The Château de la Barre is a residence in the ''

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

'' of

Brégnier-Cordon Brégnier-Cordon () is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. Geography Brégnier-Cordon lies 20 km south of Belley. It is located in a bend of the Rhône on the edge of Savoie (on the southeast) and Isère (on the west). The b ...

in the

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

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. It stands on the western slope of the Mont de Cordon. The main building dates from the 20th century, but the fortifications date back to a 14th-century

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 ...

. The château was originally a court of justice and a toll collection centre, hence its name "La Barre".Château de la Barre website

History

The Château de la Barre belonged to the House of Cordon, who moved here following the destruction of the nearby

Château de Cordon The Château de Cordon is a ruined feudal castle in the ''commune'' of Brégnier-Cordon in the Ain ''département'' of France. History The House of Cordon is one of the oldest in the historical region of Bugey. They were invested by the Hol ...

. Its position above the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

allowed it to command traffic on the river.

''Le Rouge et le Noir''

The castle was the scene of a scandal involving a young seminarian from the village of Brangues, Antoine Berthe, engaged by the Duke in 1826 as tutor to this children. Berthet had seduced the young Henriette de Cordon, leading to his dismissal. Convinced that his former mistress, the wife of the mayor of Brangues, was behind his dismissal, he shot her in the church at Brangues. Arrested and condemned to death, he was executed in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

in 1828.

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...

, who was familiar with courts and judicial affairs, was inspired by the story to write his novel, ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''

The Red and the Black ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (; meaning ''The Red and the Black'') is a historical psychological novel in two volumes by Stendhal, published in 1830. It chronicles the attempts of a provincial young man to rise socially beyond his modest upbringing t ...

'').

References

Châteaux in Ain Castles in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes {{france-castle-stub

History

''Le Rouge et le Noir''

See also

References