Château de Villeneuve-la-Comtesse

The lordship of Villeneuve-la-Comtesse, in the Charente-Maritime, first belonged for two centuries to the Guillaume counts of Poitou, the last of whom was Eleanor of Aquitaine, Countess of Poitou, who gave the village its name. A possession of Henry II of England, Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland, it passed by marriage to the Count of La Marche and Angoulême, then to the Count of Eu, and finally to the crown when he was beheaded in 1350.

In 1430 it was taken by the Constable d'Albret, who destroyed it but left a tower; the materials were used to rebuild a castle of which only part survives. Sold several times, it was bought in 1560 by François de Laurency. During the Wars of Religion, Henri de Laurency, lord of Villeneuve, put up a solid defence against Protestant assaults, holding out although part of his garrison was buried under the ruins; the king congratulated the inhabitants on their bravery. The Laurency family emigrated during the Revolution and the badly ruined castle was sold as national property, but it was bought back for them through a front man, and they returned and kept it until 1843.

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