Château de la Motte (Loiret – France)

It is the first medieval castle of octagonal shape built in France. It was initially built in 1121 and welcomed Charles VII in 1429. A century later, in 1539, it is François I who made a passage there to sign the edict of the Blanque.

It is in this edict that appears the beginnings of what will be later the National Lottery (at the time Royal Lottery).

King Charles IX ordered its dismantling in 1568 (Wars of Religion) when it belonged to the family of the famous Protestant admiral de Coligny.

At the beginning of the XVIIth century, his daughter, Louise de Coligny, had the castle rebuilt after having inherited it from her father, who was murdered (as was her husband) during the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre.

She never lived there. Louise soon remarried William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, who was also murdered in Delft during a dinner party.

The admiral’s daughter left Holland where she had settled – totally depressed – in 1620. Marie de Médicis suggested that she come to the Château de Fontainebleau to heal her grief. She died there the same year…

Note the sad end of another owner of the château, Jean Fougeret (Receiver General of Finances) who was guillotined during the Revolution.

Built on the foundations of the old fortress, the castle of La Mothe, due to its original architecture (built on three of the sides of the octagon that formed the old fortress), its undeniable elegance and its location in the heart of a magnificent medieval city (Château-Renard) is undoubtedly – in spite of the sad stories linked to its owners – the most beautiful residence that you will be able to contemplate in the department of Loiret.

⚠️ THIS CASTLE IS NOT OPEN TO VISIT