Citadelle de Brouage

Marennes-Hiers-Brouage

In the middle of an ocean of grass where cattle graze, a square enclosure of seven bastions stands guard over a vanished port. In the Middle Ages, the haven of Brouage was the European capital of "white gold": English, Scots, Flemings and Hanseatic merchants came here to load the salt of the marshes. In 1555 Jacques de Pons founded Jacopolis-sur-Brouage there, and Richelieu, who took the title of governor, made it the kingdom's first arsenal on the Atlantic — forges, powder magazines, a provisions hall, enough to house thousands of men behind ramparts that Vauban would further perfect in 1685. It was here that Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec, was born around 1574: New France began in this marsh. And it is here, they say, that one of the great heartbreaks of French history was played out. In 1659, Mazarin exiled his niece Marie Mancini to Brouage to tear her away from the young Louis XIV, who was madly in love with her. The following year, returning from Saint-Jean-de-Luz where he had just married the Infanta for reasons of state, the king made a detour via Brouage: tradition relates that he climbed the ramparts and wept there for long hours over the love he had sacrificed — a scene that Rostand would put into verse. Then the sea withdrew, the channel silted up, the garrison left for Rochefort and fever emptied the houses. What remains is an intact, melancholy citadel, watching over marshes that have become a kingdom of birds.

Getting there : Fortified village in the middle of the marsh, between Rochefort and Marennes (D3). Car parks right beside the ramparts; walls and wall-walk freely accessible. Coordinates taken on the citadel.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound