Château de Lavardin

The Château de Lavardin is a ruined castle in the village and commune of Lavardin in the Loir-et-Cher département of France. The property of the commune, it has been classified since 1945 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

The remains of the Château de Lavardin stand on a rocky promontory, above the village and the Loir. Built starting from the beginning of the 11th century by the first lords of Lavardin, the castle was sold to the count of Vendôme around 1130, becoming his principal fortress from the end of the 12th century. Completely altered in the 14th and 15th centuries, it was taken by the members of the Catholic League in 1589, then dismantled the following year on the orders of Henri IV, duke of Vendôme and king of France.

The first castle, that of Solomon de Lavardin, constructed at the beginning of the 11th century, appears to have consisted of a wooden keep on a motte, protecting a manor house on the summit of the promontory. The fortress of the counts de Vendôme from the 12th to the 15th century was composed of three or four enclosures surrounding a quadrangular keep, the whole built on three rock platforms excavated in the Middle Ages to increase height. At the foot of the castle, between the promontory and the Loir, a further enclosure protected the priory of Saint Martin (Saint-Gildéric), founded about 1040 by the first lord of Lavardin in an external bailey. During the early Middle Ages, the castle promontory was occupied by a cemetery, of which several ditches cut in the rock have been found.

Of the first enclosure there remains a large gatehouse or "" (12th, 14th and 15th centuries), with machicolations and embrasures for cannons (about 1400). This gateway gave access to the first level of the promontory, dedicated to the activities of the garrison and the servants. Opposite this door is the entry to the galleries and a large underground storeroom; to the north of the level is a troglodytic kitchen built into the rockface with a baker's oven.

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