Nantouillet Castle

The Castle of Nantouillet (Chateau de Nantouillet, ), at Nantouillet, in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France, around 30 kilometers to Paris. The Castle of Nantouillet was a strategic fortress, due to its exceptionallocation had the power to control the region militarily, whose sovereign family were the Lords of Nanteuil (Latin: de Nantolio or Natolii).

Early history
The French King Charles II the Bald in 851 William (Walwain, Gawain, Walganus, Gauwinus or Guglielmo), a Normandy knight from the current Norway, gave to the lordship of the city of Tours, several castles in Provence and a castle about fifty kilometers from Paris, the Castle of Nantouillet (latin: de Nantolio) . The name, which was originally in Latin "Vicar Natolinensis" until the tenth century, is traced by some researches with the name the Castle Nantolium Alduini (or Nantolio Houduini or Nantogilum Hilduini), sometimes called de Nantouillet  in the canton Nanteuil-le-Haudouin,   at the Ile de France, about thirty kilometers from Paris. The next was called also Nantolium Hilduin (Nanteüil le Haudoüin), the second part of the compound name is derived from the first noble of inheritance law that appears, called Hildouin de Breteuil (also called d'Haudouin, Geldouin, Harduin), Lord of Nanteuil-Le-Haudouin, of Breteuil, of Ramerupt, Creil and Viscount of Chartres, Grand Master of France in the eleventh century with King Robert II of France, husband of Emmeline de Chartres in 1028 and father of Adèle (Alix) de Breteuil wife of Raoul de-Valois Crépy, count of Crépy-Valois, and Amiens Bar-sur-Aube, from this date the history of the dynasty of de Nanteuil (Natoli) is confused and develops with the history of the kingdom of France.

The Count of Troyes (Counts of Champagne) appears for the first time in the second half of the XII century as a possession of the family of Harduin such us the de Nanteuil (de Natoli).

The knight Jean de Nantouillet, Riom, on 8 February 1370, financed and personally led a military expeditions to the Kingdom of France. Another Jean de Nantouillet, probably his nephew or his son, was the chamberlain of John, Duke of Berry, and then Senechal de Toulouse.

Regnaut de Nantouillet, often mentioned in the chronicles of the time, was Grand Chamberman of France of the King Charles V of France. In May 1389 he took part in the medieval games of Saint-Danis in honor of the arrival of the Princess Isabeau of Bavaria, and in the games of the sacred ceremony of "du Guesclin". Also he was the only survivor together with the King Charles VI of France, of the dramatic event of Bal des Ardents in 1393. He participated in the journey "of barbarism".

The nobility of law was formed only in the eleventh century, mainly due to military functions and privileges of ownership of land.

The castle was a second residence in the sixteenth century of the French cardinal and politician, Chancellor of France Antoine Duprat.

Sigillum and coat of arms
All the sigillum of the Knights of Nantouillet or de Nanteuil, also in their modification and customization, have the same pattern model, and a matrix that come from the same medieval workshop of production, witnessing their legancy in the family. The Glazes of the sigillum of de Nantouillet dynasty are present in numerous medieval French armorial, including the "Armorial d'Urfe" (with colors silver and blue), but also in the armorial of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which were knights in Armorial “la cour amoureuse”. The heraldic significance of gryphone was used to denote strength and military courage and leadership, but also wisdom, compassion, intuition and great sense of loyalty.