MIREBEAU

On the road into Poitiers we passed through an interesting looking town. We decided that we would not stop but instead check it out on the way home. In the late afternoon Tim was again driving. He got us past a haytruck with inches to spare – that Twingo can go when you need it to!
We parked in the main square and walked about. Just outside the square there was a small church. As we approached the door a man came out with keys who looked to be about to lock up the church. He let us in for a few minutes. Inside was a large interior in classic Angevin style. There were several stained glass windows, including one depicting a martyr being cooked in a large cauldron (St. Florent?).
Back in the place we found a tourist map with the remains of a castle marked. We decided to walk through the town to find it. We walked through narrow windy streets, stopping several times for directions. One woman told us that there was no longer a castle there but we decided to continue anyway. Finally, we saw a direction sign for an 11th century motte or moat. We followed the sign through what appeared to be a residential area. A farmer told us that we could walk around the moat. He told us that there had been a castle here in olden times. This castle was a stronghold of the Plantagenet Dukes of Anjou. During the Wars of Religion Cardinal Richelieu had the castle torn down so that the protestants couldn’t use it as a base.
We walked around the moat, a green strip encircled by the walls and backyards of the town. We hiked up to the top where the castle had stood. There should have been good views over the town but the vegetation made it difficult. Our walk around the moat was a good reminder that the Hundrted Years War was less about the English and French and more about two branches of French royalty – the Plantagenets and the Capetians.