Château de La Fère: A Renaissance Castle in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.1
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Elite Residence
On this page9 sections
History
Château de La Fère is a Renaissance château in France, built at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries for Marie of Luxembourg, Countess of Vendôme. Located in La Fère, it became closely connected with the Bourbon-Vendôme family and later with the French Crown.
The Bourbon-Vendôme family
Marie of Luxembourg died at the château in April 1547. Her daughter-in-law, Françoise of Alençon, wife of Charles IV of Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, gave birth there to seven children. They were Louis of Bourbon-Vendôme, Count of Marle, born on 23 September 1514; Marie of Bourbon-Vendôme, born on 29 October 1515; Antoine of Bourbon, born on 22 April 1518; François of Bourbon-Vendôme, Count of Enghien, born on 23 September 1519; Madeleine of Bourbon-Vendôme, born on 3 February 1520; Louis of Bourbon-Vendôme, born on 3 May 1522; and Jean of Bourbon-Vendôme, Duke of Estouteville, born on 6 July 1528.
These children later held important positions and titles. Antoine of Bourbon became King of Navarre and was the father of Henri IV, while François of Bourbon-Vendôme became the victor at Ceresole. Jean of Bourbon-Vendôme became Count of Soissons. Marie of Bourbon-Vendôme died at La Fère on 28 September 1538.
Royal residence and transfer to the Crown
During the Peace of Cambrai, also known as the Ladies’ Peace, Francis I stayed at the château from late June to early August. The 1529 treaty, negotiated by Louise of Savoy and Margaret of Austria, ended the conflict between Francis I and Emperor Charles V. Francis I then moved to Coucy while awaiting the conclusion of the negotiations.
Under a marriage contract, Henri of Navarre, Duke of Vendôme, granted his wife, Marguerite of Valois, the usufruct of the châtellenie. This legal right allowed her to use the lordship and receive its benefits without owning it outright. She retained that right until 1596, when the château became part of the Crown domain.
Later historical associations
The château was also the birthplace of the priest Henri-Marie Boudon. The son of Jean Boudon, lieutenant of the citadel, he was born within the château’s enclosure on 14 January 1624.
Château de La Fère is state-owned. The staircase façade and a vaulted ground-floor room on the eastern side were partially classified as historic monuments in 1965. A 1994 registration extended protection to the château’s façades and roofs, cellars, and archaeological soils.
Remains
The surviving wing
Only one wing of Château de La Fère survives. It represents Renaissance brick-and-stone architecture in Picardy and preserves the principal protected elements of the historic building within the surviving fabric.
Staircase façade
The staircase façade is one of the château’s surviving Renaissance features. Its protection reflects the architectural importance of the exterior face and its role in the remaining wing.
Ribbed-vaulted room
On the eastern side of the ground floor, an interior room is covered by a ribbed cross-vault. This surviving vaulted space forms part of the château’s protected interior structure.
Façades, roofs, cellars, and archaeological soils
The surviving façades and roofs, together with the cellars and archaeological soils, form part of the protected remains. These elements preserve evidence of the château’s construction and its historical development beyond the single wing visible above ground.
