the gate.
• The medieval interiors - rooms furnished with fifteenth-century pieces and tapestries.
• The royal wedding tableau - the 1491 marriage staged with figures.
• The tenth-century keep - ruins of one of France's oldest stone towers in the park.

When to go

April to October; the castle opens year-round with shorter winter hours. A treehouse walk in the park suits families. The town is small and quiet.

Practical notes

The wax figure tableau divides opinion and feels dated to some. The keep in the park is a fragment. The castle is compact and seen in an hour or so.

Nearby

Villandry lies east; Usse is southwest.

Key facts