It was René De Montbourcher, son of Tristan De Montbourcher (aide-de-camp of Guy IX of Laval, knight of the Orders of Saint Michael and the Temple, and a Crusader), who built the first castle at La Giraudais in 1306. Guillaume De Léziart, a knight and aide-de-camp to Jean IV of Rieux, acquired the castle in 1470. In 1480, Master Jan Moustard, chief archer of Duke François II, arrived at La Giraudais with his son, Master Raoul Moustard. They were sent with Jean De La Celle (future lord of La Sécardais in Mézières) to Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier by Jean IV of Rieux, alongside Guillaume de Rosnyvinen, governor and later Captain of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, first cupbearer to the Duke, and master of waters and forests. Master Raoul Moustard was then the head of the guard at the fortress of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, which he was tasked with reinforcing.

The Battle of July 28, 1488, took place on the lands of La Giraudais. Guillaume de Léziart fought alongside Jean IV of Rieux. No documents mention the Château de la Giraudais during the battle except in reference to the fact that the fighting took place on its lands.

It was in the early eighteenth century, in 1716, that Vincente Védier De La Hervoye, then owner of La Giraudais, married Charles-Marie Tuffin De La Rouerie, the uncle of the famous Colonel Armand Tuffin De La Rouerie, founder of the Breton Association and the initiator of the Chouannerie. The estate passed into the hands of the De La Rouerie family.

At the end of the eighteenth century, in 1780, the Le Beschu De Champsavin family decided to completely rebuild the castle. The old fortress was demolished, and the stones were reused to construct the current castle, inspired by the coastal malouinières, as well as the neighboring orangery. Only the ruins of the keep and the moats remain from the old castle, now integrated into the estate’s pond. The style of the new castle gives it more the appearance of a country house. The chapel was remodeled in 1784.

After several changes of ownership, the castle was acquired in 2015 by Laurence and Jérôme Jacquet. Today, the Château de la Giraudais is the preferred venue for our historical show, nestled in a natural green setting, on the very land of the significant Franco-Breton, and European, Battle of July 28, 1488, which we reenact, in a beautiful coincidence between a place and its history…

And about a kilometer from the Château de la Giraudais, in a straight line, lies the Château de Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, once built by Duke of Brittany Pierre I in 1223-1225, and which was destroyed a year after the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, on the orders of Charles VIII in May 1489… Its beautiful ruins have recently been enhanced, consolidated, and preserved by works commissioned by the Ille-et-Vilaine General Council.