The Fort de Joux or Château de Joux 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 ...

, later transformed into a fort, located in

La Cluse-et-Mijoux La Cluse-et-Mijoux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Population See also * Fort de Joux * Communes of the Doubs department The following is a list of the 571 communes of the Do ...

in the Doubs

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Jura mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Frenc ...

of France. It commands the

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

''Cluse de Pontarlier''.

History

The Château de Joux has undergone several transformations. The original structure was built in the 11th century and was made of wood. Over the next century, the lords of Joux rebuilt the

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 ...

and the external fortifications out of stone. In 1454,

Philip the Good Philip III (french: Philippe le Bon; nl, Filips de Goede; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonge ...

, Duke of Burgundy, bought the château and transformed it into a border fort, adding a moat and barracks. The château then passed to Charles the Bold, Mary of Burgundy, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

), Margaret of Austria, and Charles Quint, with each successive owner making further improvements. Its most famous remodeler was Vauban, who modernised it between 1678 and 1693. It was finally annexed by France in 1678 under Louis XIV. The Austrians captured the château in 1814. Later, the construction of the forts at Larmont in the 19th century provided reinforcement. In 1879, Captain (later Marshal) Joseph Joffre, then a

military engineering Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics be ...

officer, modernised the château and transformed it into a fort included in the

Maginot Line The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...

to prevent German invasion from Swiss territory. It served as a prison for successive French governments between the 17th and the 19th centuries. In that capacity, the château is best known for imprisoning several famous figures, including Mirabeau, Heinrich von Kleist, and the leader of the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...

, Toussaint Louverture, who died there on 7 April 1803. In addition to being used as a prison, the château played a part in the defence of the region until the First World War. The fortress currently houses a museum of arms that exhibits more than 600 rare weapons dating from the early 18th to the 20th centuries, including a rare 1717 rifle. The castle also has a well which, at , was once the deepest in France. Cut with a horizontal gallery and partially filled, it is now the third deepest at about . Since 1949, the French Ministry of Culture has listed the château 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 ...

''.

References

Sources

* Caroit, Jean-Michel
"L’INDEPENDENCE DE LA PREMIERE REPUBLIQUE NOIRE – 1er JANVIER 1804"
'' Le Monde'', 2 January 1904. (Archived fro
the original
7 June 2004. Website contains translation and apparently the original.
Francerama (travel website)

External links

Le Château de Joux' website

The Louverture Project: Fort de Joux
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joux, Fort de Castles in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Forts in France Defunct prisons in France Monuments historiques of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Museums in Doubs Military and war museums in France Vauban fortifications in France