Châtellerault is a commune in the Vienne département, in the Poitou-Charentes région of France. It is located north of Poitou in Touraine.

History

It was an important stronghold on the northern March of Poitou, established by the Count of Poitiers to secure his borders in the early 10th century. The count's local representative, the Vicomte de Chatellerhault was established as a hereditary appointment by the time of Airaud who was probably a kinsman of the counts of Auvergne and dukes of Aquitaine; his heirs were vicomtes until the mid 11th century.

The daughter of Aymeric I, Aenor de Chatellerault (ca 1103 - ca 1130), whose mother had been the "mistress" in the new courtly love poetry of the troubadour lord William, sixth Count of Poitiers and ninth Duke of Aquitaine, who lodged in his tower the "dangereuse de Chatellerault," married his son, William X of Aquitaine, and was mother of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The title, Vicomte de Chatellerault, passed in turn to each of three great French noble families: La Rochefoucauld, Lusignan and, from the 13th century until the French Revolution, to the family of Harcourt.

From 1816 to 1968, Chatellerault was a center of sword and arms manufacture for the French government.

Coat of arms

1°) D'argent, au lion de sable, lit. with the sand lion. (Malte-Brun, La France illustrée , volume V, 1884)

2°) D'argent, au lion de gueules, à la bordure de sable chargée de besants d'or, lit. with the lion of mouths, the sand border charged with the golden beasts. (Malta-Brown, la France illustrée, volume V, 1884)

Twinned cities

• Velbert, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

External links

• City council website (in French)
• Tourist office website
• Brief history of the manufacture de Chatellerault