In 1603, the stronghold of Regnéville was sold to Isaac de Pienne, Lord of Lingreville and Bricqueville-sur-Mer situated a few kilometres south of the castle. From Regnéville, he participated in a protestant conspiracy which proposed to raise Normandy to create a diversion from the siege of La Rochelle in 1628.
While Louis XIII ordained the demolition of the fortifications of towns that were not on borders or deemed unimportant for the kingdom, the Regnéville castle was temporarily saved. It was under these circumstances that Isaac de Pienne succeeded his grandfather in 1629. The man reputedly had a “licentious and disorderly temperament” with “his big and bothersome house by the sea”. In 1637, 11 years after the demolition instructions of Louis XIII, the castle was flattened.
Louis XIII preferred mobile wars to interminable town sieges such as that of La Rochelle in 1628.
> Which trusted man, responsible for the destruction of the Keep of Regnéville castle, did he entrust the siege of La Rochelle ?
Answer : Amand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu – The Cardinal Richelieu.
