Harcourt Castle

Harcourt Castle - Château d'Harcourt, Harcourt, Eure, Normandy, French Republic.

The Château d'Harcourt is located in the commune of Harcourt, in the Eure department of the Upper Normandy region, France.
Members of the Harcourt family first acquired this territory around the year 1000. However, the earliest documentary evidence of a castle dates back to the second half of the 12th century, when Robert II d’Harcourt accompanied Richard the Lionheart on a Crusade. It was under his direction that the first stone castle was built. The Harcourts were one of the most influential noble families in Normandy. Jean I, Baron d’Harcourt and Viscount of Saint-Sauveur, was a friend of King Louis IX; he joined the King on the Crusade of 1270 and later took part in Philip III’s military campaign in Aragon in 1285.
In 1338, by decree of Philip VI, the lordship of Harcourt was elevated to a county. From the second half of the 16th century, it was held by the powerful House of Guise. In 1588, the castle was occupied by the forces of the Catholic League. By the 17th century, the castle had lost its military significance and was remodeled into a comfortable residential manor; the defensive walls were demolished, and large window openings were cut into the structure.
In 1802, the castle—by then quite neglected and overgrown—was purchased by a lawyer named Louis-Gervais Delamarre, who bequeathed both the estate and its park to the Royal Academy of Agriculture. On January 1, 2000, the Academy transferred ownership to the General Council of the Eure department. Today, the castle is surrounded by a beautiful botanical garden containing over 250 species of plants, including trees that have stood there for more than 200 years.