The Château de Montsoreau is situated at the confluence of two rivers, the Loire and the Vienne, and the meeting point of three historical regions: Anjou, Poitou, and Touraine.

[citation needed] In La Dame de Monsoreau,[14] Alexandre Dumas alludes to the origin of the name of the castle: Ah!

– Mount of the mouse, Antraguet continued, this is the etymology: my old abbot learned me this morning: Mons Soricis.The first written source describing the site under the name Restis dates back to the 6th century.

A town developed quickly near the castle, and in the narratio de commendatione Turonice provincie, edited by Salmon in 1854, the site was mentioned as one of oppidis munitissimi et populosis by the second half of the 11th century[18] Written sources from the 12th century attested to a right to raise taxes[19] When the order of Fontevraud was settled in 1101, Fontevraud Abbey was supervised by Gautier de Montsoreau, who took direct orders from the Count of Anjou.

[26] A descendant of Angoumois old noble family (near the city of Angoulême), Jean II de Chambes began in Charles VII service as an esquire in 1426,[27] the years before the interview between the King and Jeanne d'Arc in the Castle of Chinon.

[30] His lordships of Montsoreau and Argenton, but also his governorship of La Rochelle and Lord Provost and Captain of Niort, Talmont-sur-Gironde and Aigues-Mortes assured him revenues.

[31] From 1450 to 1460, Jean II de Chambes [fr] played a role as ambassador, and was called out of Anjou, while the castle was being built.

Closer to Charles VII than Louis XI, Jean II de Chambes gradually withdrew from politics from 1461.

His eldest son, Jean VI de Chambes [fr] inherited the field of Coutancière and saw his lands made up into a barony in 1560.

Four years later, Jean VI de Chambes acquitted himself in the organisation of the "Saint Bartholomew Angevine[34]" in Saumur and Angers.

[36] This ceased to exist during the reign of Louis XIII, and René de Chambes sought a garrison of royal troops but was refused by Richelieu.

The eldest daughter of Bernard de Chambes married Louis Francis Bouchet, who died in 1716,[37] leaving 400,000 livres of debts.

The widow of Louis Francois II de Bouchet Sourches, Marquis of Tourzel, sold the château and what remained of the domain of Montsoreau after 1804.

The external condition of the main building is known through various representations and descriptions made in the second half of the nineteenth century, which reflect the disrepair of the property.

[42][43] The Château de Montsoreau is located at the convergence of two rivers, the Loire and the Vienne, and the intersection of three historical political regions Anjou, Poitou and Touraine.

[citation needed] The castle was built into the bed of the Loire River, at the foot of the hillside, in tufa – the local bedrock, still visible in many places.

Its topographic position is said to be militarily impregnable, as it is located between two small valleys on a plateau of some thirty hectares with steep slopes to the east and the west.

The steps lead to an eight-wedged palmtree-shaped vault, quite similar to those found in Angers’ Barrault dwelling and Saumur’s town hall.

The upper panel is carved with trees and branches representing a coppice in front of which stand a deer, the chief symbol of the hunt.

[46] Auguste Rodin had the pavilion of the Exposition Universelle (to which he added a portico recovered from the Château d'Issy) reinstalled on the heights of Meudon in 1895.

[48] In 2019, the English magazine All About History (Future plc) publishes its 101 World's Greatest castles list and ranked the château de Montsoreau with the number 53.