The medieval castle of Pouancé is located in Pouancé, Maine-et-Loire, France, at the western border of the old province of Anjou, where it was built as a defence against Brittany. Along with the remains of the city walls, it covers a surface of three hectares. It is nicknamed the "second castle of Anjou" because of its size, which is just less than that of the castle of Angers. It belongs to the Breton march, facing the Breton castle of Châteaubriant. Situated in a location which was fortified in the 11th century, the castle was built between the 12th and 15th centuries. Besieged several times during the Hundred Years' War, it became a strategic fortress at the end of the 15th century, during the Mad War. Ruined during the 16th century and completely abandoned since the 18th, it was saved from destruction when Louis Bessière, an inhabitant of Pouancé, decided to restore the building in the 1960s. The castle is now owned by the town of Pouancé and is open to visitors during the summer months. The castle has been listed as a monument historique since 7 July 1926. Despite volunteers and amateur excavations over 40 years, little is known about the structure of the castle, due to a lack of deep archaeological surveys.
History
Early history At the end of the Early Middle Ages, the town of Pouancé, at the boundaries of the Breton march and the province of Anjou, was most likely fortified to oppose the Breton castle at Châteaubriant. The first mention of the castle dates back to 1049–1060, inside the cartulary of Carbay, which recounts the count of Anjou maintained troops and a vicarius named Landri or Landry. Fragments of Merovingian sarcophagus were found in the walls of the nearby church at Saint-Aubin, proving the existence of a human settlement in Pouancé before the construction of the castle. After the death of Landri, the castle was given by the count of Anjou to a close relation of Landri, Hervé de Martigné, vassal of the count of Rennes. Hervé already possessed the deed to Lourzais, a territory close to Pouancé. In 1066, the Duke of Brittany, Conan II took the castle, possibly with the help of Hervé. Following Hervé's death, around 1084, his son Gautier Hay succeed him. Emma, Gautier's heir, married Guillaume Ist of La Guerche in around 1130, uniting the seigneury of Pouancé-Martigné with La Guerche. The lords of Pouancé then entered a rebellion against the Plantagenet. Geoffroy Ist, the grandson of Emma, took part in the revolt of 1173–74 with other Breton lords against Henry Plantagenet. They were defeated, and their castles destroyed. Geoffroy's son revolted against the Count of Anjou with Breton lords in 1196, and defeated the army of the seneschal of Anjou. At the beginning of the 13th century, the castle was the center of a vast seigneury located in Anjou and Brittany, consisting of the seigneuries of Pouancé, Martigné, La Guerche and Segré. It was around this time that the actual castle was erected, with the first towers and ramparts. Guillaume III, lord of Pouancé, established a levee on the Verzée river, thus forming a lake alongside the castle, protecting the western front of the fortification, the side that faced Brittany. The 13th century saw the beginning of the decline of the Pouancé family. Geoffroy II, the son of Guillaume III, died around 1244. His own son, Geoffroy III, died in 1263, leaving his daughter Jeanne the only heir. She married Jean of Beaumont. Their grandson, Jean II of Beaumont, failed to produce an heir with his first wife Isabeau of Harcourt, and subsequently married Marguerite of Poitiers. Louis of Beaumont, their only son, died in 1364 during the battle of Cocherel. Marie Chamaillard, the granddaughter of Isabeau (the first wife of Jean II) regained the seigneury of Pouancé, adding it to the fiefs already owned by her husband, Pierre II of Alençon.
The Hundred Years' War Between 1371 and 1379, Pierre II built the Main Tower and the machicolation on the castle. Some towers were altered by adding spiral staircases, notably in the Saint-Antoine tower. Between the 14th and 15th centuries, the main keep and the ice-house were built.
The castle was attacked by a Breton army led by John V, Duke of Brittany in 1379. The castle may have been taken by betrayal. Pierre II then exchanged the seigneury with Bertrand du Guesclin for lands in Normandy. John V gave the fortress back to Bertrand's brother Olivier du Guesclin in 1381. Olivier sold back Pouancé to John V in 1389. When John V married his daughter Marie to Jean I, Duke of Alençon, Jean I was given the seigneury of Pouancé as her dowry. The son of Jean I, Jean II of Alençon, was captured by the English during the battle of Verneuil. After his release, financially ruined by the ransom, he decided to put pressure on his uncle John VI, Duke of Brittany to pay the remaining part of his mother's dowry. He kidnapped Jean of Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes and Chancellor of Brittany, to force the Duke of Brittany to pay. Refusing to be blackmailed, John VI gathered his army and launched a siege of the castle on January 6, 1432. The castle of Pouancé was besieged for 5 weeks by 6000 men of the Duke's army and his English allies, and bombed by 7 cannons. After 5 weeks under siege, despite the ongoing resistance of the castle, Jean II decided to negotiate and the siege was lifted on February 19. Eleven years after this siege, in 1443, an English army, led by John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, besieged the castle. Despite a warning from Arthur III of Brittany, Jean II of Alençon counter-attacked with his men without waiting for reinforcements. His army was surprised by the English at night, and the counter-attack failed. The castle and the town managed to resist the 7000 men strong army of the English who lifted the siege after two or three weeks, leaving the faubourgs of the town destroyed.
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