History
Le Château de Houetteville and the legend of the blue-tit
“In the middle of the 14th-century Le Château de Houetteville was inhabited by the noble and all-powerful Lord William of Houetteville, Prince of Boulay Morin”.
So begins H. Lamiray in his account of the legend of the blue-tit. He goes on,
“The layout of the château, with its towers and ditches, made it inaccessible and impregnable. William had two daughters: Agnes, a brunette and Jehanne, who was blonde. Everyone wished the good young ladies of Houetteville well and in time Agnes became the wife of Richard, Lord of Le Mesnil (in the Viconte region), and Jehanne was proposed to by Jehan du Pommereuil, Lord of Moulin-Chapel (in the Pays d’Ouche region). A sorceress reputed to be able to see into the future had set up her den in one of the caves opposite Houetteville, on the other side of the valley. On being consulted to see if the marriage was desirable, she responded by saying that one day the House of Moulin-Chapel would be inextricably linked to that of Houetteville. The marriage thus took place in extraordinary splendour, amidst a sizeable crowd. The bishop of Evreux and the archbishop of Rouen attended with great pomp. The Pope himself blessed the union and a knights’ tournament was organised, designed to show off their force and skill. The House of Moulin-Chapel was an ally of King Charles of Navarre, nicknamed “The Bad”, and under an obligation to the King of England. Sauvage de Pommereuil, father of Jehan, who fought alongside Duguesclin at the siege of Conches, was chosen by the King of Navarre to prepare the defences of Moulin-Chapel, but the King of France, Charles V, soon got the better of the little Anglo-Norman garrison. However, thanks to his bravery, the King later pardoned Sauvage de Pommereuil.
The Lord of Moulin-Chapel inherited his lands and moved, together with his blonde bride, in to his immense and bleak-looking fortress. Jehan was a fervent enthusiast of wolf hunting and spent much of his time in this pursuit. His wife, Jehanne, complained of his absence and only had her sewing and tapestry work to keep her amused. Jehanne, despite the birth of her son, Jehan, became melancholy and came to feel repulsion for the fortress, whose walls only served to increase her sadness. The moat gave off a foul odour and she longed for the sweetness of life in Houetteville. Her son Jehan grew up and followed the path of his father. One day, to entertain his mother, he organised a wolf hunt. Everything went off marvellously. At the end of the day, everyone returned to the château. On her return, Jehanne lost her way and came upon a log shelter in the woods occupied by an ugly sinister old woman. Some time before, this woman had been exposed while in the stocks in the market square as a witch. She was there as a result of a complaint made by the Lord of Moulin-Chapel to the Viscount of Ferrière. When she realised the beautiful lady in front of her was that of Moulin-Chapel, her head was filled with thoughts of vengeance. She invited her to come in and rest and to accept a drink of mead. Despite her reluctance, Lady Jehanne drank the potion. Shortly after her return to the château she was struck by a terrible fever. She told of her encounter with the witch, who was then put on trial and condemned to the ultimate punishment: to be burnt at the stake.
After a few days of illness, Jehanne’s soul was returned to God. There was an outpouring of grief around the coffin. Then something extraordinary happened. They heard a distinct tapping sound coming from the inside of the coffin… A panic came over those present. Nonetheless, they decided to open the coffin. The lid was barely open when a beautiful blue-tit flew out and sat chirping on a neighbouring credence table. The soul of Jehanne was incarnated in this dear little bird. For a long time afterwards the bird was seen flying round the château grounds, where she continued to watch over her son. He got married, had many children and lived a long and happy life.
The Manor of Houetteville was demolished and rebuilt many times. Even in the last century the château was altered. The previous 14th Century château as well as a wing from the 16th Century château were incorporated into the building we see today. Its massive square, round and hexagonal towers, its pepper-box roofs, buttresses, balconies, watch-towers and rampart walk recall with total sumptuousness the grandeur and the magnificence of castles of the past. In order to rebuild the château, the former owners looked to source the materials from the local area and someone showed them, by chance, the abandoned ruins of Moulin-Chapel, about the history of which they knew nothing.
Soon, stone by stone, joist by joist, the towers, walls and framework of the historical manor house were transported by trucks to Houetteville.
And when the last truck was filled with the characteristic grey stone of the Pays d’Ouche region, the builders stood in stupefaction to see, perched on top of the pile, a fragile blue-tit, that neither the noise of the engines, nor the bumps in the road could frighten or trouble. Everyone saw it, on its arrival, in the Iton valley.
Ever since, she has not left the grounds. The soul of the blonde Lady of Houetteville has come back, happy, to her beautiful home.
The House of Moulin-Chapel really was indisputably linked from then on to that of Houetteville. The sorceress’s prediction, which people didn’t understand at the time, proved itself to be true.
That is the legend of the blue-tit.”
Past owners of Le Château de Houetteville
The Oinville family were the owners of the lands of Houetteville in the 16th and 17th centuries, following the marriage in 1525 of Jean d’Oinville and Catherine de Tessey, Lady of Houetteville. When the land was divided for inheritance between Jean and Louis d’Oinville in the1650s, the former received the lands of La Ferté Fresnel and Louis, the younger of the two, those of Houetteville. Angélique Tresson, the granddaughter of Louis, married François de Chalon, Baron of Cretot and of Houetteville. Another alliance saw the land enter into the Marle family and, under the Restoration, Mlle de Marle sold it to Dominique Hardy. It is to this man that we can attribute the construction of the characteristically 1830s neoclassical château seen in old photographs today.
Passed through marriage to Achille Pouyer, a Rouen magistrate at the end of the 19th-century, this overly sober frontage was replaced in about 1930 by an incredible neo-medieval construction, inspired largely by English and Italian Middle Ages architecture, which makes the picturesque and fairytale edifice you see today. The buildings benefit from a particularly favourable location in the middle of vast estate grounds, marked out in the contours of the valley.
