Château de Semur-en-Brionnais: A Medieval Fortified Castle in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page11 sections
History
Château de Semur-en-Brionnais is a medieval fortified castle in France, among the oldest fortified castles in Burgundy. In 879, Boson of Provence, a ninth-century ruler, entrusted the site to the bishop of Autun. The castle later became the seat of the lords of Semur, whose power grew considerably in the region.
The House of Semur
Freelan of Chamelet, also associated with Chamilly, became lord of Semur and died in 925. His son Joceran, lord of Semur, died in 994 and built the keep whose lowest foundation levels appear to survive in the present rectangular tower. In ecclesiastical terms, the castle depended on the parish of Saint-Martin-la-Vallée. Saint Hugh, the sixth abbot of Cluny, was also born at the castle. Cluny was a powerful Benedictine monastic institution and reform center, and Hugh was its leader during its major period of influence.
The medieval succession continued through Geoffroy I, who died in 1015; Dalmace I, who died in 1048 and for whom the fief was raised to a barony, a territorial lordship held by a baron; Geoffroy II, who died in 1090; Geoffroy III, who died in 1123; Geoffroy IV, who died in 1128; Geoffroy V, who died in 1150; and Dalmace II, who died in 1162. Later lords were Simon I, who died in 1219; Dalmace III, who died in 1226; Simon II, who died in 1247; Henri, who died in 1257; and Héloïse, also called Helvis, who died in 1262.
Transfer of the barony
In 1262, Jean I of Châteauvillain received the barony of Semur from his cousin Héloïse of Semur. He was a grandson of Simon I of Châteauvillain through his mother, Alix of Semur, and was married to Jeanne of Semur. In 1320, Jeanne of Châteauvillain, daughter and heiress of the preceding holders, married Guichard VI, lord of Beaujeu, who died in 1331. Their succession included Édouard I of Beaujeu, who died in 1351; Antoine of Beaujeu, who died in 1374; and Édouard II of Beaujeu, who died in 1400 without children.
Édouard II bequeathed his possessions in 1400 to Louis II of Bourbon, who died in 1410. The barony then passed to Jean I, duke of Bourbon, who died in 1434, and to his second son Louis of Bourbon, count of Montpensier, who died in 1486. In 1485, Gabrielle of Bourbon brought the barony as her dowry to Louis II de La Trémoille. Later engagist holders, meaning people who possessed property under a tenure that could return it to the state, included Jacques de Chabannes, lord of La Palice, and members of the Coligny family, including Gaspard-Alexandre de Coligny, who died in 1694.
Later residence and conservation
Jean du Puy, to whom the castle was alienated by the preceding holder, built a new residence. His son Jacques-Nicolas du Puy added the jailer’s house around 1760 and the bailliage courtroom in 1775. A bailliage was a historic administrative and judicial district, and these additions reflected the castle’s continuing institutional use. The courtroom was built to plans by the architect Guillemot.
In 1793, Jacques-Nicolas du Puy was partly dispossessed of his property, and the barony returned to the state as engagist property. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, an attempt was made to demolish the keep by opening breaches at its base. Enhancement work began in 1968 under a team led by J.-L. Dosso-Greggia. The château was listed as a historic monument on 13 October 1971, and the commune is its owner.
Remains
The castle occupies the narrowest point of a rocky spur. The fortified complex once covered the entire spur, while the surviving remains include a postern, a tall rectangular tower standing on a terrace, and the substructures of a small tower overlooking the valley. The buildings preserve evidence of repeated alterations from the end of the tenth century through the fifteenth century, followed by substantial changes in the eighteenth century.
Fortified entrance
Postern gateway
The postern, a small secondary gate, was extensively altered in 1760. Its original entrance stood on an upper floor and was protected by a portcullis and a machicolation, a projecting opening used to drop missiles or other materials onto attackers. The machicolation rested on an arch and was comparable to defensive arrangements at Chamilly and Sercy. The entrance was later blocked, and stairs were constructed in its place to give access to the first floor of the towers.
Round towers and internal features
The machicolation lies between two round towers with slightly battered bases. Their few arrow slits have embrasures, or inward-facing sides of wall openings, that descend toward the interior. The northern tower contains a cistern. In the western tower, a staircase was built within the thickness of the wall.
Keep and surviving structures
Rectangular keep
The rectangular keep rises 22 metres and has walls 2 metres thick at the base. Beam sockets mark four former floor levels. Its lowest foundation levels appear to date from the end of the tenth century, while most of the structure reflects successive alterations between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. The lower levels use medium-sized masonry with courses arranged in alternating diagonal directions, a technique known as herringbone masonry. Smaller masonry was used on the third and fourth levels.
Blocked openings with semicircular heads remain in the walls, together with a small doorway on the first floor. Its rectangular frame appears to indicate that a footbridge once closed the entrance. Two windows divided by vertical and horizontal stone members survive on the south and west sides. Their inner openings contain stone seats, and they were probably contemporary with a large fireplace, of which only the jambs remain.
Valley tower
The substructures of a small tower overlook the valley. They form part of the surviving evidence for the defensive complex that formerly extended across the rocky spur.
Nearby sites
