The History of the Castle of Carrouges
A medieval castle that became a residence of pleasure
The castle of Carrouges seen outside from the gardens / Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
The oldest traces of a castle in Carrouges date back to the XIVth century, at the time of the Hundred Years' War, when Jean IV of Carrouges had a tower (the keep today) erected in the middle of a marsh at the foot of what was surely a small fortress on a hill and which has become the village of Carrouges today. Even if, unlike many fortresses of its time, the castle is not on a hill, it is protected by a marsh. It is from this tower that the construction of a castle, enlarged and modified over the years, will begin. The trademark of all these constructions is the use of brick and a little granite. It must be said that the land is particularly clayey and that clay is found in abundance. Stone is only used for large structures and to decorate the façade. This idea of using brick is the originality of the castle of Carrouges.
The inner courtyard of the castle of Carrouges. We can see, on the left, the original keep (with the granite machicolations) around which the castle has been enlarged over the years. Photo chosen by monsieurdefrance.Com : Jérôme Prod'homme
Residence for large families
Throughout the ages, and through the successions, the castle of Carrouges belonged to great families from the Norman nobility. At the end of the male line of the lords of Carrouges, the castle passed to the Blosset family in the 15th century. It is to them that we owe one of the wings of the castle, still in brick, and the chapel which is at the entrance of the park. The 15th century saw the passage of King Louis XI on his pilgrimage to Mont-Saint-Michel in 1473. From the Blosset family, the "house" then passed to the Le Veneur family, whose oldest proofs of nobility date back to the 13th century, and who took their name from the position of Veneur for the Dukes of Normandy. The Veneur is the one who prepares the hunts.
Cardinal Jean Le Veneur. Portrait. Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.com: By Giogo - Personal work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=123923960
It is to Cardinal Jean Le Veneur (1473-1543) that we owe several constructions, of which the most famous: the châtelet of entry. Delightful brick building, still in Carrouges, with 4 small towers around an entrance porch and built in the Renaissance style. It is photogenic this building, visible since the road, which makes that it is often photographed and that one often believes that it is the castle of Carrouges, whereas it is only the door of it. Part of the history of Canada was decided here since it was Jean Le Veneur who convinced King François I to trust Jacques Cartier in his idea of discovering a passage to China. The passage that the navigator did not find, but which is at the origin of his discovery of Canada. The Renaissance was also the time when Catherine de Medici came to the castle.
The entrance castle of Carrouges. An idea of Cardinal Jean Le Veneur. Photo chosen by monsieurdefrance.com: Jérôme Prod'homme.
The emergence of the Gabriel family
In the 17th century, Jacques Le Veneur, who owned the castle from his brother Tanneguy, decided to improve the place and called upon a family from Argentan who was beginning to make a name for themselves in the field of architecture and garden design, the Gabriel family . Maurice Gabriel carried out the work. He is the founder of a lineage which literally adorned France since his descendants created, among others, the opera of Versailles, the place of the Concorde...
The entrance to the park of the castle of Carrouges designed in part by Maurice Gabriel. Photo chosen by monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme.
General Le Veneur or the man of progress
Portrait of General Alexis Le Veneur (1746-1833)
Alexis Le Veneur owned the castle in the 18th century. Military (he was a division general) and a man of progress, he campaigned for the abandonment of privileges well before the night of August 4, 1789. A political commitment which will cross all the regimes since the absolute Monarchy until the monarchy of July. Alexis Le Veneur was involved in many mandates and offices, he was mayor of Carrouges, deputy of the Orne, he was also the first president of the General Council of the Orne. In Carrouges, he received guests in the rules of art and this memory is maintained by the exhibition of a table set up that recalls the great hours of the castle.
The main part of the general's table, bought in 1998 during a sale at Drouot. Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
What you can see at the castle of Carrouges
First of all the visit is really worth it. We discover about ten rooms and they are well arranged. This allows you to imagine yourself in the castle at the time of General Le Veneur, that is to say at the end of the XVIIIth century. Family portraits (a living room is dedicated to them) accentuate this feeling.
Amazing kitchens of the Castle of Carrouges that have come to us, intact with their copper utensils. Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
Brick is really omnipresent. It is explained by the fact that the clay is very present around the castle which is located on an old marsh (the water has been drained since, but at the end of the gardens one saw for a long time a pond which does not exist any more today. The moat is a reminder of the old marshland that protected the castle much more than the walls. The beauty of the brick staircase that one climbs to reach the noble floor and the reception rooms is amazing.
The brick staircase of the castle of Carrouges. Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
The portraits are numerous and give a sense of the past. A room is entirely dedicated to them. This portrait touched us.
Castle of Carrouges: a portrait. Photo chosen bymonsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
Finally, the part of the visit that leads to the large reception rooms is really fascinating. We have reconstructed everything that made the aristocratic lifestyle in France, in the countryside, between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. An era that saw General Le Veneur receive guests in his Norman home. Do not miss the table set up ready to receive guests who would certainly not have believed to be in the twenty-first century as the reconstruction is successful. It is one of the most interesting rooms of the visit.
The dining room and the table of the Château de Carrouges. Photo chosen by monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
The dining room and the table of the Château de Carrouges. Detail of the table. Photo chosen by monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
Carrouges between legend and history
The legend of the fairy and the lord
Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.com : a fairy by Sophie Gengembre Anderson.
A legend tells that the castle of Carrouges would hold its name of... Carl the Red. While he was hunting for a few days a magnificent stag, the lord of Carrouges would have fallen, by chance, on a fairy who was taking her bath while singing nicely. This fairy would have found the lord to her liking since she would have given herself to him. In love, the lord often made the journey to join his love and this did not fail to arouse the suspicions of his wife, pregnant, who ended up following him. Discovering that her husband was leaving her so often for another, the lady of Carrouge, drunk with jealousy, and armed with a dagger, would have pierced the heart of the fairy-lover of her husband. Before dying, after a long moan, and disappearing into the clouds, the fairy would have cursed the wife and the husband until the 7th generation. Suffering from malaise, having nightmares every night, during which she saw a red stain like the blood of the fairy invade her, the wife finally gave birth to a child. A boy. Carl. Handsome like his father but with a large red stain on his face that would have earned him the nickname of Car le Rouge. The stain would have remained on the face of the male heirs of the family of Carl the Red during 7 generations before disappearing with the family by not appearing on the face of a girl, heiress of the castle, but last to carry the name.
The last duel
The poster of the movie: the Last Duel of Ridley scott.
This is a true story. That of Jean IV de Carrouges, the founder of the present castle. Respected knight, captain for the king of France Jean le Bon, he married in second marriage the beautiful Marguerite de Thibouville. Called to Scotland to serve the king, he entrusted his wife to his mother to avoid being alone in the great castle of Carrouges. Alas, it was in the manor of Capomesnil, at his mother-in-law's house, that the noble lady was raped during the night of January 18, 1386. On his return from his trip to Scotland, Jean IV discovered the crime when his wife revealed it to him and at the same time revealed to him the one she accused of having committed the irreparable act: Jacques Le Gris, chamberlain to the Count of Alençon. Jean IV did everything possible to have Jacques Le Gris' guilt recognized, even going to the Parliament of Paris. While he was refused what he considered to be just, and Jacques Le Gris affirmed that he was not the rapist, Jean IV went so far as to ask for the judgment of God. This judgement of God is an old custom, which was no longer used at the time, that one could call for the judgement of God during a duel. The guilty party was designated by God by losing the duel. And this duel took place on December 29, 1386 in Paris, in front of the whole Court of King Charles VI. Jean IV won the duel. Jacques Le Grix, designated guilty by God according to the custom, was killed by John IV under the eyes of the Court and with the agreement of the king.
Illustration chosen by Monsieurdefrance.com : the end of the duel of Jean IV de Carrouges and the death of Jacques Le Grix. Picture painted in the Middle Ages.
It was only a few years later that a robber arrested for a series of crimes finally confessed that Jacques Le Grix was innocent and that he was the rapist of Marguerite de Thibouville. A huge miscarriage of justice, therefore, which at least had the positive point of putting a definitive stop to the idea of judicial duel. This is the story that Ridley Scott told in "The Last Duel", a film to be released in 2021 in which Matt Damon plays the role of Jean de Carrouges, and Jodie Corner that of his wife. Jean IV ended his life in a battle in Nicopolis 10 years later, in 1396, during a crusade against the Ottoman Turks.
Around Carrouges :
Alençon.
Carrouges is about 30 minutes from Alençon. Prefecture of the department of Orne, it is one of the very rare Norman cities, with Bayeux, which was not entirely destroyed during the Battle of Normandy in 1944. You can discover small paved streets, many private mansions, the wheat market, an astonishing round building, the Notre Dame church is magnificent with its granite porch which reminds us of the Alençon lace so rare and so expensive that only the great ones could afford it in its great period between the 17th and the 19th century. You can also stop in front of the prefecture, probably the most beautiful in France, which was "hôtel de Guise" for the Guise family.
The magnificent porch of Notre Dame d'Alençon. Photo chosen by monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
Argentan
Sub-prefecture of the Orne, Argentan was destroyed in August 1944. Nevertheless, it keeps many traces of the past, such as the Donjon (now the court), the Saint Nicolas chapel (the tourist office), and it is interesting if you like the post-war architecture (the town hall is typical and has been labeled as a 20th century heritage). The church of Saint Martin is worth a visit, but the most famous monument is the church of Saint Germain, which was partly designed by members of the Gabriel family, whose Château de Carrouges was also a place of work. The countryside between Carrouges and Argentan is absolutely beautiful, especially in spring. We are not far from the village of Camembert where the cheese of the same name was invented and from the famous Auge country with its half-timbered houses.
The church of Saint Germain d'Argentan / image chosen by monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
The castles of O, Sassy and Médavy: the treasures of the Orne.
The castle of O in Mortrée / Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.Com : Jérôme Prod'homme
20 minutes from Carrouges, in Mortrée near Argentan, is the magnificent Château d'O. All in white stone, it looks like something out of a fairy tale. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, it can only be visited one month a year, in summer.
The hanging gardens of the Château de Sassy / Photo chosen by monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
At the same distance, you can visit the beautiful castle of Sassy in Saint Christophe le Jajolet. Located in the middle of the forest of Sassy, it is a private residence, it offers amazing hanging gardens.
Finally there is also the castle of Médavy, still in the forest of Sassy, near Argentan. The owner has magnificent furniture and the visit is really worth it.
The castle of Médavy. Photo chosen by Monsieurdefrance.com : Jérôme Prod'homme
Geo / Web info
How to get here
The castle of Carrouges is located at 3H from Paris by car (N12 or A81 and A28). It is located 1 hour from Caen, 30 minutes from Alençon, 20 minutes from Argentan. There is no train station. The nearest airport is Caen Carpiquet.
The schedules
The castle of Carrouges is open every day
10am - 12:30pm / 2pm - 4:45pm
Last access at 12:00 and 16:20.
Park open and free access from 10am to 5pm.
CLOSING:
January 1, May 1, November 1 and 11, December 25
The websites
The official website of the castle of Carrouges is here.
Tourism in the Orne department is here.
And here, you will know everything about tourism in Normandy.
