Six kilometers south-west of Meung along the Loire is a pretty little town which in spite of its size and picturesque qualities, has played its part in the conniving games of Medieval politics. In 1152, the marriage of Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Acquitaine was annulled by the Council of Beaugency in the church of Notre Dame, allowing Eleanor to marry Henry Plantagenet, the future King Henry II of England. Her huge grounds in the south-west of France thus passed to the English crown, which already controlled Normandy, Maine, Anjou and Touraine. The struggles between French and English kings over their claims to these territories, and to the throne of France itself, lasted for centuries.

Liberated by the indefatigable Joan of Arc on her way to Orleans in 1429, Beaugancy was a constant battleground in the Hundred Years' war due to its strategic significance as the only bridge-crossing at that time between Orleans and Blois. remarkably the 26-arch bridge still stands. Restored in the 16th century, the bridge was damaged again in 1940 when the Allied army blew it up at the southern end to prevent the Germans crossing the river.