Château d'Étampes

Etampes Castle south of Paris was a Capetian royal stronghold, of which only the Tour de Guinette donjon, formed by four half-towers, survives. The 12th-century quatrefoil tower plan is one of the most unusual in France and influenced the later fortress designs of Philippe II Augustus. Louis VII held his first wife Eleanor of Aquitaine here before their marriage was annulled and Eleanor went on to marry Henry Plantagenet of England. During the Hundred Years War and the Wars of Religion, Etampes was repeatedly besieged. Today the plateau and donjon can be visited free of charge; from the foot of the tower the view reaches across the Juine valley.