Castle La Latte Fort La Latte Château de la Roche Goyon
Castle La Latte Fort La Latte Château de la Roche Goyon
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Seal of Etienne III Goyon
"Roche
Goyon" draws its name from one of the oldest Breton Families. According to
a legend, a Goyon under Alain Barbe-Torte would have built a former castle in
937.
As
for the existing castle, it was started before the cannon was brought to
Brittany (1364) and its construction went on at the mercy of the Goyons’ good
luck in the second half of the fourteenth century. The castle was already there
in 1379 since Du Guesclin sent a detachment to the "Roche" which
bravely held out. The fortress was seized for the benefit of Charles V, and then
it was given back to its owner at the treaty of Guerande (1381).
All
along the fifteenth century the Goyons’ social rising went on. They appeared
in the Parliament of Brittany. One of the Goyons, Duke of Brittany’s
chamberlain, married the Torigni-sur-Vire barony’s heiress. The Goyon family
left the Breton cradle and went down in the History of France. The castle was
given a commanding officer who was housed in a dwelling fitted up for him. When
Brittany joined France, once more the castle was unsuccessfully besieged, this
time by the English (1490).
The
"Ligue" gave the finishing stroke to it. Jacques Goyon, the Marshal of
Matignon, one of Henry IV’s loyal servants, had followed the latter to
"Guyenne". As a reprisal, a Duke of Mercoeur’s delegate named
Saint-Laurent besieged and attacked it. The castle already called La Latte at
that time was dismantled, plundered, devastated and set on fire. Only the keep
resisted.
Entrusted
with the fortifications of the coast in order to protect Saint-Malo, Sir
Garengeau found a castle in ruins. The castle was transformed in consequence
with the Matignons’ agreement between 1690 and 1715. Its present aspect mainly
dates back to that period.
In
1715, James III Stuart took from refuge there and thought the place was sinister.
One must say he landed there on an awful evening in November. The same year
Louise-Hippolyte Grimaldi, the Monaco’s heiress, married Jacques-François-Léonor
Goyon de Matignon, Duke of Valentinois, provided that he would take the
Grimaldis’ name and coat of arms without joining his.
In
1793, an oven for cannon balls was built and a few counter-revolutionary
suspects were imprisoned there.
A
few young men from Saint-Malo unsuccessfully attacked it during the "Cent-Jours"
(1815). That was its last war episode.
It
was gradually abandoned all along the ninetieth century. There was only one
keeper left there.
Relegated
by the Ministry of War in 1890, it was sold by the "Domaines" in 1892.
It was scheduled as a place of historic interest in 1925. It has been restored
since then. It is now open to visitors.
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