Château de Suscinio
Encyclopedia
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, to be the residence of the Dukes of Brittany
Duke of Brittany
The Duchy of Brittany was a medieval tribal and feudal state covering the northwestern peninsula of Europe,bordered by the Alantic Ocean on the west and the English Channel to the north with less definitive borders of the Loire River to the south and Normandy to the east...
. It is located near the town of Sarzeau
Sarzeau
Sarzeau is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France.It is located on the Rhuys peninsula between the Gulf of Morbihan and the Atlantic Ocean.-History:...
in the département of Morbihan
Morbihan
Morbihan is a department in Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan , the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastline.-History:...
, near the coast of the Atlantic ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. The spectacular site comprises the moated castle, a ruined chapel, a dovecote, and a few ruined outbuildings.
History
Designed to be a place of leisure, between the seaside and a forest full of game for hunting, the castle's first logis seigneurial (seigniorial house) dates from the beginning of the 13th century.The castle was fortified and enlarged, at the end of 14th century, when the heirs of the duchy had to fight to keep their assets (Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
was not yet part of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and did not become so until 1514), after the castle was taken by Bertrand du Guesclin
Bertrand du Guesclin
Bertrand du Guesclin , known as the Eagle of Brittany or the Black Dog of Brocéliande, was a Breton knight and French military commander during the Hundred Years' War. He was Constable of France from 1370 to his death...
, the infamous Constable of France
Constable of France
The Constable of France , as the First Officer of the Crown, was one of the original five Great Officers of the Crown of France and Commander in Chief of the army. He, theoretically, as Lieutenant-general of the King, outranked all the nobles and was second-in-command only to the King...
.
John V
John V, Duke of Brittany
John V the Conqueror KG was Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort, from 1345 until his death.-Numbering:...
and John VI
John VI, Duke of Brittany
John VI the Wise , was duke of Brittany, count of Montfort, and titular earl of Richmond, from 1399 to his death...
constructed a new seigniorial residence block with a large, new corner tower known as the Tour Neuve. A casemate was added at the end of 15th century to protect artillery pieces.
Suscinio and the English Wars of The Roses: -
Between 1471 until 1483, the Castle housed Jasper & Henry Tudor [later King Henry VII of England] and the core of their group of exiled Lancastrians, estimated to have been some 500-strong by 1483. Since the castle was only capable of housing some 100 persons, the rest must have been billeted close about, in Kermoizin and other villages nearby.
Duc Francois II generously supported this group of exiled Englishmen against all the Plantagent demands that he should surrender them. So, for 11 years, Suscinio was an armed camp, alert against any attempt to kidnap Jasper and Henry, and return them to England where they were "under Attainder" and would have been promptly executed, as threats to Yorkist Rule.
After the failed Lancastrian rebellion and invasion of England in 1483, which Duc Francois supported to the tune of 40,000 gold crowns, 15,000 soldiers, and a fleet of transport ships, - the Duc suffered one of his periods of incapacitating illness, and his hated Treasurer Pierre Landois - who promptly abrogated the Ducal power to himself in his Liege Lord's name, - without his Lord's approval, - agreed to surrender Henry Tudor to the representatives of King Richard III, in reurn for a pledge of 3,000 English Archers to defend Breton Borders against a threatened French attack.
News of this plot by Landois reached the exiled Lancastrians just in time for both the Tudors to separately escape across the nearby border into France [only hours ahead of Landois' soldiers]; and to the hospitality of King Charles VIII, who received them at his Court.
When Duc Francois II regained his faculties shortly thereafter, he offered the remaining Lancastrians [some 400 men] still at- and around- Suscinio safe-conduct into France, and even gave them monies to pay their expenses. This may have been the last official use of the castle by the Breton Dukes. Duc Francois II died in 1488, to be succeeded at the age of only 11 years, by his daughter, Anne of Brittany, last Ruling Duchess, and twice Queen of France. She died in 1514 and Brittany lost its autonomy, becoming part of France.
The castle was then slowly abandoned by the aristocracy. In the early sixteenth century, the former great hall of the 14th century along the northern curtain-wall, was destroyed. The castle was then confiscated by the French crown under Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
who offered it to one of his mistresses. In 1795, Sucinio was temporarily occupied by the royalists coming from Quiberon and heading to the north of the department. Written off in the 17th and 18th centuries, the castle was used off-and-on as a stone quarry until the Revolution.
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, it was sold to a merchant who continued to sell the stones, and it fell into even greater ruin.
The restoration
The Département of Morbihan bought it in 1965, from the family of Jules de Francheville who attempted to preserve and restore the castle, and began the restoration in earnest. The remains of a ducal chapel was found in the vicinity outside of the moats; its remarkable tiled floor has been carefully removed and restored and is now exhibited in a hall of the castle.Nowadays, Suscinio Castle has again regained its allure of an intact medieval fortress, but major restoration work continues.
The castle may be unique in W.Europe because of its restoration to its presumed late-15th century condition; because many other medieval fortresses made obsolete by the use of cannon in warfare were either dismantled or modernised to become "comfortable country houses". In this 3rd Millennium, few other medieval fortresses remain, structurally, as they were at the height of their late-medieval strength and power; and in this lies the particular interest of the Chateau de Suscinio. .
Exhibitions and summer events attract many people. Since 1840, the castle has been listed as a monument historique
Monument historique
A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...
by the French Ministry of Culture.