Beaugency

Beaugency stands on the Loire between Orléans and Blois, where the river provided both a boundary and a busy route. The lords of Beaugency gained importance in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Lancelin I replaced the original wooden castle with a stone stronghold, and the massive keep survives as a ruined shell.

At the end of the thirteenth century the family sold the fief to the French crown, transferring this fortified position into royal hands. The town also fostered another kind of authority.

Aaron ben Joseph of Beaugency and Eliezer of Beaugency worked as biblical commentators and rabbinical scholars in the twelfth century. Its bridge, medieval keep, churches and later mansion show how river crossing, noble power and scholarship accumulated at one strategic point along the Loire.