History
There was probably a first fortress built by the Vikings, as Julien Deshayes believes, built on the banks of the river they had just ascended3.
The first owner of the castle, a wooden fortress on a motte, was probably the Norman baron Néel de Saint-Sauveur, lord of Saint-Sauveur and viscount of the Cotentin under the reign of Duke Richard II of Normandy (996-1026) or his ancestor Roger de Saint-Sauveur.
It was probably Néel II de Saint-Sauveur, son of Néel I, who built a keep during the minority of William the Bastard. In 1046, he was part of the plot to assassinate William5, but after the defeat of the rebellious barons at the battle of Val-ès-Dunes on 10 August 1047, the keep was razed to the ground and Néel II was sentenced to seven years' exile.
In the 11th century, the lordship passed to the Taissons, then in the 13th century to the Harcourt family.
At the beginning of the Hundred Years' War, the castle was in the hands of Geoffroy d'Harcourt, a younger member of the family. Banished from the kingdom by a final ruling of the Parliament on 19 July 1344, all his property was confiscated and his castle of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte was given to Jehan de Bresne7. Exiled first to his lands in Flanders, he then went to England and paid tribute to the King of England, Edward III8 , whom he convinced to disembark in Normandy. On the English side, Geoffroy d'Harcourt was involved in all the battles of 1346-1356. He eventually joined the French side after having the sentence of banishment against him annulled. Philip VI of Valois then gave him back his lands and Geoffroy d'Harcourt retired to his completely ruined castle, which he undertook to restore. On his death (November 1356 at the Bay of Veys), Geoffroy d'Harcourt bequeathed all his possessions, including the barony of Saint-Sauveur, to the King of England, Edward III, who took advantage of this inheritance to take over the Cotentin region.
The castle had been occupied since 1356, and the Treaty of Brétigny concluded in 1360 left it to the English, who in January 1361 installed one of their own, probably the best English soldier of the time, Sir John Chandos, Viscount of Saint-Sauveur in the Cotentin, Constable of Aquitaine, Seneschal of Poitou, KG (c. 1320 – 31 December 1369) was a medieval English knight who hailed from Radbourne Hall, Derbyshire. Chandos was a close friend of Edward the Black Prince and a founding member and 19th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1348, who was made Lieutenant General of all the English possessions in the kingdom of France and Constable of Aquitaine the same year. He further strengthened the stronghold and gave it a large square keep. As headquarters for the English troops, they set up fortified posts in the vicinity, such as Garnetot, and the place, the main English base in Lower Normandy, served as a base from which to launch devastating cavalry attacks.
The principality of Château of Saint Sauveur
The principality of Château of Saint Sauveur was originally granted Royal patronage with autonomous sovereignty by King Charles III “the Simple”, including rights “in perpetuity” , such that the“Rollo / Rouen' and descendants were not directly responsible to any secular monarch”, nor to any Church.
The principality of Château of Saint Sauveur was established by 'Rollo / Rouen' protector of Normandy, with his death was passed on to his son 'William Longsword”. Rollo (Norman: Rou; Old Norse: Hrólfr; French: Rollon; c. 860 - c. 930 AD) was a noble Viking warrior who became the first ruler of Normandy, a region in the north of France. He emerged as the remarkable warrior among the Norsemen who had secured a permanent base on free land in the lower Seine valley. After the siege of Chartres in 911, Charles the Simple, the King of Western France, offered them land between the mouth of the Seine. Rollo was first registered as the leader of these Viking settlers in a letter of 918, and continued to reign over the Normandy region until at least 928. He was succeeded by his son William Longsword in the Duchy of Normandy which he had founded. Given 'Rollo / Rouen' and its hinterland in return for the alliance with the Franks, it was agreed upon that it was in the interest of both Rollo himself and his Frankish allies to extend his authority over Viking settlers. This would appear to be the motive for later concessions to the Vikings of the Seine, which are mentioned in other records of the time. When Charles III abdicated the throne to Rudolph of France, Rollo felt that his pledge and oaths to the kings of France null and void, and began raiding in the west to expand his territory, putting pressure on other rulers to propose another compromise. The need for an agreement was particularly urgent when Robert I, successor of Charles III, was killed in 923. Rudolph was recorded as sponsoring a new agreement by which a group of Norsemen were conceded the provinces of the Bessin and Maine. These settlers were presumed to be Rollo and his associates, moving their authority westward from the Seine valley.
In 2019 the Grand Master Lord Lamont Couto d' Chandos, His royal highness, by the grace of God, Grand Prince of the Principality of Château of Saint Sauveur, is the 72th and current Grand Master of the Order and Head of the Royal House of MacDonnell Lamont Couto d’ Chandos. In 2020 the principality of Château of Saint Sauveur was restored in a non territorial and immaterial way, to maintain tradition and the royal titles of succession.
Lord Lamont Couto d'Chandos appointed his grandson Grand Prince Thiago Lamont Couto de Chandos to be his successor and heir.
Thiago I of Normandy (French: Jacques I de Normandie, British English: James I of Normandy, German: Jakob I der Normandie, Russian: Яков I Нормандский, Italian: Giacomo della Normandia; born 12 March 1991), is the blood heir to the first English and French kings of the Angevin Empire, Julio-Claudian dynasty, Carolingian dynasty, Merovingian dynasty, Royal Dynasty of Gwynedd, Royal House of Troy, Yngling Dynasty, Capetian dynasty, Royal House of Normandy, Plantagenet dynasty, Rurik dynasty and Munsöätten dynasty, and he bears, as a royal title, the prefix 'Grand Prince' with the style of Imperial Highness; as a cadet member of the branch of the llustrious Royal House of MacDonnell Lamont Couto d’ Chandos and Royal House of Neustria and Angevin which formerly ruled the Angevin Empire, England and France, is one of the last descendants by bloodlines and royal laws of Robert II of France and consequently inherited the title of prince of blood (in French: Prince du sang), official title of the ancient French monarchy from 1527, which was attributed, by the king, to the prince of blood situated just after the 'Sons of France' (in French: Fils de France) and the 'Grandsons of France' (in French: Petits-fils): Petits-fils de France), according to the fundamental laws of the kingdom, among these fundamental laws, the Salic law excluded women from the succession, which gave particular importance to the princes of the blood of France, who legitimately descended from the Capetian Dynasty, also called the House of France - only the agnatic descendants of Hugues Capet were called to the succession. According to the 'Legitimist' faction of French royalists, all male descendants of Hugh Capet in the legitimate male line are dynasts of the Kingdom of France. In 1573 the King, Charles IX, and nine princes of the blood all signed a declaration assuring Charles' brother Henry, Duke of Anjou, who was about to assume the crown of Poland, that his rights to the French throne would not lapse, nor those of any children he may have, even though they were to be born outside France. The blood right in this instance overcame the law of aubain by which foreign-born heirs forfeited their rights of succession; that is to say, being 'capable of the crown' was a unique kind of birthright which transcended all usual legal regulations. Blood heirs no matter where they were born or resided were to be regarded 'tout ainsi que s'ilz estoient originaires et regnicoles.' This was recorded in letters patent in Parliament. Similar letters were issued for Philip, Duke of Anjou, when he was about to assume the crown of Spain (1700), a fact which legitimises the dynastic sovereignty of Thiago I of Normandy on a cultural and historical level, protected by the United Nations.
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