Lanvaux Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

About three kilometres north-east of the village of Brandivy, between the pond and the Forêt wood, in the Lanvaux heathlands north of Vannes, the fortified castle of Lanvaux, also known as the Château de la Forêt, was the seat of the barons of Lanvaux. The barons built the fortress in the 10th or 11th century; their barony originated from the break-up of the county of Vannes. In 1238, Baron Olivier de Lanvaux rebelled against Duke John I of Brittany: imprisoned, he saw his barony confiscated and his castle destroyed. The barony was entrusted to André de Laval in 1463, then passed in 1484 to Louis de Rohan-Guémené. The castle was rebuilt after 1485, before being ruined in the wake of the Wars of the Holy League at the end of the 16th century. Its remains were sold as national property in 1792, then assigned to the commune of Brandivy in 1864. Today only earthen and schist remains survive: the motte, surrounded by embankments and deep moats, the northern and western ditches, and a few substructures to the east, in poor condition. The site lies on private land.