Passavant

Passavant stands above the upper Layon on the southern edge of Anjou, facing the country of Poitou. The counts of Anjou established a stronghold here in the eleventh century, and the castle's stone buildings guarded a route across the frontier between the two regions. During the Hundred Years' War an English garrison occupied Passavant in 1359 and 1360; the Treaty of Brétigny provided for its withdrawal. The castle and the village below it remained a reminder of the fortified border country through which armies had passed.