Baillival Castle (Bulle) is a

bailiff A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Bulle Bulle (; frp, Bulo ) is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. In January 2006 Bulle incorporated the formerly independent municipality of La Tour-de-Trême. History Ancient times Bulle is first ...

of the

Canton of Fribourg The canton of Fribourg, also canton of Freiburg (french: Canton de Fribourg ; german: Kanton Freiburg ; frp, Canton de Fribôrg rm, Chantun Friburg it, Canton Friburgo) is located in western Switzerland. The canton is bilingual, with French ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

History

The castle was erected from 1291 to 1331 by the

bishops of Lausanne The Bishop of Lausanne (French: ''Évêque de Lausanne'') was a Prince-Bishop of the Holy Roman Empire (since 1011) and the Ordinary of the diocese of Lausanne, Switzerland (Latin: ''Dioecesis Lausannensis''). Bern secularized the bishopric in ...

and is situated at the south side of the market place. It has the characteristic square floor plan of castles erected by the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...

in the nearby

Canton of Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

(f. e. Morges Castle, Romont Castle or

Yverdon-les-Bains Castle Yverdon-les-Bains Castle is a castle in the municipality of Yverdon-les-Bains of the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance. History The imposing main walls and their four towers follow the geometr ...

). This ″Savoy square″ is uncommon because Lausanne and Savoy fought for the bishop seat of Lausanne since the year 1239 and Bulle always was an episcopal town that never belonged to the House of Savoy. But in a short time period right before the year 1239 members of the House of Savoy were bishops of Lausanne. That causes speculations about an earlier building in Bulle that was erected by the House of Savoy which became more likely after a coat of arms of Savoy was found engraved in a window of the castle of Bulle during a renovation. The castle survived the

Burgundian Wars The Burgundian Wars (1474–1477) were a conflict between the Burgundian State and the Old Swiss Confederacy and its allies. Open war broke out in 1474, and the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the battlefield in th ...

by entering an alliance with the city of

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

which protected Bulle and the castle from looting in 1476. During the conquest of the Vaud by the

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

ese in 1536 Fribourg took the chance to get Bulle under full protection because the bishop of Lausanne Sébastien de Montfalcon had fled. Fribourg then transformed the episcopal castle into the bailiff's castle and later found an agreement with the bishop of Lausanne in 1614. The castle was renovated from 1763 to 1768. In 1798 the people of Bulle used the French invasion to throw the governor out of the city. Since then the castle is a district administration building. Prisons cells were added since 1854. Since the castle was never destroyed, it still looks like it did centuries ago. It consists of an inner courtyard surrounded by the buildings, a tower in the southwest and

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern fortifications from the ...

s on the other corners. The castle is surrounded by a former moat that was filled by the water of the Les Usiniers canal. The former bridge that led to the main gate was a wooden

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

but has been replaced by a stone bridge.

External links

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References

{{Switzerland-castle-stub Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Fribourg Bulle Castles in the canton of Fribourg

History

See also

External links

References