The Château de Couzan 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 Sail-sous-Couzan in the

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

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. The castle stands on a rocky outcrop to the west of Sail-sous-Couzan in the

Forez mountains The Forez mountains (, ) are a mountain range in the Massif Central separating the Dore (river), Dore valley from the Forez plain. They reach their highest point at Pierre-sur-Haute, with an altitude of 1,631 meters. Geography Location The Fo ...

range above the

Lignon du Forez The Lignon du Forez (, literally ''Lignon of the Forez''; also called ''Lignon de Chalmazel'', literally ''Lignon of Chalmazel'') is a long river in the Loire department, east-central France. Its source is near Chalmazel. It flows generally ...

river. The châtellenie of Couzan was the most important in the former province of

Forez Forez (; ) is a Provinces of France, former province of France, corresponding approximately to the central part of the modern Loire (department), Loire ''département in France, département'' and a part of the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme ''dépa ...

. The castle is owned by a private society. It has been listed since 1890 as a ''

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 ...

. The surrounding lands were added to the listing in 1947.

History

Construction of the castle dates from the 11th century, with further building works in the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. * 11th century: The family of the barons of Semur (Damas) built the first castle. * 15th century: The

Lévis Lévis () is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Lévis, and two bridges, the Quebec Bridge and the Pierre-Laporte Bridge, connect we ...

family took the fortress, following the marriage in 1425 of Eustache de Levis and Alix de Couzan, daughter of Hugues VI, baron of Damas-Couzan, known as "Hugues VI de Damas". * 17th century: The castle was acquired by the Luzy family in 1622. They took the title of marquis de Couzan and first baron du Forez. This branch of the Luzy family died out at the end of the 18th century. The castle was then taken by Marthe de Luzy-Couzan, daughter of Balthazar de Luzy-Couzan, who married Antoine François de Thy de Milly. The castle stayed in the ownership of the family of the Counts of Thy de Milly until 1932. * 1932: Acquired by DIANA (the Historic and Archaeological Society of Forez), which undertook extensive restoration works, the castle having been uninhabited since the French Revolution.

Architecture

The castle is composed of three ''

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 ...

'' walls surrounding a 13th-century

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 ...

. During the Middle Ages, there was a square dressed stone into which a basin was cut - the ''pierre à Dîme'' (

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

stone). Each peasant owed to the lord a share of his harvest which he threw into the ''dîme''. On each side of the stone were carved faces surrounded by a sun. Years of good harvest were represented by a smiling sun; bad harvests by a sun grimacing. This stone, in 1971, inspired the emblem of the commune of Sail-sous-Couzan, a sun head.

References

External links

*
DIANA website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Couzan, Chateau de Ruined castles in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Monuments historiques of Loire (department) Forez

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links