Comméquiers before the castle
The Château de Comméquiers, located near the town of La Douve, may seem modest today, but its historical importance in the Middle Ages tells a very different story!
Traces of human occupation in Comméquiers indeed date back to prehistoric times, with remarkable remains such as the menhir and dolmen still visible within the town’s boundaries.
However, the village’s true rise began approximately two millennia ago, when the Romans established a fortified camp on a small cairn. This ancient fortress gave the village its name: Quid me Quaeris (Why do you ask me this?) which evolved into Comméquiers.
In the 10th century, the Viscount of Thouars built the first fortress to protect the inhabitants from Norman invasions, thus asserting his authority over Northern Vendée region. Comméquiers thus prospered as the capital of a vast seigneury administering numerous fiefs.
Unfortunately, nothing remains of the original fortress, whose exact location has even been lost in the mists of time.
Louis XIII pulls down the castles of the Protestant lords of Vendée
Louis de Beaumont built the current fortress between the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
Throughout its history, the castle changed hands among various families, and eventually to the Protestant lords of La Trémoille at the time of the Wars of Religion.
In 1622, King Louis XIII stopped over at the castle on his march to Notre-Dame-de-Riez and Saint-Gilles to confront the Protestant forces.
Emerging victorious from the conflict, the Catholic Louis XIII signed a decree ordering the destruction of all castles belonging to the Protestants.
Thus, the Château de Comméquiers was partially demolished in 1628. Only the eight imposing round towers and a few remnants of the curtain wall remain.
The Château de Comméquiers, whose layout is reminiscent of the Bastille Fortress, is a unique example of military architecture in France from that period.
Preserving the Château de Comméquiers
The old fortress was meticulously restored but not rebuilt, thus revealing its original structure.
The three-storey Château de Comméquiers stands on an islet, and its imposing ruined towers still project above its moat.
Unfortunately, nothing remains of the basse-cour (backyard), which was once surrounded by a vast palisade that housed numerous outbuildings as well as a garrison responsible for the castle’s defence.
Fortunately, the Château de Comméquiers was listed as a historical monument in 1926. The municipality of Comméquiers acquired the site in the 1960s, and since then, the Amis du Vieux Château de Comméquiers – Friends of the Old Castle of Commequiers association has been brilliantly dedicated to its preservation.
Department of Vendée – Comméquiers
Coordinates: Lat 46.766301 – Long -1.831455
