La Soie Castle Ruins: A Medieval Episcopal Fortress in Switzerland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Switzerland
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page6 sections
History
Foundation and Episcopal Rule
La Soie castle ruins are the remains of a medieval fortified castle near Savièse in Switzerland, built around 1200 by Landri de Mont, Bishop of Sion. The Bishop of Sion was the senior religious authority of the Diocese of Sion and also held secular political power in medieval Valais. The castle may have been intended to limit the influence of the Counts of Savoy in the region.
La Soie survived the thirteenth-century conflicts between the Bishop of Sion and the Counts of Savoy without damage. A peace treaty concluded in 1260 recorded the castle as still belonging to the bishop.
The Murder of Guichard Tavelli
By the middle of the fourteenth century, Bishop Guichard Tavelli had moved from the older fortress of Tourbillon to La Soie. On 8 August 1375, Antoine de la Tour and his soldiers entered the castle looking for Tavelli. They found the bishop reading his breviary, a Christian prayer book used especially by clergy, in the garden. After seizing him, they dragged him to the top of the walls and threw him onto the rocks below. His murder caused unrest throughout Valais.
Tavelli’s successor, Édouard de Savoie-Achaïe, was forced out of Valais after Valais patriots captured La Soie Castle. In 1384, Amadeus VII, Count of Savoy, recaptured the stronghold and restored the bishop to his position there.
Destruction and Abandonment
During the Raron affair in 1417, a fifteenth-century conflict in Valais involving the Raron family, the bishop, and opposing Valais forces, Valais troops burned La Soie Castle together with several other castles held by the Raron family and the bishop. The castle was abandoned after the destruction and subsequently fell into ruin.
Remains
Fortified Layout
La Soie is a ruined castle on a hillside southwest of Savièse, near Sion, in the canton of Valais. Its remains are arranged in three principal sections separated by ditches, or dry moats: an outer enclosure, the main castle, and a garden area. The outer enclosure is the best-preserved part of the site. It is divided into several rooms and retains a well-preserved gateway. The garden forms the third principal section of the fortified complex.
