Château de Lusignan

Château de Lusignan stands in the town of Lusignan in modern France, and it was created by the medieval lords of the House of Lusignan.

The first fortifications were erected in the late tenth century under Hugues II le Cher, and the site became the hereditary seat and birthplace of the seigneurs de Lusignan. Members of this family later became kings in Cyprus and Jerusalem; Aimery II de Lusignan (around 1145–1 April 1205) is one named example of that wider dynastic reach.

In 1168 forces of Henry II Plantagenêt partly dismantled the fortress. A few years later, in 1171, Hugues VIII de Lusignan and his sons rebuilt the stronghold. Further major rebuilding took place in the thirteenth century, and again at the close of the fourteenth century.

Jean, duke of Berry, carried out modernising works at the end of the fourteenth century and kept the castle as one of his favoured residences until his death in 1416. Local tradition and medieval chroniclers associated the foundation with the fairy Melusine; Pierre Bersuire recorded this story around 1342–1350, and the duke of Berry’s manuscript known as the Très Riches Heures shows the castle with Melusine above one tower.

During the French Wars of Religion the town and castle were attacked on 27 September 1574 by the duke of Montpensier, who besieged the outskirts and the fortress. Heavy fighting followed, with a notable assault on 21 December 1574. The garrison, reduced to about five hundred men under the vicomte de Rohan, capitulated on 5 January 1575. A siege plan said to have been drawn by the commanding officer survives at the National Library of France (BnF). After the siege the regiment of Sarrieu occupied the town and castle for a period and then tore down parts of the defences.

King Henry III ordered further dismantling of the castle in 1586; after that campaign only the tower associated with Melusine remained standing until 1622. In the seventeenth century the site was reinforced in the newer style of fortification associated with Vauban. Over the following decades the castle served many secular functions: it was used as a prison, holding notable prisoners such as Jacques Cœur and the future king Louis XII, then later accommodated a primary school and after that a local tourist office. During the eighteenth century Paul Esprit Marie de La Bourdonnaye, comte de Blossac, cleared large parts of the ruins to form a public pleasure ground, and the structure long supplied stone for local building work. The ruin was officially listed as a historic monument in 1997.