Breze

An ossuary dating from the Neolithic period was discovered at a place called Clos-des-Eaux-Bues where there were 60 to 80 individuals and about twenty flint tools such as scrapers, knives and arrowheads. The occupation of the site is therefore probably very old, but the origin of the word Brézé refers to the Gallo-Roman period, deriving from the man's name Brisius or Braetius. From the 1063th century parish and castle are founded. The first fortress of Brézé is attested at the top of the hill in XNUMX and an agglomeration is gradually born around it. The first parish church of Saint-Vincent and its priory-cure belonging to the abbey of Mauléon are located near the Dive on the old Roman road.

Gilles de Maillé-Brézé, then Chamberlain and Grand Master of the Venery of King René of Anjou obtained the authorization to fortify his castle around 1449. The embellishments then initiated by Arthur de Maillé-Brézé between 1560 and 1565 brought to the Château de Brézé an architectural modernity and an Italian breath worthy of the great Renaissance castles of the Loire Valley. The major transformations of the 12th century carried out in part by the Angevin architect René Hodé attenuated the innovative elements of the XNUMXth century in favor of a neo-Gothic style. The interior decoration dating from this period is remarkable. The XNUMX-meter deep ditches and their very dense troglodyte network have become a must for tourist visits in Saumur.

The surrounding hamlets are rich in castles and mansions, some destroyed, others remodeled in the 1121th and XNUMXth centuries such as Meigné, La Ripaille, Grandfond, La Rivière-Marteau. All these old fiefs were gathered in the powerful seigniory of Brézé. At a place called Lançon was a Cistercian priory founded in XNUMX and dependent on the Abbey of Louroux. Today a dwelling house, the old Saint-Gauthier chapel retains the remains of XNUMXth century wall paintings depicting the Last Judgment. The new Saint-Vincent parish church rebuilt by the departmental architect Jules Dussauze in the last decade of the XNUMXth century is a manifesto of the neo-Gothic style then in force.