page_title: Château de Brest
section_title: Ducal castle
hierarchical_section_title: Château de Brest / History / Ducal castle
caption_attribution_description: Le donjon du château de Brest, en arrière plan la tour Tanguy à Recouvrance - Format 16/9 - journée du patrimoine.
context_page_description: The Château de Brest is a castle in Brest, Finistère, France. The oldest monument in the town, it is located at the mouth of the river Penfeld at the heart of the roadstead of Brest, one of the largest roadsteads in the world. From the Roman castellum to Vauban's citadel, the site has over 1700 years of history, holding right up to the present day its original role as a military fortress and a strategic location of the highest importance. It is thus the oldest castle in the world still in use, and was classified as a monument historique on 21 March 1923.
  The structure's heterogeneous architecture has been the result of continual adaptations to developments in siege warfare and armament on land and sea. The château stands on the opposite bank to the Tour Tanguy combining to defend the entrance to the Penfeld.
context_section_description: The war re-erupted in 1403.  John V was in his turn captured during the war between France and England.  It was this era which truly gave birth to the town and port of Brest, to the detriment of the castle.  The two banks were the objects of attack one after the other.  In 1405 the castle's old captain, the earl of Huntingdon, burned the fleet of the count of Marche which was anchored in the Penfeld.  John V marched on Brest at the head of 2,200 men, and he was joined by the Marshal of Rieux with 700 men at arms and Tanguy du Chatel with his peasants armed with pitchforks.  Exacerbated by the English exactions, Huntingdon and his troop made them carve a piece.  The Admiral of Brittany, John of Penhoat, left Roscoff and concluded the battle by destroying and capturing 40 ships and 2,000 men.  The English were repulsed once more in 1453 by the garrison of Jean de Quelennec, vicomte du Faou and Admiral of Brittany, though Crozon was pillaged and burned in reprisal.
  The 15th century was one of great works to adapt to new weapons and developments in defensive works.  The castle's commanders (the comte de Languevez, 1405 - Éon Phelips, 1407 - Tanguy de Kermorvan, 1424) restored the castle and made it proof against siege engines.  As in other fortified towns of the era, the duke built a fortified residence with the aim of making his stays in Brest more pleasant and more secure.  He thus added the tour Duchesse Anne, the tour Nord and the tour Azenor (which became a cellar), a kitchen, rooms, lodgings and a chapel.  The collection of towers was linked by curtain walls and formed a true "closed-town" lordly castle.
caption: The keep
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