300px, Château d'Allègre
The Château d'Allègre is a ruined
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
in the ''
commune'' of
Allègre
Allègre (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Loire Departments of France, department in south-central France.
Population
Sights
* Château d'Allègre: ruined castle, protected since 1935 as a ''monument historique''
Personalit ...
in the
Haute-Loire
Haute-Loire (; or ''Naut Leir''; English: Upper Loire) is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River, it is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche, Lozère, Canta ...
''
département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...
'' of France.
Description
The ruins consist of two corner towers of the former
keep
A keep 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 castles that were fortified residen ...
, joined by a section of
machicolation
In architecture, a machicolation () is an opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which defenders could target attackers who had reached the base of the defensive wall. A smaller related structure that only protects key ...
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 positio ...
''.
[
]
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 Pa ...
, architect of the Bastille
The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...
.
The castle underwent several sieges during the Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...
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 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 collection of buildings, ...
'' by the French Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...
.[
]
See also
*List of castles in France
This is a list of castles in France, arranged by Regions of France, region and Departments of France, department.
;Notes:
# The French word ''château'' has a wider meaning than the English ''castle'': it includes architectural entities that are p ...
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 Haute-Loire
Buildings and structures in Haute-Loire
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