Château Latour: The Hundred Years’ War
Having been built in 1331 by Gaucelme de Castillon in 1368 the estate then came into the hands of the d’Albret family; it was Bernard d’Albret who took possession, although it seems to have been donated to the family in lieu of service to King Charles V, also known as Charles Le Sage, by Bernard’s brother, Arnaud-Amanieu VIII d’Albret. The tower at this time was, therefore, most certainly in French hands. This was not the state of affairs for very long though; just ten years later, in 1378, the Tor à Saint-Maubert as it was known by this time was placed under siege by the Anglo-Gascon army. The siege was described in detail by Jean Froissart (c.1337 – c.1405), one of the most significant commentators on chivalric life in England and France during the 14th century, in his series of illustrated manuscripts entitled Chroniques (or Chronicles).
Froissart tells us that it was John de Neville (referred to as Neufville by Froissart), Third Baron Neville de Raby, who directed the siege. An English peer and soldier, John belonged to the House of Neville, a powerful noble family based in the north of England. John’s father, Ralph de Neville, Second Baron Neville de Raby, had been appointed Warden of the Marches in 1334, giving him responsibility for the security of the border with Scotland. His son John, who succeeded his father to the barony in 1367, was made ambassador to France in 1368. John followed in his father’s military footsteps, being appointed as Warden of the Eastern March in 1377, a post he held jointly with Thomas Percy, First Earl of Worcester. At the same time John was also appointed the Keeper of Bamburgh Castle, in Northumberland. Even though this position was for life, it did not prevent John, who was both nobleman and knight, from travelling to France to protect English interests, especially in Aquitaine, at that time still an English possession.
