Château de Montcony: A Fortified Residence in Burgundy
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Burgundy, French
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page13 sections
History
Château de Montcony is a civil fortified residence in France, situated at Montcony in the Bresse louhannaise region of Saône-et-Loire. Probably built in the thirteenth century, it was associated with the Montcony family, whose members served in the entourage of the dukes of Burgundy. The family name also appears as Montconis or Montconys.
The Montcony family and the Burgundian period
The Montcony family is documented from the thirteenth century, when the castle probably took shape as a fortified noble residence. In 1280, Renaud, lord of Montcony, founded a chapel dedicated to Saint Eusebius. The castle later received an important visitor in 1434, when Guillaume de Montcony, a chamberlain, welcomed Isabella of Portugal, the Portuguese princess who became Duchess of Burgundy through marriage.
The residence was modified in the fifteenth century. Its later history remained closely connected with successive noble families who held the estate and adapted it to changing social and architectural conditions.
Changes of ownership after 1657
After Charles, the last baron of Montconis, died in 1657, the estate passed to René de Franay. It was sold in 1676 to Antoine Arviset, an écuyer, meaning a member of the noble or armigerous class, who also served as treasurer-general for Burgundy and Bresse. In the late seventeenth century, Jean Jehannin, a councillor of the Parliament of Dijon, acquired the property and sold it in 1712 to the La Rodde family.
Claude de La Rodde, lord of Charnay and commander of the Fontanges Regiment, held the estate until his death in 1734. His son Charles-Louis, who was married to Nicole-Étiennette de Ganay, became the commune’s first mayor and died in 1792. Their only son, Étienne-Charles-Louis, emigrated during the French Revolution, later returned to France, and died in 1804.
The La Rodde and Mareschal de Longeville families
Marie-Hector de La Rodde, the son of Étienne-Charles-Louis, became mayor of Montcony in 1815 and died in 1857. He was buried in the chapel of Bellefond at Saint-Martin-en-Bresse. His widow, Diane de Balathier, retired to the Abbaye-aux-Bois in Paris, where she died ten years later.
Because Marie-Hector and Diane had no direct heir, the estate passed to Diane’s nephew, Philibert-Gustave Mareschal de Longeville de La Rodde. His descendants retained ownership, and both Marie-Louis-Paul Mareschal de Longeville de La Rodde and his son Olivier served as mayors of Montcony. Members of the Mareschal de Longeville de La Rodde family remain the owners. The successive occupant families are associated with recorded coats of arms, including those of Montcony, Arviset, La Rodde, Mareschal de Longeville, and the combined Mareschal de Longeville de La Rodde arms. The La Rodde motto is Audaces fortuna juvat.
Damage, protection, and repair
From the 1980s onward, the castle suffered repeated burglaries and acts of looting. Much of its Bressan and Comtois furniture, representing several periods, disappeared, and surviving furnishings were extensively vandalized. The former chapel was also affected. The owners placed the remaining furnishings and archives in safekeeping, and the property was extensively secured from the 2000s. It has been under particular surveillance since 2007.
In 1993, at the request of Bernard Mareschal de Longeville de La Rodde and his sisters Anne-Marie and Nicole, the castle was entered in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments. It was classified as a monument historique in 2001 after the owners signed the classification request. This French legal status protects buildings and sites considered historically or architecturally important. The 1993 protection covers the portal, dependencies, and farm, while the 2001 classification covers the castle, its moats, and its fixed bridge.
Between 2002 and 2005, major repairs were made to the roofs and structural timber of the northeastern tower, as well as to the east wing of the residential building. The work was directed by Frédéric Didier, chief architect of historic monuments, with assistance from the regional council of Burgundy, the Saône-et-Loire department, and the Ministry of Culture. In 2006, the owner-managers received the joint first regional Heritage prize for the operation.
Remains
The fortified terrace
Castle layout
The castle stands on a motte, a raised artificial or adapted mound, on otherwise level ground. The motte occupies the top of a small hill and supports a quadrangular terrace. Four large round brick towers mark the terrace’s corners. Their upper defensive galleries are formed by machicolations, projecting structures with openings used to drop missiles or other materials onto attackers. These are sheltered beneath conical roofs covered with distinctive ochre-colored tiles.
Northern towers and residence
The two northern towers each have five floors of unequal height. They flank a rectangular residential building with one square storey and an attic storey. Two short wings extend at right angles from the southern side of the residence. In the northeastern corner of the courtyard, a hexagonal tower contains a stone spiral staircase. The northeastern tower rises 41 metres, and its roofs and structural timber were substantially repaired between 2002 and 2005.
Southern towers and entrance
The southern towers became isolated when the enclosing curtain walls, the defensive walls surrounding the residence, were destroyed at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They had formerly defended the drawbridge. The drawbridge was later replaced by a raised earth approach leading to an uncovered carriage gate. Its rusticated pillars contrast with the austere treatment of the remaining buildings.
Residential interiors and estate buildings
Chapel and principal rooms
The southwestern tower contains an eighteenth-century chapel with an altar, an altarpiece, and wood paneling. The former chapel’s interior remained in generally poor condition after the vandalism. In the principal residence, a salon retains early nineteenth-century paneling. A cabinet fitted within the thickness of a tower wall is decorated with wallpaper.
Service buildings
The estate also includes service buildings, a range of buildings, a hangar, a farm with dwelling houses, and a well. Together with the terrace, towers, residence, entrance, and surviving defensive features, these elements preserve the organization of a fortified noble estate that developed through successive periods of use and alteration.
