Vauclair castle

The castle Vauclair , or castle Vauclerc , was the name of a Château builds by Henri II of England, husband of Aliénor of Aquitaine, with La Rochelle towards the end of the 12th century, and now destroyed.

The castle was used as fortification of the primitive port of the La Rochelle, located on the river of Lafond, and which it dominated. It lay within the scope of the Fortification of the city undertaken since the beginning of the century, a first Enceinte having been set up in 1130 by Guillaume X, duke of Aquitaine and father of Aliénor, then a news between 1160 and 1170.

The enclosure of the castle, which covered more Hectare, was protected by a Rempart decorated from four grosses turns from angle, connected between them by Courtine S to the crenelated Parapet , and was surrounded by deep ditches. The place of weapons of the castle was then with the site of the cathedral Saint-Louis.

At the request of the King de France Charles V, the castle, symbol of being able, was destroyed between 1372 and 1375, after the seat of the La Rochelle, its stones being used to build a new wall in Gabut. The port of the La Rochelle as for him was transferred to its current site, defended by the towers Saint Nicolas's Day and of the Chain as of 1376.

Part of the foundations of the work were put at the day during the digging of a underground Parking, under the current place of Verdun.

Name Vauclair , drawn from Latin   valde clarum (largely clearly, luminous or white) came owing to the fact that the castle, as well as many buildings and works of the city, was built in white stones Calcaire S extracted the basement of the area. This characteristic also was worth with the La Rochelle its nickname of white Ville as of the Moyen-âge.

Random links: