300px, Château d'Allègre The Château d'Allègre is a ruined

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 '' commune'' of

Allègre Allègre (; oc, Alègre) is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France. Population Sights * Château d'Allègre: ruined castle, protected since 1935 as a '' monument historique'' Personalities *Germaine Tillion (30 Ma ...

in the Haute-Loire ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of France.

Description

The ruins consist of two corner towers of the former

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

, joined by a section of

machicolation A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at t ...

and round walk, and the base of a tower in the ''

enceinte Enceinte (from Latin incinctus: girdled, surrounded) is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the position. For ...

''.

History

The castle was the seat of the second barony of Auvergne. It was constructed towards the end of the 14th century with three fortified ''enceintes''. It was built by Morinot de Tourzel, a favourite of the Duc de Berry, using plans drawn up by the architect

Hugues Aubriot Hugues Aubriot (born 13XX in Dijon; died c. 1391 in Dijon) was a French administrator and heretic. Aubriot was Provost of Paris under Charles V. He built the Bastille in 1370-1383. He was a capable administrator who built the first sewers in Par ...

, architect of the Bastille. The castle underwent several sieges during the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...

and, in 1593, the war against the Catholic League. It was burned down on 15 November 1698.
Rapports et délibérations
', Conseil général de la Haute-Loire, 1855, p229, refers to a document in the Department archives The castle has been the property of the commune since the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

and has been used as a source of building material. It has been protected since 1935 as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' by the French Ministry of Culture.

References

External links

*
Description and photographs
in ''À la France : sites et monuments. Lyonnais et Velay (Ardèche, Haute-Loire, Loire, Rhône)'', Touring Club de France, Paris 1903, pp 65–67 Ruined castles in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Monuments historiques of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Buildings and structures in Haute-Loire {{France-castle-stub

Description

History

See also

References

External links