Chateau de Saumur – as pictured in Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry in 1410.
Saumur is a town in the Maine-et-Loire département, which is within the Pays de la Loire région in North-Western France on the Loire River. It is known for its cavalry school and for its wines. The town, dominated by the château of the dukes of Anjou, is located on rising ground between the Loire River and its tributary the Thouet, 3 km from their confluence.
Early settlement of the region goes back many thousands of years. Located on the south of the town is France’s largest neolithic megalith. The Dolmen de Bagneux is 23 meters long and built from 15 large slabs of the local stone weighs over 500 tons.
Prior to the French Revolution Saumur was the capital of the Sénéchaussée de Saumur, a bailiwick, which existed until 1793. Saumur was then the location of the Battle of Saumur during the Revolt in the Vendée, becoming a state prison under Napoleon Bonaparte. The town was an equestrian centre with both the military cavalry school from 1783 and later the Cadre Noir based there.
The Château de Saumur was constructed in the 10th century to protect the Loire river crossing from Norman attacks after the settlement of Saumur was sacked in 845. The castle, destroyed in 1067 and inherited by the House of Plantagenet, was rebuilt by Henry II of England in the later 12th century. It changed hands several times between Anjou and France until 1589.
The town’s industries include the processing of the traditional agricultural products of the region (wines, mushrooms, and vegetables), aluminum fabrication, and plastics manufacture. Saumur is also an administrative and service centre. Pop. (1999) 29,857; (2014 est.) 27,301.
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