Château de Jalesnes
Château de Jalesnes was built in the 17th Century, in 1610. There is nothing left of the original old feudal castle today.
Charles de Jalesnes, first Marquis de Jalesnes, was elevated to the ranks of the Maquisat by Letters Patent issued by King Louis XIII in recognition of the loyalty of the lords of the manor of Beunesche.
In 1642 with the death of the Marquis de Jalesnes and his wife, Eléonore de Maillée Brézé, and there being no male heir, the castle was passed down to the eldest daughter.
It is believed that until the latter half of the 19th Century, their tombs were interred in the crypt at the chateau however their remains were removed to the local Mairie-Eglise in Vernantes. In 1663 the son of Charles de Maillée de la Tour-Landry married Bonne Marie Madeleine du Landry and produced seven children including the heir, Georges-Henri.
During the French Revolution, Charles Henri François de la Tour Landry sold the Château to the Marquis de Maillée for the sum of 60,000 pounds. In 1792, seals were placed in the castle and looting occurred in 1793.
The castle was the temporary royal apartment of Dom Carlos, the grandson of exiled Dom Carlos VII of Bourbon, who ruled the throne of Spain by the abolition of the Salic Law. He was received for a month by the Lords of Jalesnes and they did not skimp on the preparations – building a new staircase, constructing a theatre in one of the rooms to host dancers from Nantes and actors from l’Opera House in Paris, embroidering a square of lawn for Dom Carlos’ WC with very fine fabric and transparent linen, providing silver bits and silver shoes for the horses, and adding extra grass to the central aisle to soften the pitch of the horses.
The servants also benefited from his stay, through pillaging and theft of the silverware by taking it through a small window down into the moat, that still to this day, bears traces of these thefts! The resources of the castle gradually disappeared over time to where there was little left.
A wealthy merchant from Saumur, Mr. Ackerman, bought the property and restored the castle to its former glory. After his death in 1914 his daughters, one of whom became a Carmelite nun, inherited and gave the castle to a work of education.
The Ackerman family is the founder of the famous sparkling wine dynasty of the Loire Valley, which continues to be a very popular well known product in Saumur even today.
The Oblates of the Assumption came to settle in Anjou and transform the castle into the Institution of St. Louis, a convent school for daughters of the French aristocracy. It remained a fine educational institute until its closure in 1965.
The castle became the headquarters of the German 1st Cavalry Division during WWII under the command of PC General Feldt. A first aid station was also installed to evacuate Germans killed in the area. The school continued to be run by the nuns whilst the soldiers took up part of the building.
The Château was rescued by its current owners from a downward spiral of neglect and has been developed in line with its previous glamorous existence as a moated jewel in the collection of chateaux of the Loire Valley.
Château de Jalesnes now works as a wedding venue and event space, offering accommodation and many services, since 2016 the château has made over 60 couples’ dreams a reality and has been the site of numerous events.
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Address
10 Rue de Blou, 49390, Vernantes, Pays de Loire, France
Phone
+33 (0)2 41 50 60 61 (FR)
