Château de Rustéphan

About

Rustephan Castle is a former manor house dating from the 15th and 16th centuries in ruins, located in the former French commune of Nizon, near Pont-Aven in the Finistère department. It was built around 1480 by Jean du Fou, the chamberlain of King Louis XI, the great echanson of France.

According to tradition, a first castle was built at the present location by a son of the Duke of Brittany, Étienne, Count of Penthièvre and Lord of Nizon, who died around 1137. The name "Rustephan" means "Château d'Étienne" in Breton. We know that in 1250 the castle belonged to Blanche de Castille. According to some historians, it is a former hunting lodge for the Dukes of Brittany. Its position at the entrance of a large wood that covered largely the parish of Nizon and where game abounded make this assertion plausible. The present building of which only a few ruins remain was built by John II of the Fou, great echanson of France, son of Jehan I of the Fou, squire, lord of Kerjestin in Ergué-Gabéric and Rustephan, husband of Typhaine of Saint-Juzel; John II of the Fou died in 1492. The daughter of John II of Fou and Jeanne of La Rochefoucault...