En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château d'Aulnay, in Charente-Maritime, was built from the 11th century onwards on a partly artificial mound, at the confluence of the Brédoire and the waters of the Lusignan well, about 900 metres east of the Roman settlement from which the town of Aulnay originated, the town later developing at the foot of the castle. The fortress consists of a quadrangular keep measuring 35 metres per side, reinforced by two circular towers 11 and 15 metres in diameter with walls more than three metres thick, the whole protected by a chemise and moats, a section of which still survives to the west. Several prestigious families succeeded one another in the viscountcy until 1508, when Louise of Savoy acquired the fortress; her son, King Francis I, became viscount by succession in 1531. The remaining tower has been listed as a historic monument since 1925.