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For a very comprehensive and full history of the castle, see also http://www.rantoncastle.com/ranton-history2003.html About 1340, at the beginning of the Hundred Years War, the squire of Ranton, Guillaume de Gourmont, undertook to rebuild the existing fort. He was Procurator to the French king in the Duchy of Touraine, then Prevost of Paris from 1339 to 1349. The main towers and the ramparts that are still the remarkable feature of the Chateau were built. In addition, there was probably a second wall outside the dry moat to protect the access to the underground village; a refuge for the surrounding population during the frequent raids and skirmishes. The Chapel would have been within this outer wall and was on the site of the present church. Guillaume's daughter, Jeanne, married Jean de la Jaille in 1345 and the Chateau was part of her dowry. It was associated with the de la Jaille family until 1570.
Jean de la Jaille took part in the expedition to Constantinople in 1400 and died in 1405. His son, Tristan, became the squire and campaigned against the English forces and in Italy.
He was a Chevalier de St Michel and became Senechal of Anjou in 1548. He fought in Italy, Spain, at Arras and at Bapaume where he was taken prisoner and ransomed for 800 ecu. The Chateau was bought by the d'Apchon family in 1581 and passed to the de Chastillon family in a marriage contract in 1581. It is known that this family exercised the feudal rights of "high, middle and low justice" in the manor until 1628. In 1631, the Chateau was bought by Paul Aubin, the squire of various estates in the area: Bourneuf, Ranton, La Jaille and others. It was probably in this period that the second major set of alterations were made to the Chateau: the older of the two towers is typical of this period. The Chateau passed to Christofe Le Sesne de Menille, again by marriage, in 1665. It was sold again on 26 August 1776 to Michel-Ange de Castellane, Brigadier in the King's Army and his Ambassador Extraordinary, who was also owner of the Chateau de Villandry. In 1783 the estate passed to his son, Esprit-François-Henri de Castelland, Marshall to the King's Camp and Chevalier d'Honneur to Madame Sophie, Princess of France. to his brother Esprit-Francois-Henri de Castellane, Marshal to the King's Camp and Chevalier d'Honneur to Madame Sophie, Princess of France.
The Chapel, dedicated to St Leonard, was given to the village by Abbé Aubineau to serve as the parish church in 1862. The deed of gift was written into the commune records on 25 January of that year. Abbé Aubineau did much to preserve the Chateau and to rekindle interest in the shrine of "La bonne Dame de Ranton". However, he certainly would not have had the means to maintain all the buildings. In his will, he left the estate to his great nephews, but they sold it at auction on December 5th 1889. The only bidder was the schoolmaster in the neighbouring village of Curcay, Mr Manson. By this time the Chateau was still habitable, but was little more than a ruin.
They sold it in 1964 to Mr et Mme Piechaud. It was only then that renovation work started. It was sold again in 1969 to Mr et Mme Fonteneau, wealthy publishers in Poitiers, who completed the first renovation in 1969. They in turn sold it to an American couple from Arizona, Mr and Mrs Baker. The property was acquired from the estate of the Baker family in October 1989 by the present owners.
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There was a fortified chateau at Ranton more than a
thousand years ago. Traces still remain
in the Merovingian columns in the tunnels off the moat.
Until the fourteenth century, the squire of Ranton owed allegiance
to the Duke of Anjou.
In December 1394, allegiance was
transferred from Marie de Blois,
wife of Louis I of Anjou, to the Bishop of Poitiers, Patriarch
Simon de Gramant. He transferred feudal rights the following
year to Orable de Maulon, wife of Huet Odart.
He was one of three French knights known
to have seen action against the English forces at Vannes in
1381.
In the 16th century, Rene de la Jaille and his grandson
Rene II held feudal rights to the manor.
Rene II de la Jaille is the earliest of the squires of Ranton to have left
us his likeness .
A pastel drawing of him was done for Catherine
de Medici while he was at her court and it is now in the Fogg
Museum of Art, Harvard.
The Chateau was abandoned during the French Revolution and the
estate passed to the
Marshal's daughter on his death eight years later, in
1797. Still
unoccupied, it passed again to her daughter, Madame d'Ome, who
sold it to the priest of Ranton, Abbé Aubineau on 8 September
1844.
Like many similar properties throughout France, it fell
to the local schoolmaster to preserve as well as he could the
vestiges of the past. Mr Manson is still remembered in the village
as a severe and eccentric recluse. One of the main towers of
the entrance collapsed in 1942 and on his death,
in April that
year, Mr Manson left the estate to his housekeeper and his nephew.
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