Photo : not specified / Wikimedia Commons (Attribution)
Château de Nangis
The fortress of Nangis, in the Seine-et-Marne, with two large courtyards surrounded by buildings, protected by ditches and a thick wall with four round corner towers, one of which still stands near the church, was probably built in the 12th century. The courtyards became the château's outbuildings and, by the early 20th century, the château farm.
One of its owners, Antoine de Brichanteau, born in 1552, had an active military career: he helped the Duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX, escape from Poland and return to France in 1574, and later, siding with the Catholic League, narrowly escaped an ambush laid by Henry III. He obtained four extra annual fairs for Nangis and in 1612 received the marquisate of Nangis from Louis XIII. After Richelieu's order of 1626 to dismantle feudal castles, the castle of La Motte-Beauvoir was transformed, keeping only the corner towers and the foundations.
During the Revolution the owner lost his title, ruined himself in risky industrial ventures and sold the estate's farms; the château was sold in 1795. In 1814 Napoleon spent a night here. Around 1860 the town bought a wing of the château to house the town hall.
