Montluçon

Montluçon stands beside the Cher beneath the castle of the dukes of Bourbon. A fortress occupied the height by the thirteenth century; Duke Louis II rebuilt part of it and died here in 1410. The castle later passed to the French crown after Francis I seized the possessions of Charles III, Constable of Bourbon, in 1523. Its position above the old town recalls the power of the family whose lands once embraced much of this region.