The castle property is mentioned in a cartulary in Champagne at the end of the 11th century, naming a member of the House of Bourbon (rulers of Bourbonnais) and a brother of Charles Martel. It then passed into the ownership of Pierre Barres and his brother, Guillaume, who won fame for their family by saving the French king at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. Next, the Sully family, of the Loire Valley, came into possession of the castle for over a century in a period wherein the castle became an important base from which to harass the English during the Hundred Years' War. After the French defeat at Poitiers in 1356, it became the only castle in the region to remain in French hands. Similarly, it lost all military importance with the French victory at the end of the Hundred Years' War.