Château de Brissac — the Green Lady

OVERVIEW

The Château de Brissac stands at Brissac-Quincé in Maine-et-Loire and is the tallest château in France at seven storeys. It is owned by the Cossé family, whose head holds the hereditary title of Duke of Brissac, and is listed as a monument historique. During the Wars of Religion the château was taken in 1589 by the Protestant leader Henry of Navarre and badly damaged; when Charles II de Cossé sided with him and Henry became king, he gave Cossé the property, the dukedom and the money to rebuild it from 1611.

HISTORY

The history the ghost story rests on is real and dates from the earlier castle. Charlotte de Brézé was the illegitimate daughter of Charles VII and his mistress Agnès Sorel. She married Jacques de Brézé, and in 1477 he killed her — and, in the accounts, her lover — having found them together. That much is history.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

The Dame Verte, the Green Lady, is said to appear in the tower room of the chapel, in a green dress, with holes where her eyes and nose should be, and to be heard moaning in the early morning. **vetted = false.** The murder is documented and the family is real; the ghost is not attested in any dated account, and everything in circulation is ghost-tour, travel-blog and popular-book material. The château itself does not build its visit around it. Kept because the underlying killing is on the record and the house is open.

VISITING

Open to visitors in season, guided; the family lives there and also lets rooms. Loire wine country south-east of Angers.