Sully-sur-Loire

History

Château de Sully-sur-Loire is strategically positioned at the confluence of the Rivers Loire and Sange, just east of Orléans, France. The oldest parts of the castle we see today are from 1395, when Guy de la Trémoïlle, who had married Marie de Sully, the last heiress of the earlier lords of Sully, began constructing the keep, flanked by four round towers as well as a south-facing entrance with a drawbridge flanked by two towers, giving the castle an L-shaped plan. A castle at Sully is first mentioned in 1102, when it controlled a bridge over the Loire, Guy commissioned Raymond du Temple, the royal architect also associated with the Louvre and Vincennes, and the architect to the Duke of Orléans, to design the new castle. The keep combined defense, with moats, drawbridges, a rampart walk and arrow slits, with a display of status.

When Guy was killed during the crusade of Nicopolis in 1396, his wife Marie completed the construction of the keep, apart from the two western towers, which were never finished. In 1401, she began refurbishing a house within the castle complex, now known as the Petit Château, between the Gate Tower and the River Sange.

Guy's son, George de la Trémoïlle, was a chamberlain and a favorite of Charles VII. He entertained the king and Joan of Arc at Sully in June 1429, two months after the Siege of Orléans, as they campaigned to recapture bridge points in Meung and Beaugency on the River Loire. Joan would return to Sully in March 1430. By this time, she was closely watched as she had broken the truce between Charles and the Burgundians by attacking Paris. She was held at the castle by George but escaped. She was captured on her way to Compiègne on May 23rd, 1430, and would be charged with heresy and burned at the stake in Rouen on May 30th, 1431. George became the Grand Chamberlain of France in 1428, and he died at Sully on May 6th, 1446.

In 1602, the castle was purchased by Maximilien de Béthune, Marquis of Rosny and the first minister and good friend of King Henry IV. He was known as "Grand Sully" and was appointed Duke of Sully and Peer of France in 1606. In 1606, he ordered the construction of the artillery tower, which he called the Béthune Tower, to strengthen the side of the castle facing the town. He also added passageways connecting the new tower to the keep and the Petit Château, which changed the castle layout from an L-shaped plan to a fully enclosed castle with an inner courtyard. The dry moat around the castle was then filled with water by diverting water from the River Sange, which flows next to the castle. Between 1602 and 1607, he also laid out a park, and canals he had dug protect the site from floods of the Loire.

In March 1652, the young King Louis XIV came to the castle during the Revolt against royal authority and stayed in the castle for two nights, sleeping in the King's Room on the first floor of the keep.

Voltaire sheltered at Sully-sur-Loire in 1716 and 1719 after he had been exiled from Paris for affronting the Regent, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. He described the castle in a letter as "the most likeable of castles and in the best company in the world." At Sully, he wrote the play Artémire, which was staged in the Salle d'Honneur of the keep, and he stopped visiting in 1725 after he fell out with the 5th Duke.

In 1767, the gallery that connected the Petit Château to the keep was enlarged by constructing an additional floor. Later that century, during the French Revolution in 1794, the 8th Duke of Sully was obliged to slight the castle defenses by communal decree. He had the crowns (conical roofs) of all six keep towers removed, and the western gallery wall was destroyed, exposing the inner courtyard. As was common during the Revolution, the tombs of the Lords were opened, and the bodies were reinterred in anonymous graves. Maximilien I and his wife's bodies were moved in 1793.

At the start of the 19th century, the 8th Duke of Sully and his son died, leaving no heir. The Château de Sully-sur-Loire became the property of the Béthune-Sully family, cousins to the duke. In 1900, they set out to have the six tower roofs restored, but by 1904, only two of the towers were restored as the castle chatelaine died of poisoning after the chef accidentally mixed up a pot of flour and a pot of arsenic when preparing a meal. This ended the roof reconstruction project. In 1918, a fire started in the wing built in the 18th century, destroying several rooms. It was rebuilt in 1920, with a floor and half removed, leaving the space as a large empty shell.

In 1940 and again in 1944, Château de Sully-sur-Loire was damaged by shell fire during intense fighting between the banks of the River Loire. It was used as the German General Staff Headquarters during World War II when much of the furniture was removed. The castle was sold to the Loiret Local Council in 1962, which restored much of the castle and opened it to the public. The Council bought the castle and park at an auction, outbidding the singer Charles Trenet. The 14th-century roof frame of the keep, in the shape of a broken barrel vault, was damaged by the 1940 shelling, but it survived, and about 80 percent of it is original medieval work. In 2006, the wing damaged in 1918 was refitted and refurnished as an 18th-century apartment. The castle has been a monument historique since 1928, and in 2000, the Loire Valley, including Sully, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Castle Highlights

Unlike most other castles on the Loire built during the Renaissance, Sully Sur Loire is much older and an authentic medieval fortress. Made using white limestone with slate conical roofs and machicolations along the walls and towers, the castle and its setting on a moat give it a picturesque fairytale feel. Before entering the castle, take the time to walk entirely around the castle to see it from all angles and from across the moat.

The most impressive feature of the castle architecturally is the rectangular keep or donjon and its flanking towers, which has three floors, including the garret at the roof level.

The castle's interior can be visited either on a guided tour or a self-guided tour with information booklets to tell you about each room. Some rooms are furnished and decorated in different styles.

The State Bedroom or "King's Bedroom" retains paneling from the 1660s as well as tapestries, paintings, and Louis XIII period furniture as well as the Roi Soleil (bed, lamps, and blue armchairs in the Louis XIV style).

The Salle d'Honneur, or Hall of Honour, has a 15th century chimney with a painting of Rosny Castle above the mantle. This room was used as a theater on occasion, perhaps for some of Voltaire's performances during his stays.

In the keep, the 14th-century timber roof frame, in the shape of a broken barrel vault, is mostly original medieval work, and it survived the shelling of 1940.

Sully also has a covered Chemin de Ronde or wall walk where you can see through the machicolations and from which heavy objects would be dropped down on attacking enemies outside the castle.

The layout is unusual. In the main picture, a moat with swans runs along the outer walls, but above those walls is a large courtyard. Just past the bridge, the same moat cuts in again and flows on the far side of the courtyard, between it and the castle itself.

Château de Sully-sur-Loire can be explored in two to three hours. To see more castles the same day, the Château de Chamerolles is about a 45-minute drive to the north. The Château de Chambord is 90 minutes to the west but takes almost a full day to explore.