Maps of Loire fortified towns, fortresses and abbeys

The fortress map shows Fulk Nerra’s fortified castles according to the historical atlas of Anjou Pl. VI, IGN 1973. This formidable ruler built other defensive structures, including the Loches keep, in the late 10^th century. He also conquered fortified towns like Saumur, gaining either a temporary or lasting stronghold. This makes presenting a map somewhat tricky, other than at a specific date, and providing, of course, we have the requisite documents for doing so...

That does not change the fact, however, that most of the “Loire castles” began as a fortress converted in the 15^th and 16^th centuries, especially into stately country residences. The presence of the royal court of France, which emerged victorious from the Hundred Years’ War and was so deeply inspired by Italy, brought with it prominent State figures and ministers who also had their castles. More modest manor houses were home to less affluent nobility. All these residences were set within ornamental gardens and even hunting grounds for the wealthiest. Such landscapes, organised around a castle which sat centre stage, are a hallmark of the Loire Valley. They would be co-opted, at Gaillon in Normandy and then in the Parisian region with the royal court, but the quintessential style was deeply rooted in their original sites.

The oldest abbeys in the Loire Valley or in Angers are Benedictine: Marmoutier dates back to 372, Cormery to 791 and Beaulieu to 1007. A wave of foundings then followed in the 10^th-11^th centuries with the Cistercian reform. This was the age of abbeys like Fontevraud and Vendôme, which often had support from the Plantagenets. There is often uncertainty surrounding the exact date on which the abbeys were founded. What is known, though, is that they were thriving economic centres of agricultural activity and wellsprings for rural development: their priories coordinated these duties.