Keep of Holy-Suzanne (Mayenne)

Keep of Holy-Suzanne (Mayenne) , 11th century.

The Keep, barlong, is the oldest monument of the medieval city of Holy-Suzanne.

Dating from first half or middle of the 11th century, it is 19,45 m long, 15,5 m broad, for a maximum height of 19 m and some 3 m thickness walls; it is former to the seat of the City. This keep is an good example of the quadrangular turn-mistresses who mark the silhouette of many castles with and 12th centuries in the west: Loaches, Cliff, Domfront and Nogent-le-Rotrou in particular.

Staircases were recently installed in order to make it possible to the visitors to discover the 3 levels of the building and certain parts installed in the thickness of the walls (sink, wardrobe, latrines, room of the treasure).

History

See also: County of Maine, List of the lords of Holy-Suzanne, List of the Viscounts of Maine

The site of Holy-Suzanne constitutes the only fortified town to have resisted the attacks of the troops of William the Conqueror.

Since 1063, Guillaume sought to increase his possessions towards the south by conquering the Maine. Its military conquest was practically completed when he became king d' Angleterre in 1066. However, certain knights refused the domination Norman. Among them, Hubert de Beaumont, Viscount of Maine, were locked up in his keep of Holy-Suzanne, where it resisted during four years (starting from 1083) the troops of Guillaume, installed in a wood and ground camp arranged in the north of the fortified town of Holy-Suzanne.

The seat of Holy-Suzanne

The seat of Holy-Suzanne was hard for the Norman ones, which finally did not manage to take the fortress. The chronicler Vital Orderic, born towards 1075, delivers to us in his Histoire of Normandy one of the reasons of this failure: the vineyards which push then on the slopes of Holy-Suzanne prevent the Norman riders from reaching the castle. Thus it describes the situation: " The king (...) could not invest the castle of Holy-Suzanne, made inaccessible by the rocks and the thickness of the vines which surrounded it, nor to hold the enemy sufficiently locked up because this last counter-attacked boldly and had many issues" .

See also: Camp of Beugy

The business ended in a negotiation and Hubert de Beaumont returned in the good graces of the duke of Normandy.

Romance military architecture

The keep of Holy-Suzanne belongs to the family of the Romance quadrangular keeps. This type of construction knew a very broad diffusion in all the west and the north of France, like on the other side of the channel after the conquest. Other areas like the Limousin, Quercy or Périgord also have examples of them. These constructions can be associated with three functions: ostentatious, defensive and residential. They comprise at least three levels which most frequently correspond to the following vertical structuring: a storeroom on the first level, a stage of reception and a level higher reserved than the privative functions. These all are characterized by the presence of buttresses, often flat, which stiffen the walls of them. The keep of Holy-Suzanne shows all the characteristics of these constructions of the 11th century and 12th century, whose examples do not miss: Chauvigny, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Loaches, Loudun…

Recent studies, restoration and installations

Between the autumn 2000 and spring 2007, the keep of Holy-Suzanne was the object of archaeological studies, of work of restoration and installations which make it possible today to the public to discover it in his least details. An intervention on this very weakened element of the inheritance mayennais was indeed considered to be urgent by the General advice of the Mayenne, owner of the monument since end 1998, and the regional service of the Historic buildings.

Contributions of archeology

The studies carried out on the monument enable us today to include/understand best. This quadrangular construction (19,45 Mr. X 15,50 Mr., for a height of 15 Mr.) was raised by bands from 4 to 5 sitted. The sandstone comes certainly from Holy-Suzanne even. On the other hand, the materials used for the flat buttresses or the framings of the openings were not extracted on the spot. It is in particular of Granit and ferrugineous sandstone (very ferruginous sandstone). The three identified levels correspond to the already evoked functions of a Romance keep. The breach by which one penetrates today inside the monument was practiced by the archeologists at the XIXe century. The primitive access was done at the origin by the first stage (staircase/drawbridge of wood). The base of the building was covered on several meters by a ground buttress intended to prevent the enemies from sapping the base of the walls. It is possible also that the building was surrounded by ditches

A keep equipped well

Several latrines, two chimneys, two " lavabos" and of the parts (garde-robes?) arranged in the thickness of the walls (3 meters) translate the elevated level of equipment and comfort of this monument of the medium or first half of the 11th century, even if some of these installations have only little, even at all, been useful.

One of curiosities of the keep of Holy-Suzanne is the room known as of the treasure , discovered in the thickness of the northern wall. This arched corridor, invisible of the interior of the keep, accessible only by one vertical bowel starting from an opening on the second floor, equipped with a wall cupboard, was to shelter the charters of possession and other invaluable documents of the lord of Beaumont. This type of tiny room is very rare in a keep of this period.

To see

  • Since July 2007, the General advice of the Mayenne installed footbridges inside the keep of Holy-Suzanne. This equipment makes it possible from now on the public to have access at the higher levels of the monument, to discover some of the tiny rooms arranged in the thickness of the walls, and to benefit from a new sight on the castle and the city of Holy-Suzanne, as well as exceptional panorama on the surrounding landscapes: hills of the Coëvrons, valley of the Erve and forest of the Charnie.
  • Of the Audioguide S in addition makes it possible to visit the monument, the castle and the city;
  • Finally the Museum of the audience, in the middle of the city, makes it possible to better explore the thousand years of history of Holy-Suzanne.

Historical heritage

Religious heritage

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