CHINON
Chinon has the typical example of a very powerful castle. It is located on the Vienne river and at a few kilometers south of the Loire river. Its size and its scale are impressive.
This is related to the situation of the site, a pretty high headland which dominate the Vienne river, easy to defend, but especially with the historical context of the area between X and XIIIth century.

The first medieval construction goes up with the Count de Blois Thibault le Tricheur who lived at the middle of Xth century.
The castle passed then between the hands of the Counts of Anjou and when Henri II built the Plantagenet Empire (Anjou, Normandie, Aquitaine, England, ...) the Chinon Castle became the central location of it.
In 1429 it is in the Chinon Castle that Joan of Arc met for the first time the king Charles VII and managed to persuade him to send her to help Orleans which was besieged by the English army.

The origin of the Angers Castle goes up in Xth century. It was altered when Anjou was annexed to the Kingdom of France at the beginning of XIIIth century. The Regent Blanche of Castille engaged the construction of 30 towers constituting the enclosure of the city on nearly four kilometers length. Her son, the King of France St Louis, made build the enclosure of the castle and his 17 towers, the whole surrounded by a ditch.
The castle contains the famous Apocalypse Tapestries, drawn by Jean de Bandol and realized by Nicolas Bataille.

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LOCHES
The feudal fortress of Loches is particularly impressive (it has approximately 40m height). It is built on a long rocky outcrop which dominates the Indre river and all the area around. This site was strengthened during the oldest times.  Fulk Nerra, Count d' Anjou, is the main builder of the feudal castle of Loches. That Castle belonged to a whole of strong castles which he had built to protect its fields.
Later in XVth century the King of France Louis XI imprisoned there his enemies or those which had betrayed it (Cardinal Balue, the Duke of Alencon, Philippe de Commynes...). Louis XII made imprison in the fortress Ludovic Sforza, Duke of Milan (it left inscriptions on the walls) which died there on March 18, 1508.

Chauvigny is located 25 km at the east of Poitiers and to 100 km in the south of Tours, for as much the importance and the character of the medieval monuments of this city are so significative as they are cannot be ignored.
You will obtain here more precise details on the Chauvigny Castles.

The village of Angles on Anglin counts only a few hundreds of inhabitants, it is located in Poitou in the Vienne department at 20 kilometers south of La Roche Posay and the same distance north of Saint Savin. It is qualified one of Plus beaux villages de France.
Angles sur l'Anglin has splendid ruins of a medieval castle, the village is moreover very picturesque and releases a completely particular charm. Tourism develops here rather well, helped by the proximity of the thermal spa of La Roche-Posay but also of the towns of Chauvigny and Saint Savin.

The origin of the castle is very old and goes up without any doubt at the Gaulois epoch where an Oppidum allowed to protect the inhabitants of a small city. It then developed gradually at the Gallo-Roman time then during the Middle Ages.
Its current extent is approximately 1,5 ha. On the Northern and Western sides it overhangs the city and the Loir river as photo shows it above. Ditches are rather well preserved, they were dug on the Eastern and Southern sides for facilitate its protection.
The first stone constructions (the Towers on the Eastern side) undoubtedly go up at the end of Xth century, at the time of Bouchard le Vénérable Count of Vendome.

Montbazon is dominated by a feudal castle built at the end of Xth century by Fulk Nerra Count of Anjou. This castle supervised both the Indre Valley and one of the ways of Tours to Poitiers. It was besieged and taken by Eudes II Count of Blois then recovered by the Count of Anjou. There are many undergrounds under the castle.
The King of France Charles VII staid in Montbazon in 1450, it received there on this date the homage of Pierre, the new Duke of Brittany.

Unfortunately significant rains caused the collapse of part of the ramparts at the beginning of year 2001.

The initial construction of this castle was decided by Fulk Nerra Count of Anjou at the beginning of XIth century. It continued with obstinacy its encircling movement of Tours which was then under the supervision of its enemies the Counts of Blois. There remain practically nothing of this first castle. The Counts of Anjou entrusted this strong position of Montrichard to the Lords of Amboise. The present castle was built for Hugues of Amboise at the beginnig of XIIth century.

Loudun is located 30 km South-West of Chinon. This city is on the borders of Touraine, Poitou and Anjou and is dominated by a keep (the Square Tower) built by the Count of Anjou Fulk Nerra just after the year 1000.

A very powerful castle has been built by the King of France Philippe Auguste at the beginning of XIIIth century, it was dismantled by the Cardinal of Richelieu at the beginning of the XVIIth century, only the Tower survived.

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