The Château de Chinon is a Medieval castle perched on a spur above the town of Chinon on the right bank of the River Vienne a few kilometres before it meets the Loire. Built during the 11th century by the Count of Blois it was aquired by the Counts of Anjou, eventually passing to King Henry II of England in 1156, a prominent and very powerful member of the Angevin house.

Much of the Medieval structure was the work of Henry and he spent a lot of time here, eventually dying at the castle in 1189. With the strongman gone, King Phillip II of France was able to take the Castle in 1205 from John Lackland (King John I) after a lengthy siege and, while it was used as a prison for the Knights Templar during the early 14th C, it was not used as a residence again till the 15th century by Charles VII of France who used it as his capital.