Details
Founded: c. 1180Category: Castles and fortifications in France
Historical period: Late Capetians (France)
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Château de Saint-Jean-d'Angle was probably built in the 12th century, probably by Guillaume de Lusignan who belonged to one of the most powerful families of the Poitou region. From 1406 to the 17th century, the castle remained in the hands of the Saint-Gelais family, a younger branch of the de Lusignan family. The residence adjoining the original rampart dates back to the Renaissance.
In 1994, Alain Rousselot, a businessman from La Rochelle bought the site with the intention of saving it. Today it is open to the public and hosts a medieval theme park.
Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).