Château de Suscinio The Château de Suscinio or de Susinio is a French castle , built in the late Middle Ages , to be the residence of the Dukes of Brittany . It is located in the commune of Sarzeau in the département of Morbihan , near the coast of the Atlantic ocean . The spectacular site comprises the moated castle , a ruined chapel , a dovecote , and a few ruined outbuildings . History . Designed to be a place of leisure , between the seaside and a forest full of game for hunting , the castle ' s first " logis seigneurial " ( seigniorial house ) dates from the beginning of the 13th century . The castle was fortified and enlarged , at the end of 14th century , when the heirs of the duchy had to fight to keep their assets ( Brittany was not yet fully united to France and did not become so until 1514 ) , after the castle was taken by Bertrand du Guesclin , the infamous Constable of France . John V and John VI constructed a new seigniorial residence block with a large , new corner tower known as the " Tour Neuve " . A casemate was added at the end of 15th century to protect artillery pieces . Suscinio and the Wars of The Roses . From 1471 to 1483 , the castle housed Jasper Tudor , Henry Tudor ( later King Henry VII of England ) , and the core of their group of exiled Lancastrians , numbering about 500 by 1483 . Since the castle could only house some 100 persons , the rest must have been billeted close about , in Kermoizin and other villages nearby . Duke Francis II generously supported this group of exiled Englishmen against all the Plantagenet demands that he should surrender them . For 11 years , Suscinio was an armed camp , alert against any attempt to kidnap Jasper and Henry and return them to England where they were under attainder and would have been promptly executed as threats to Yorkist rule . Duke Francis supported the failed Lancastrian rebellion and invasion of England in 1483 with 40 , 000 gold crowns , 15 , 000 soldiers , and a fleet of transport ships . When the Duke suffered one of his periods of incapacitating illness , his treasurer Pierre Landais agreed to surrender Henry Tudor to the representatives of King Richard III , in return for a pledge of 3 , 000 English archers to defend Brittany against a threatened French attack . News of this plot by Landais reached the exiled Lancastrians just in time for both the Tudors to separately escape , hours ahead of Landais ' soldiers , across the nearby border into France , where they were received at the court of King Charles VIII . When Duke Francis II regained his faculties shortly thereafter , he offered the 400 remaining Lancastrians still at and around Suscinio safe - conduct into France , and even paid their expenses . This may have been the last official use of the castle by the Breton Dukes . Duke Francis II died in 1488 , and was succeeded by his 11 - year - old daughter , Anne , last ruling Duchess of Brittany , and twice Queen of France . She died in 1514 and Brittany lost its autonomy , becoming part of France . The castle was then slowly abandoned by the aristocracy . In the early sixteenth century , the former great hall of the 14th century along the northern curtain - wall , was destroyed . The castle was then confiscated by the French crown under King Francis I who offered it to one of his mistresses . In 1795 , Suscinio was temporarily occupied by the royalists coming from Quiberon and heading to the north of the department . Written off in the 17th and 18th centuries , the castle was used off - and - on as a stone quarry until the Revolution . During the Revolution , it was sold to a merchant who continued to sell the stones , and it fell into even greater ruin . The restoration . The " Département " of Morbihan bought it in 1965 , from the family of Jules de Francheville who attempted to preserve and restore the castle , and began the restoration in earnest . The remains of a ducal chapel was found in the vicinity outside of the moats ; its remarkable tiled floor has been carefully removed and restored and is now exhibited in a hall of the castle . Nowadays , Suscinio Castle has again regained its allure of an intact medieval fortress , but major restoration work continues . The castle may be unique in W . Europe because of its restoration to its presumed late - 15th century condition ; because many other medieval fortresses made obsolete by the use of cannon in warfare were either dismantled or modernised to become " comfortable country houses " . Today , few other medieval fortresses remain , structurally , as they were at the height of their late - medieval strength and power ; and in this lies the particular interest of the Château de Suscinio . Exhibitions and summer events attract many people . Since 1840 , the castle has been listed as a " monument historique " by the French Ministry of Culture .