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Helen Tower
“When you are old enough, in the evening, by candlelight, Sitting by the fire, reeling and spinning, Say, singing my verses, marvelling: “Ronsard celebrated me when I was beautiful!” Then you will have no maid hearing such news, Already under the half-sleeping toil, Who at the sound of Ronsard will not go awake, Blessing your name with immortal praise. I’ll be under the earth, and, boneless ghost, By myrtle shadows I’ll take my rest; You’ll be at the hearth an old crouch, Regretting my love and your proud disdain.”
Excerpt from Pierre Ronsard’s Sonnets pour Hélène
Hélène de Fonsèque is the maid-daughter of Catherine Medici. Nicknamed mademoiselle de Surgères because of the place where her family owns a castle, she is saddened by the loss of her husband.
The queen then ordered a collection from Pierre Ronsard to ease her pain. The poet then met the daughter of the lord of Surgères in the literary salon of the marshal of Retz. He then falls under her charm. He immediately chose to make her his muse. The artist wrote Sonnets for Helen, one of the writer’s most famous works. But the young woman rejects Ronsard’s advances because she remains above all faithful to her dead husband.
When the sovereign died, Hélène de Fonsèque returned to her good city of Surgères where she built a hospice. She remained in the family castle until her death on January 15, 1618, at the age of 72.
Today, only the remains of a tower of the castle built in the twelfth century, called the Helen Tower, can be visited.
Pierre Ronsard published Sonnets for Helen when he was 54 years old; Hélène de Fonsèque was 21 years younger than him.
Eglise Notre Dame
Le château de Surgères is an architectural ensemble composed of several historical buildings.
Built at the end of the Carolingian period, the castle of Surgères is home to several remarkable sites within its walls, including the church of Notre-Dame de Surgères and its 23-metre long façade, the entrance porch, the former intendance, the former presbytery and its rose garden, the Renaissance gate, the Hélène tower, the former seigneurial dwelling, which is now the town hall, and the park.
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By Damien Canteau
Passionné par l'Histoire, les animés, les Arts et la bande dessinée en particulier, Damien est le rédacteur en chef du site spécialisé dans le 9e art, Comixtrip.