Arms of the d'Alogny Family
"De gueules à cinq fleurs de lys d'argent posées en sautoir"
History
Small and
intimate, the existing buildings date mainly from the XIVth Century,
but incorporate part of a much older castle from the time of William the
Conquerer in the XIth Century.
The château has given its name to one of the great noble families of the Poitou, whose members have held high office under some of France's most illustrious kings. In 1249 the Count d'Alogny accompanied Louis IX (Saint Louis) on the sixth crusade. In the XVth century the château was home to Gallehaut d’Alogny, Chamberlain to King Louis XI (1423-1483), and Charles-Henri d’Alogny, Marquis de la Groix (born 1662) became a leading figure in the French colonisation of Canada.
Numerous graffiti, scratched on the stonework long ago by children include contemporaneous representations of ladies in mediæval costume, as well as signatures and dates in renaissance lettering.
At one time the Château d’Alogny was much larger than it is today, and is believed to have possessed as many as four towers. The present buildings show abundant evidence of this former glory. Only the cellars, with their rounded Norman arches, remain from the earliest period. The new wing, with its large Renaissance window and fine fireplace, was added in the XVIth Century.
This part of France has had a turbulent history. As a consequence of William of Normandy's successful conquest of Britain in 1066, succeeding English monarchs believed themselves rightful heirs to extensive domains on the continent. Kings of France laid claim to the same lands, and the resulting intermittent warfare continued for many centuries.
Most
notable was the Hundred
Years War (1337-1453) when England's Plantagenet kings challenged the
Capetian monarchs of France in a series of short but bloody engagements.
The claims of the English crown were not wholly unreasonable. Edward II had married
the daughter of Phillip IV of France. His son, Edward III, appeared to
have a strong claim to French lands after Phillip IV's son died heirless
in 1328, but the French nobles, quoting ancient Salic law, refused to
accept his inheritance, it being only through the female line. Of such
legal wrangling was vicious conflict born.
The
Hundred Years War resounds with famous names such as Crécy and Agincourt,
forever etched into the memory of every English schoolboy. In 1356 the Black
Prince, son of Edward III, scored a notable victory over John II of France at
the battle of Poitiers - barely 50 km south of Alogny. This led, in 1360, to the Peace of Brétigny in
which Aquitaine
passed once again to the English, and left thousands of unemployed soldiers
ravaging the French countryside. 
This political instability resulted in extensive châteaux construction and expansion throughout the region. As a safeguard, many nobles built underground escape tunnels, often linked to neighboring castles. The lords of Alogny were apparently no exception, evidence of such souterrains having been recently discovered close by.