page_title: Château de Brest
section_title: The dukes of Brittany
hierarchical_section_title: Château de Brest / History / The dukes of Brittany
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Les plus anciennes représentations connues du château illustrent le siège de Brest par le duc de Lancastre en 1386. Chroniques de Jean Froissart. manuscrit du XVe siècle. La scène n'est pas réaliste, ni dans les phases du combat, ni dans le matériel employé (des bombardes sur roue). La mer ne figure même pas dans le paysage. Cette minialure symbolise néanmoins l'importance stratégique de la place de Brest à la fin du Moyen Age ainsi que l'âpreté des luttes pour son contrôle.
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 'burg' expanded and left the castle.  One of the two earliest burgs was situated beside Recouvrance (right bank) at the foot of what is now called the Tour Tanguy, and the other, larger and more enclosed one in front of the castle (left bank).
  In return for services rendered, Philip IV of France made John II a peer, but John's death led to a 22-year war of succession in the dukedom.  In 1341, John, count of Montfort, half-brother of John III, fought Charles de Blois (husband of Jeanne de Penthièvre) for the dukedom.  It was vital for John to capture Brest's castle, to prevent it becoming a refuge for his enemies or a landing-point for his enemies' ally Edward III of England.  To make certain his siege would be successful, he ensured he had a large numerical superiority and powerful siege engines to batter a breach in the walls, but even so the assault lasted several days.  The castle's captain Garnier de Clisson was killed in a counter-attack when he was trapped outside the walls by the closed portcullis, and so the defenders surrendered on the condition that their lives would be spared.  This was the last time the castle would be taken by force.  John of Montfort restored the buildings he had damaged in the siege and added to the defences, putting in place a garrison under Tanguy du Chastel, who built Brest's first enclosure.
  On 7 September, the court of peers decided in favour of Charles de Blois's right to the duchy, and at the end of the year John of Montfort was imprisoned in the Louvre. His wife Jeanne of Flanders returned to the castle to shelter within its walls and sent an emissary to Edward III to seek an alliance.  Thus the English set up a base in the castle thanks to the political disorders of August 1342, giving them control of the maritime route used by their trading ships and military convoys from 1342 to 1397.  William of Rohan, earl of Northampton, headed the base with the title of lieutenant-general of Brittany, and Edward rejoined them in Brest 2 months later to support the rights of Montfort.
  The Treaty of Guérande of 12 April 1365 concluded that women could only lay claim to the duchy of Brittany should there be no legitimate male heirs to the House of Brittany. John of Montfort rendered homage to Charles V of France and so Edward III no longer had any reason to continue his military presence at the castle.  However, the place was too important to give up and Montfort was still financially dependent on England.  Thus Charles V let Montfort off participating in the war he then launched on Edward III, but Montfort played a double game and passed a treaty on 21 February 1372 to open his lands to English troops even though Duguesclin and Clisson were marching from Brittany against him. Concarneau was captured.
  In the spring the Breton lords seized the duchy's principal lands, denouncing their overlord, siding with the French king, rallying around the viscount of Rohan and charging constable Du Guesclin with hunting down the English. Montfort fled Brest for England on 28 April 1373 and the constable won victory after victory, retaking Concarneau and finally ending up before the walls of Brest castle in August.  Command of English forces in the east had been entrusted to Sir John Neville under the authority of lieutenant-general Robert Knowles, with Brest's garrison under the famous English captains Robert Kermoulés and Fenville.  After three weeks of siege Du Guesclin concluded a 6-week truce to begin on 6 July.  At the end of that period, Kermoulés promised to hand Brest castle over to the besiegers' if no other help reached its defenders by then and under the condition that the place could not be re-supplied.  The constable left the siege under the command of Olivier de Clisson to rejoin the duke of Anjou at the siege of the château de Derval. Clisson used the truce period to build the fort du Conquet.  On 2 August, the English fleet under Salisbury (who also took over command of the castle) disembarked supplies and reinforcements which definitively rendered the castle impregnable.
  The Treaty of Br
caption: The 1386 siege of Brest
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