The Château de Brie-Comte-Robert is a

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 town of Brie-Comte-Robert in the Seine-et-Marne ''

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.

History

12th - 13th centuries

The castle of Brie-Comte-Robert was built at the end of the 12th century, when

Robert I of Dreux Robert I of Dreux, nicknamed ''the Great'' ( – 11 October 1188), was the fifth son of Louis VI of France and Adélaide de Maurienne. Life In 1137 he received the County of Dreux as an appanage from his father. He held this title until 1184 ...

, brother of the king

Louis VII Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...

, was lord of Brie. Archaeological clues, elements of decoration and the choice of construction techniques, suggest the architecture of this turning point in history.

14th century

The castle remained in the Dreux family until 1254, then passed to the family of Châtillon. Through successive dowries and inheritances, it came to Marguerite d'Artois and then her daughter,

Jeanne d'Évreux Jeanne may refer to: Places * Jeanne (crater), on Venus People * Jeanne (given name) * Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, 1412–1431) * Joanna of Flanders (1295–1374) * Joan, Duchess of Brittany (1319–1384) * Ruth Stuber Jeanne (1910–2004), Ameri ...

. Jeanne d'Évreux, who held the manor of Brie-Count-Robert by inheritance, became the wife of the last Capetian king, Charles IV the Fair. After his death in 1328, she profited from comfortable revenues (a royal dower of many fiefdoms in Brie and Champagne), which enabled her to devote important sums to the maintenance and the improvement of her own possessions, including Brie-Comte-Robert. She did important work to the castle, as her accounts preserved at the ''Archives Nationales'' (national archives) attest. The castle became a prestigious residence which the large lords of the kingdom, in particular the dukes of Burgundy, did not hesitate to visit. It was also the site, in 1349, of the marriage of Philip VI of Valois and Blanche d'Évreux, niece of queen Jeanne. The lady of Brie made the seigneurial residence luxurious, particularly in the area located against the south-western and south-eastern curtains and, above all, in the north-east. She had a chapel built dedicated to Saint-Denis, joined to the ''Tour Saint-Jean'' (St John Tower), and laid out vast pleasure gardens. Jeanne d'Évreux died in the castle in 1371, aged 69. At the end of the 14th century, the castle returned into the

royal domain Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it ...

, then later to the Orléans family.

15th century

Louis I de Valois, Duke of Orléans Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

led a sparkling life at the castle of Brie-Count-Robert (

tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

, receptions of great nobles), but, faced with growing insecurity, he strengthened the castle from 1405. Following his assassination by John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, and the founding of the

Armagnac Party Armagnac (, ) is a distinctive kind of brandy produced in the Armagnac (region), Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of grapes including Baco 22A, Colombard, Folle blanche and Ugni bla ...

in 1407, the castle passed under the control of the

Burgundian Party The Burgundian party was a political allegiance against France that formed during the latter half of the Hundred Years' War. The term "Burgundians" refers to the supporters of the Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, that formed after the assa ...

, thus securing it as a safe stage on the road from Paris towards

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

. In 1420, the passage of the English army, ''en route'' to

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

, and the siege of Melun which followed, brought some disorder to the town, but did not affect the castle. It is from 1429 that the city was, ''« par quatre diverses fois en trois ans »'', ("four separate times in three years"), taken and retaken by the French and the English. The major event remains however the siege begun in September 1430 by the

Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 6th Earl of Stafford, 7th Baron Stafford, (December 1402 – 10 July 1460) of Stafford Castle in Staffordshire, was an English nobleman and a military commander in the Hundred Years' War and the ...

, who caused immense damage, in the town as well as to the castle. The place was repurchased by the French in 1434 and was returned to its rightful owner,

Charles of Orléans Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

. His son, the future king Louis XII, placed the castle in the royal domain.

16th century

Starting from the reign of

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...

, the castle and its grounds were entrusted by the king to some of his close associates, either by way of favour (''« don pour un temps »'' - "gift for a time"), or by conditional sale with option of repurchase (''« l'engagement »''). Among them were, notably: Louis Poncher,

Philippe de Chabot Philippe de Chabot, Seigneur De Brion, Count of Charny and Buzançois (c. 1492 – 1 June 1543), also known as Admiral De Brion, was an admiral of France. Biography The Chabot family was one of the oldest and most powerful in Poitou. Phili ...

, the marshal Jean Caraccioli, Balthazar Goblin and Claude de Bullion, superintendent of the finances of

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

. In the middle of the century, various families of Italian lords, close to

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...

(Aquaviva, Pierrevive, Gondi), held the castle, but allowed the building to deteriorate, even causing the burning of the floors and some frames. A 1567 law passed by the Parliament was needed to put an end to this damage. At the end of the century, Balthazar Goblin, follower of Henri IV, made repairs to the castle. The castle was still in a position to receive the young Louis XIII twice, in 1609 and 1611.

17th century

In 1649, at the time of the Fronde disorders, the town and the castle of Brie-Comte-Robert, were taken by the royal troops commanded by the count de Grancey. The castle was cannonaded by a battery for more than five hours, losing its south-eastern tower. Later repairs had to be very modest: in 1681, the castle was regarded as "... uninhabitable, the ditches full of rubbish, the garden fallow..." (''« inhabitable, les fossés comblés d'immondices, le jardin en friche... »''). Jean-Antoine de Mesmes, first President of the ''

parlement A ''parlement'' (), under the French Ancien Régime, was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the oldest and most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While both the modern Fre ...

'' of Paris carried out various maintenance works on the roofs and repairs to the access bridges. Legal documents from this period describe some internal developments. The castle was then inhabited by private individuals.

18th century

In 1750, Germain-Louis de Chauvelin, lord since 1734, asserting the dilapidation of the building, obtained authorisation to reduce the towers and the curtains to the level of the first floor, excepting however the Saint-Jean tower, the manorial symbol. Repurchased by the king

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

in 1766, the manor of Brie-Count-Robert, including the castle, was the subject of an exchange between Louis and his cousin, Louis Charles de Bourbon, Count of Eu. His heirs, the

duke of Penthièvre Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...

, and then his daughter, the duchess of Orléans, were the last lords. During 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 ...

, the building was used to imprison

Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, colonel of the Swiss Guards and military commander of the

Île-de-France , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 = +01:00 , timezone1_DST = CEST , utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 , blank_name_sec1 = Gross regional product , blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st , bla ...

. The building was later sold as national property.

19th and 20th centuries

Repurchased by the town in 1803, the castle was sold again in 1813. In 1879, one of the successive private owners during this period unfortunately razed what remained of the ''Tour Saint-Jean'', to build a modern house. Massive topsoil deposits transformed the court and the jousting yard into a vast vegetable garden. The commune repurchased the castle in 1923 and it was classified 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 ...

'' in 1925. From 1982, the municipality undertook a programme to repair the site, including archaeological works. These have guided the later restoration programme of the castle's remains.

Today

2003 saw the beginning of a grand programme of restoration of the castle, with the rebuilding of curtains to a height more than six metres, the restoration of the ''Tour de Brie'', and the demolition of the 19th century house in the courtyard, allowing the partial rebuilding of the ''Tour Saint-Jean'', according to archaeological documents. Inside the enclosure, the construction of a modern building, the ''Centre d'Interprétation du Patrimoine'' (Heritage Interpretation Centre), allows the ''Association des Amis du Vieux Château'' (Friends of the Old Château Association) to design and present a permanent exhibition of the site and to undertake teaching activities.

References

External links

*
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brie-Comte-Robert, Chateau de Ruined castles in Île-de-France Monuments historiques of Île-de-France Brie-Comte-Robert Historic house museums in Île-de-France Museums in Seine-et-Marne Water castles in France