Château de la Touche

Nozay is located about 40 km north of Nantes, on National Road 137, which connects Nantes with Rennes. The Château de la Touche is located a few hundred meters northeast of the center of Nozay, slightly north of the Vieux Bourg district.

The history of the castle is linked to that of the Lords of La Touche (list below), but also to that of the Lords of Nozay, who in modern times notably belonged to the House of Montmorency.

In 1437, Jeanne du Moulin, Lady of La Touche, wife of Robert Sorin, founded a chaplaincy in the northern transept of the parish church in honor of Saint Michael. This chaplaincy was moved to the private chapel of the La Touche estate in 1680, and masses were celebrated there until the French Revolution.

In 1498, Jean Sorin, Lord of La Touche, heir of Robert Sorin and Jeanne du Moulin, sold the lordship to Bernard de Frosy. In 1504, the heirs of Frosy sold the estate to Jean Trégouët. In 1534, the Trégouët heirs resold it to Pierre Pirault (1???-1541).

Pierre Pirault was a royal advisor and secretary to the Governor of Brittany, Jean de Laval (1486-1543), Baron of Châteaubriant and Lord of Nozay. In 1538, while in Chantilly, Jean de Laval had Pierre Pirault ennobled and obtained permission for him to own noble lands in Brittany up to a sum of 400 livres in rents. Pierre Pirault died in 1541, two years before Jean de Laval, his benefactor. Before 1553, Toussaint de Comaille, Comptroller General of the Marine du Ponant, became Lord of La Touche through his marriage to Pierre Pirault's widow, Perrine Vivien (1520-1???).

Their eldest daughter, Claude de Comaille (1???-1601), brought the estate to her husband Pierre de Cornulier (1???-1588) in 1563.

On September 26, 1605, Constable Henri de Montmorency (1534-1614), Lord of Nozay, granted Claude de Cornulier (1568-1645), Lord of La Touche, Marquis of Château-Fromont, son of Pierre de Cornulier, the right to own a forbidden pew in the choir of the church, on the epistle side and near the Sainte-Anne chapel. A tomb for the Lords of La Touche-Cornulier was dug under this pew. However, they sometimes preferred the Saint-Clair chapel in Nantes Cathedral. In 1611, Louis XIII elevated the La Touche estate to a castellany. The king united several lordly lands in the parish of Nozay for this purpose: Toulan, La Rivière, La Croix-Mérhan. To these lordships, which formed the castellany of La Touche-Cornulier, the lords of the place added several other lands, thus forming a considerable feudal system: these were Beaujouet, Le Bois-Guillaume, La Haie-Poil-de-Grue, La Naulière, La Grande Villatte and La Petite Villatte. On May 17, 1634, an arbitration between Henri II de Bourbon-Condé (1588-1646), Lord of Nozay, and Claude II de Cornulier (1633-1700), Lord of La Touche, who was born in the castle, confirmed his right to the castellany of La Touche and allowed him to use it.

La Touche was awarded as a dowry to Claude II de Cornulier's granddaughter, Élisabeth de Cornulier (1682-1747), who was married to Jean-Paul Hay des Nétumières (1668-1728), who sold it on May 24, 1718, to Joachim Darquistade, a merchant in Nantes. Coincidentally, François de Montmorency (1676-1748), colonel of the royal armies and husband of Émilie-Félicité de Cornulier (sister of Élisabeth de Cornulier), desperately wanted to own this land. Since the right of lineage repurchase could not be exercised, as La Touche had been given to Élisabeth de Cornulier, Lady of Nétumières, in lieu of her mother Françoise Denyau's (????-1682) dowry money, the Cornuliers resorted to taking possession through the feudal repurchase right exercised by an intermediary. The two superior lords of La Touche, Louis IV Henri de Bourbon-Condé (1692-1740), Prince of Condé and Lord of Nozay, and Jean-Baptiste de Cornulier (1648-1720), Lord of Lucinière and Baron of La Roche en Nort, each had the feudal repurchase right of the castellany of La Touche awarded to them for their fiefs in August 1718 and immediately ceded their rights to François de Montmorency and his wife Émilie-Félicité de Cornulier. In 1748, François de Montmorency died in La Touche. The heiress, his daughter Marie Anne de Montmorency (1721-1789), who married Marquis Louis Alexandre Xavier de Carcado (1712-1763) in 1733, sold La Touche on May 8, 1766, to Françoise Bouteiller, Lady of La Berrière, widow of the squire François-Bertrand des Coeuvre. However, Toussaint de Cornulier (1705-1778), Lord of Boismaqueau, had the premises and the right of lineage repurchase awarded to him in the name of his son Jean-Toussaint de Cornulier (1744-1794) by a judgment of the Nantes Regalia in 1767. In 1772, Jean-Toussaint de Cornulier, La Touche passed to his brothers Toussaint-Charles de Cornulier (1740-1779) and Joseph de Cornulier (1745-1776) and was then, at least for the most part, given as a share to a niece, Marie-Anne de Lanloup (1774-1826), married to Jean Marie Louis de Bellingant (1761-1836).

During the French Revolution, the castle was invaded by patriots who set it on fire on February 17, 1790. The National Guard of the canton of Nozay was stationed in La Touche. The castle began its slow decay. In 1794, Captain Sigisbert Hugo (1773-1828), future general of the Empire and father of the poet Victor Hugo, was at the head of the La Touche garrison. La Touche served as a hunting lodge during the First Empire. The castle was occupied in 1815 by the Prussians, who made it definitively uninhabitable. The castle then comprised four large main rooms on the ground floor, numerous rooms upstairs, a corner tower with a vertical wing of the same size.

La Touche was sold on January 29, 1821, to Count François de Monti de Rezé (1788-????) (descendant of Pierre II de Cornulier (1607-1656)) and his wife Olympe Le Roux de Commequiers (1791-????). The old manor was in such a dilapidated state that François de Monti had it demolished to build the current castle around 1827 for the sum of 25,000 gold francs. Then La Touche was given to their daughter Euphrasie de Monti de Rezé (1813-1885), married to Constant-Antoine du Bois de Maquillé (1810-1901), page to King Charles X. Their eldest son, Count Henri du Bois de Maquillé (1846-1934), a Papal Zouave, wounded in Italy fighting against the invaders of the Papal States, inherited it but died without issue. Then the estate passed to his sister, Clémentine du Bois de Maquillé (1854-1945), who died without issue and bequeathed it to her nephew Constant du Bois de Maquillé (1885-1977). His son Daniel (1915-1977) inherited it, then it passed to his son Yannick (born 1945), the current owner. The Château de la Touche was devastated by fire on April 6, 1987. The outbuildings were listed as historical monuments in 1988. A renovation and reconstruction program for the castle and its outbuildings is currently underway in close collaboration with the services of the Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles (DRAC), the Bâtiments de France, the Pays de la Loire Region, and the Loire-Atlantique General Council. Renovation work on the castle began in 1990, and on the outbuildings in 1991.

From 1413 to 1437: Jeanne du Moulin, wife of Robert Sorin, From 1437 to 1498: Jean Sorin, son? of the aforementioned From 1498 to 1504: Bernard de Frosy, by repurchase from the aforementioned From 1504 to 1525: Jean Trégouët, by repurchase from the aforementioned From 1525 to ????: Catherine de Veant, wife of the aforementioned From ???? to 1534: Bernard Trégouët From ???? to 1534: Jean de Veant From 1534 to ????: Pierre Pirault (????-1541), by repurchase from the aforementioned (before 1553): Toussaint de Comaille, by remarriage with Perrine Vivien, widow of the aforementioned From ???? to 1601: Claude de Comaille (????-1601), daughter of the aforementioned From 1563 to 1588: Pierre I de Cornulier (????-1588), husband of the aforementioned From 1601 to 1641: Claude I de Cornulier (1568-1645), son of the two aforementioned From 1641 to 1656: Pierre II de Cornulier (1607-1656), son of the aforementioned From 1656 to 1700: Claude II de Cornulier (1633-1700), son of the aforementioned From 1700 to 1727: Toussaint de Cornulier (1660-1727), son of the aforementioned From 1727 to 1718: Élisabeth de Cornulier (1682-1747), daughter of the aforementioned From 1702 to 1718: Jean-Paul Hay des Nétumières (1668-1726), husband of the aforementioned From 1718 to 1718: Joachim Darquistade, by repurchase from the two aforementioned From 1718 to 1748: François de Montmorency (1676-1748), by repurchase from the aforementioned, brother-in-law of Élisabeth de Cornulier From 1748 to 1766: Marie-Anne de Montmorency (1721-1789), daughter of the aforementioned From 1748 to 1763: Louis Alexandre Xavier de Carcado (1712-1763), husband of the aforementioned From 1766 to 1767: Françoise Bouteiller, by repurchase from Marie-Anne de Montmorency From 1767 to 1767: Jean-Toussaint de Cornulier (1744-1794), great-nephew of Élisabeth de Cornulier, by repurchase from the aforementioned From 1767 to 1770: Toussaint-Charles de Cornulier (1740-1779), brother of the aforementioned From 1770 to 1776: Joseph de Cornulier (1745-1776), brother of the aforementioned From 1776 to 1778: Toussaint de Cornulier (1705-1778), father of the three aforementioned From 1776 to 1780: Marie-Angélique de Cornulier (1717-1793), wife of the aforementioned, niece of Élisabeth de Cornulier From 1780 to 1789: Marie-Anne de Lanloup (1774-1826), granddaughter of the two aforementioned

From 1789 to 1821: Jean Marie Louis de Bellingant (1761-1836), husband of the aforementioned From 1821 to ????: François de Monti de Rezé (1788-????), descendant of Pierre II de Cornulier (1607-1656), by repurchase from the two aforementioned From ???? to 1885: Euphrasie de Monti de Rezé (1813-1885), daughter of the aforementioned From 1885 to 1901: Constant-Antoine du Bois de Maquillé (1810-1901), husband of the aforementioned From 1901 to 1934: Henri du Bois de Maquillé (1846-1934), son of the two aforementioned From ???? to 1945: Clémentine du Bois de Maquillé (1854-1945), sister of the aforementioned From 1945 to 1977: Constant du Bois de Maquillé (1885-1977), nephew of the aforementioned From 1977 to 1977: Daniel du Bois de Maquillé (1915-1977), son of the aforementioned Since 1977: Yannick du Bois de Maquillé (1945), son of the aforementioned