The House of Rougé is mentioned for the first time in 1045 in the charter of the Béré de Bretagne Priory. Its first member was Tugdual, Lord of Rougé, who had died a few years earlier.

The family takes its title from the original fiefdom, the Chatellenie de Rougé, in Brittany. This town is today in the Loire-Atlantique region.

The first members of the House of Rougé lived near their original fiefdom, of which the castle was destroyed in 1173 by the mercenaries of the King of England, while the Rougé family was held in captivity. The Chatellenie de Rougé, by virtue of its size as much as of its many vassalages, and the close family realtionship to the Dukes of Brittany, conferred important rank to members of the de Rougé family in feudal society.

In about 1220, Aimeri of Rougé became owner of the Rues seigneury, in the Duchy of Anjou. This was to be the origin of the line of de Rougé des Rues from whichall the present members of the family are direct descendants. In 1275, Olivier IV de Rougé received the city and lands of Derval following his marriage to Agnès de Derval. This estate increased considerably the power of the family and became one of nine principal fiefdoms of Brittany.

Over the centuries, the House of Rougé would divide into 12 different branches, of which the most well-known are Rougé-Rougé, Rougé de Maidon, Rougé de Derval, Rougé des Rues, Rougé du Plessis-Bellière & du Faÿ, Rougé de Cholet, and Rougé de Caylus.

The primary source for the above information on the House of Rougé is the Histoiregénéalogique de la Maison de Rougé, taken from l'Histoire généalogique des Pairs de France, et des Maisons princières de l'Europe, Tome XI, by Chevalier de Courcelles, Paris 1830.