The first mention of the palace dates from the stay of Emperor Louis the Pious in Poitiers, during the winter of 839-840. The first stone castle was built in the 11th century. From that time on, the palace became the heart of the power of the Counts of Poitou and Dukes of Aquitaine. The great ceremonial hall was built in the 12th century, one of the outstanding examples of medieval civil architecture. This room, still called the Salle des pas perdus, was the place where tributes were received, but also hosted large parties and banquets.

On the initiative of Jean de Berry, major work was carried out in the great hall from 1388. On the south wall, three fireplaces are topped by large windows and four monumental statues. From 1418 to 1436, when Poitiers became one of the capitals of France following the capture of Paris by the English, the hall housed the Parliament of the Kingdom. During the Revolution, the building became a court house. In 1822, a neoclassical porch was built as an entrance in a style reminiscent of antiquity.

The palace is located in the heart of the medieval city and asserts the authority of the Counts of Poitou and Dukes of Aquitaine, which in the 12th century extended from the Loire to the Pyrenees. This building also fulfils a military function and is adjacent to the ancient surrounding wall erected towards the end of the 3rd or beginning of the 4th century.

Built on an artificial mound, the palace was, until the 13th century, surrounded by ditches and the main access was via a stone bridge located to the east. The present-day Rue des Cordeliers, Rue du Marché de Notre-Dame and Rue de la Regratterie still bear the imprint of the circular layout of the medieval moat.

At the age of 15, Eleanor, daughter and heiress of the Duke of Aquitaine, married Louis VII, King of France. Through this marriage, celebrated in Bordeaux in 1137, she brought him the largest duchy in the kingdom. As time went by, disagreement developed between the spouses, aggravated by the absence of a male heir. In 1152, Eleanor obtained a dissolution of her marriage from the Church, citing her blood relation to Louis VII.

Eleanor remarried shortly afterwards to Henry Plantagenet, who became King of England as Henry II in 1154. The Duchy of Aquitaine became part of the English crown. Eleanor held her own court in Poitiers, surrounded by artists and troubadours. Wounded by her husband's infidelity, she incited the Poitevin barons to revolt. Imprisoned until the death of Henry II in 1189, she then tried to establish the authority of her second son, Richard the Lionheart, on the throne of England. His unexpected death in 1199 gave the crown to his other son, John Lackland. Eleanor died in 1204 at Fontevraud Abbey (Maine-et-Loire).

This tower, together with the ceremonial hall, is one of the most important medieval features of the Palace of the Counts of Poitou - Dukes of Aquitaine. Its name is derived from the mall-berg, a former Merovingian court on the site during the early Middle Ages. Its construction was started under the reign of William VII the Troubadour, around 1104. The tower was significantly updated in the late 14th century by the architect Guy de Dammartin under the orders of John, Duke of Berry.
Rebuilt, the monument was given a rectangular footprint and flanked by four round corner towers. The large Gothic windows and the statues at the top give the structure the appearance of a royal residence rather than a fortress. The sculptures depict the main vassal lords of the Count of Poitou grouped around John, Duke of Berry, and his wife, Jeanne de Boulogne. At the back of Square Jeanne d’Arc we can make out the exterior southern wall of the ceremonial hall built from 1388 punctuated by two protruding stairway turrets.  

The ancient wall

In Roman times, Poitiers was an open city without walls that extended over most of the current city centre. An amphitheatre was built at some point during the 1st century CE in the southern part of the Magenta district and thermal baths occupied the site of Saint-Germain Church, in the north.  Towards the late 3rd or early 4th century, the city was pushed back behind high rampart walls. The wall was 2,500 metres long and interspersed by semi-circular towers all around its perimeter. On the back left side of Square Jeanne d’Arc, a section of this wall was unearthed during archaeological digs carried out in the 19th century. Its base was partially constructed from the pilasters and columns of ancient Roman buildings. In the Middle Ages, the Palace was built on top of this rampart and became one of its strong points. The original wall was gradually abandoned in the 12th century and superseded by a new, much bigger wall.

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As part of the Palace restoration project, the City of Poitiers signed an archaeological partnership agreement with the CESCM (Centre for the advanced study of medieval civilisation) at Poitiers University-CNRS and the French government/DRAC (Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs) Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

For at least three years, this joint research project will be led by Nicolas Prouteau, senior lecturer in medieval archaeology, and Claude Andrault-Schmitt, emeritus professor of the history of medieval architecture. Under this agreement, an archaeological dig will be programmed on an annual basis. The results of the research conducted will provide insights for the monument’s restoration and an excellent opportunity to learn more about not just the site but medieval civil architecture more broadly.

This archaeological project-school will be used by a group of 20 archaeology students from Poitiers University to train, practise their excavation techniques and learn more about the history of this exceptional monument.

Initial investigations of the Tour Maubergeon in 2020

An initial project was started at the Palace in summer 2020 to study the Tour Maubergeon and the adjacent corps de logis.

Surveys revealed a floor level dating from the late Middle Ages, located in the lower room used for storage, not far from the kitchen. Under the corps de logis, archaeological digs excavated the edges as well as the interior of an ancient cistern, used to store water. The initial surveys confirmed that the Tour Maubergeon from the 14th century was built on the site of an original rubble stone tower from the 11th century.   

Further research in spring 2021 and spring 2022

The work was resumed in spring 2021 in the basement of the Tour Maubergeon, the cistern, the tower’s first storey and Square Jeanne d’Arc. This part of the project aligned with the digs carried out in the early 20th century by Father Camille de la Croix which unearthed part of the city’s Gallic-Roman wall.

The researchers were particularly pleased with this campaign since they were able to study the foundation of the ceremonial hall’s southern wall and could make out the different phases of construction of the Palace and the adjacent buildings, providing ‘a window into 2,000 years of history’, in the words of Nicolas Prouteau.  The discoveries dated from the modern era back to the Roman era, with a large number of objects unearthed that allowed the team to document everyday life in and around the palace.

A new campaign was conducted in spring 2022 in the corps de logis and Square Jeanne d’Arc. The excavations uncovered the foundations of the Tour Maubergeon, giving insights into how the tower commissioned by John, Duke of Berry was built in the 14th century.

New archaeological findings in 2023

In 2023, an initial phase of the restoration was an opportunity to study the remains of ancient dwellings and shops dating from the 1st to the 3rd centuries CE.
A survey was conducted on certain elements in the Palace’s ceremonial hall: modillons, sculpted capitals and wooden frames. In the tower’s basement, John, Duke of Berry’s plan to rebuild the tower significantly altered the site in the late 14th century. However, much older structures and masonry were also unearthed. The original Tour Maubergeon was built atop the scarp of the moat surrounding the Palace, which was likely hemmed in by other buildings in the north.  
The team unearthed many objects including Carolingian ceramics, stemmed glassware from the 13th century and slate decorated with drawings.

The results of the four-year research period will be published in 2024.

Running alongside the planned digs, archaeological surveys were carried out in 2023 for the purpose of rescue archaeology.