La Roche Goyon
His history
The History of La Roche Goyon ( Fort La Latte )
La Roche Goyon takes its name from one of the oldest Breton families (called Gwion, Goion, Gouëon, Goyon and Gouyon).
A legend attests that the first castle was built by a Goyon under Alain Barbe-Torte in 937 .
The current castle, meanwhile, was started before the appearance of the cannon in Brittany (1364) and then continued at the mercy of the good fortune of the Goyons in the second half of the 14th century.
It existed in 1379 since Du Guesclin sent a detachment to Roche Goyon which valiantly resisted . The fortress was confiscated for the benefit of Charles V, then returned to its owner by the Treaty of Guérande (1381) .
During the 15th century , the social ascent of the Goyons continued. They appear in the States of Brittany. A Goyon , chamberlain of the Duke of Brittany, will marry the heiress of the barony of Thorigni-sur-Vire . The Goyon family left the Breton cradle and went down in French history. The castle then receives a governor who lodges in a dwelling fitted out for this purpose.
At the time of the reunion of Brittany with France (carried out during the treaty of 1532 ) , it undergoes a new siege (1490) , English this time, without success for the invaders.
Seal of Etienne III Goyon
The coup de grace was dealt to him by the League. Jacques II Goyon, Sire of Matignon, Marshal of France, Governor of Normandy and Guyenne , sided with Henri IV. As a reprisal, in 1597 , a delegate of the Duke of Mercoeur named Saint-Laurent , besieged and assaulted him . The castle, already called at that time La Latte , was dismantled, looted, devastated, set on fire . Only the dungeon resisted.
It is in a ruined castle that the Sieur Garengeau was interested in fortifying the Coast for the defense of Saint-Malo . The castle was transformed accordingly with the agreement of the Matignon between 1690 and 1715 . We owe it in large part the appearance we know it.
In 1715, James Ill Stuart took refuge there and found the place sinister ... It is true that he was stranded there one ugly November evening. The same year Louise-Hippolyte GrimaIdi ( Princess of Monaco ) married Jacques-François-Léonor Goyon, Sire de Matignon , who became Duke of Valentinois, on condition of taking the name and arms of the Grimaldi without adding his own .
In 1793 , we built the kiln to redden the balls and we imprisoned some counter-revolutionary suspects .
Young MaIouins stormed it, without success , during the Hundred Days (1815) . This was his last warlike episode.
During the XIXth century , it was gradually abandoned , it had only one keeper . Declassified in 1890 by the Ministry of War, it was sold by the Domains in 1892 . It was largely in ruins when it was listed as a Historic Monument in 1925 .
He is restored since 1931 by the Joüon Des Longrais family and open to visitors .
He became one of the most visited castles in Brittany , after that of the Dukes of Brittany in Nantes!
Before "Fort La Latte"
The Château Fort La Latte , first called the Château de la Roche Goyon , was built in the 14th century .
Why ?
The context is troubled, the War of the Succession of Brittany is raging (1341-1364) . At that time, fortified castles were reworked or built (Tonquédec, La Roche Goyon, etc.).
Étienne Goyon , Lord of Matignon, the builder of the castle, received from his suzerain (first Charles de Blois, then Duke Jean de Montfort, Jean IV) the authorization to fortify and the means to ensure this fortification.