Richard the Lionheart commissioned the castle, and work began in 1196 and was largely complete by 1198. The estimated cost was about 12,000 pounds. No master mason is named, and a military historian suggested Richard may have acted as overall architect. It sits on a limestone promontory about 295 feet (90 m) above the Seine at Les Andelys, though the text says it was built on soft chalk.
The plan is concentric, with three baileys separated by rock-cut ditches and a keep in the inner bailey. The outer bailey is pentagonal, and the inner wall has semicircular projections that the text calls unparalleled. It is one of the earliest European castles with machicolations.
Philip II of France captured it after a siege from September 1203 to March 1204. Henry IV ordered its demolition in 1599, which left a ruin, and it was classified a monument historique in 1862. The inner bailey is open from March to November.
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