Château de Druyes () is a medieval

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 ...

located in Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines in

Yonne Yonne (, in Burgundian: ''Ghienne'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight con ...

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...

. It was built in the 12th century by the Counts of Nevers, and remained in their possession until the 18th century. It was as much a noble residence as it was a fortified castle. It was a frequented dwelling place of

Peter II of Courtenay Peter II of Courtenay (; died 1219), was emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople from 1216 to 1217. Biography Peter II was a son of Peter I of Courtenay (died 1183), a younger son of Louis VI of France and his second wife, Adelaide of Mau ...

, the Emperor of Constantinople in the 13th century, and his daughter Matilda, Countess of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre. It was later abandoned by the Counts of Nevers. From the 17th century onward, having lost all military and stately importance, it was no longer occupied and slowly deteriorated. The castle avoided destruction during the French Revolution but it was not until the second half of the 20th century that local residents and authorities became concerned about its fate and made efforts to save it from total ruin. Druyes is part of the first generation of Philippians castles. These castles were built in the time of King Philip Augustus and displayed a simple plan and circular towers. It is built on a square plan of 52 meters wide. The corners are defended by four round towers. Three of the four

curtains A curtain is a piece of cloth or other material intended to block or obscure light, air drafts, or (in the case of a shower curtain) water. Curtains are often hung on the inside of a building's windows to block the passage of light. For instan ...

have a square tower. The north tower is the highest and acts as a fortified entrance gate. A large house, now gone, was located along on the south curtain wall and had Romanesque arched openings.

History

A village established

While there is no record of the activity at this site during

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

, it is known that a Roman road passed by. Decades after the

fall of the Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

, about 543, a monastery was created and a nearby village grew and Druyes is cited as a parish of

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

in 596, under the name of "Drogia". Being close to the Druyes River made the village difficult to defend against invaders. During the time of the Norman invasions of the 9th century, the village was relocated to a more elevated and defensible rocky plateau nearby. At the death of

Richard, Duke of Burgundy Richard the Justiciar (858–921), also known as Richard of Autun, was count of Autun from 880 and the first margrave and duke of Burgundy. He attained suzerainty over all the counties of Burgundy save Mâcon and by 890 he was referred to as ''d ...

, the vast territory that he had acquired (including Auxerre and Druyes) was divided. His land to the north,

and

Sens Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km southeast from Paris. Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second la ...

Hugh the great Hugh the Great (16 June 956) was the duke of the Franks and count of Paris. He was the most powerful magnate in France. Son of King Robert I of France, Hugh was Margrave of Neustria. He played an active role in bringing King Louis IV of France ...

, duke of the Franks, and subsequently to his sons

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants '' Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fr ...

and

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

in 954. After Henry died in 1002 and his son, Otto-William, was then forced to fight a legal battle against Henry's nephew, the King of France

Robert the Pious Robert II ( 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious () or the Wise (), was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his father on military matters (notably during the two ...

for control of Burgundy. King Robert succeeded, however the Count of Nevers took advantage of the period of uncertainty to establish his authority over part of Auxerre, in particular Saint-Sauveur and Druyes. This included the site of the Château de Druyes. From 1032, the counties of Nevers and Auxerre were under the control of

Renaud Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan (; born 11 May 1952 in Paris), known as Renaud, is a French singer-songwriter. With twenty-six albums to his credit, selling nearly twenty million copies, he is one of France's most popular singers. Several of h ...

, the Count of Nevers. Druyes, including the site of the Château de Druyes, became a unique location, where the feudal power that extended over the rest of Auxerre (i.e. the bishop of Auxerre) did not apply.

The castle is built and occupied by nobility

It was not until the late 12th century when the Château de Druyes began to appear in writings, however the architect and the exact date of construction are not known. At this time the castle became a common residence of

, cousin to King Philip II by marriage. In 1199, Peter II faced the revolt of a vassal, Hervé IV of Donzy. Peter was defeated and taken prisoner. To regain his freedom, he was forced to give Hervé the county of Nevers as well as his daughter's hand in marriage ( Matilda of Courtenay). It was agreed that the counties of Auxerre and Tonnerre would become the property of Hervé at the death of Peter II. In 1216, at his son's home in Druyes, Peter II received a delegation of barons who had come to offer him the crown of the

Latin Empire of Constantinople The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzanti ...

.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Peter of Courtenay". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 293–294. He accepted and was crowned in Rome April 9, 1217. His reign, however, was short lived. He was ambushed by the Greeks in Albania and died in prison during the winter of 1218–1219, having never reached Constantinople. Pursuant to the agreement between Peter II and Hervé, Matilda of Courtenay, Countess of Nevers, inherited the counties of Auxerre and Tonnerre. The Countess was very popular because of her generosity, and she came regularly to stay at the Château de Druyes. During her stay in 1223 she signed a charter, which granted special freedoms to the people of Auxerre. In 1255 in Druyes, Matilda received homage from the Bishop of Autun. At her death in 1257, her great-granddaughter Matilda II de Bourbon became the new Countess of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre. Matilda II died five years later, in 1262, and her husband

Odo, Count of Nevers Odo of Burgundy, in French ''Eudes de Bourgogne'' (1230 – 4 August 1266), was the Count of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre and son of Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy and Yolande of Dreux. In 1265, Odo became one of the last European barons to lead ...

divided the three counties between her daughters Yolande,

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. Four years later, Odo is killed during a

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

. The estate was disputed, but a decree of parliament confirmed the division and sharing as per Odo's wishes. Yolande thus inherited the county of Nevers.

The castle becomes a garrison

After the death of Yolande, Nevers passed to her descendants and heirs, the counts of Flanders who abandoned the Château de Druyes. Consequently, Druyes lost its status as a royal residence and the castle deteriorated and was poorly maintained. The castle became home only to the captain and garrison responsible for its defence, but its military role remained important and it is likely that it was affected by the ravages of 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 ...

. Between 1378 and 1384, the castle was repaired and its defences were strengthened. Over the centuries, the county of Nevers (including the Château de Druyes) passed through the hands of various rulers. The Château de Druyes became a part of the short lived

Kingdom of Burgundy Kingdom of Burgundy was a name given to various successive Monarchy, kingdoms centered in the historical region of Burgundy during the Middle Ages. The heartland of historical Burgundy correlates with the border area between France and Switze ...

, which ended in 1477 with the death of

Charles the Bold Charles Martin (10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), called the Bold, was the last duke of Burgundy from the House of Valois-Burgundy, ruling from 1467 to 1477. He was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, ...

. Throughout the 16th century the house of Cleves controlled this region. In the mid-17th century, Charles II Gonzaga inherited the territory, but suffered financial problems and he eventually sold the counties of Rethel and Nevers to

Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...

in 1659. Mazarin raised the County of Nevers as a duchy-peerage and offered his nephew, Philippe Mancini, the title of Duke of Nevers.

Period of abandonment

The third and last Duke of Nevers,

Louis Jules Mancini Mazarini Louis Jules Mancini, 4th (and last) Duke of Nevers (''Louis Jules Barbon''; 16 December 1716 – 25 February 1798) was a French diplomat and writer. The Duke was the sixth member elected to occupy seat No. 4 of the Académie française in 1742 ...

sold the Château de Druyes to Louis Damas, Marquis of Anlezy, in 1738. The Damas family built a modern residence nearby at the end of the 16th century. The last marquis, François Damas invested heavily to beautify the modern house, the park and gardens. He died in debt. In 1792, the entire estate of François Damas was then offered for sale to pay debts. In 1795, unable to find a buyer, the châteaux were sold in lots for demolition. The Château de Druyes and its neighbouring modern château (of the Damas family) were described as follows: :: ''The modern castle was completely demolished, while its neighbor escaped this fate, perhaps because of the height of the walls and the difficulty to demolish them or due to the low profitability of the demolition.'' (translated into English) The Château de Druyes became the property of the Tissier d'Entrains family and was later sold to Mr. Girard-Claudion in 1965, and to a Mr. Chastrusse in 1972.

Period of revitalisation

While the Château de Druyes escaped demolition, it nevertheless suffered three centuries of neglect and vandalism. Since 1958, the local population worked to attract attention and save the castle from ruin. Volunteers began to clear brush and accumulated rubble. Between 1960 and 1971, the group ''Rural Homes of Druyes'' organized pageants to bring life back to the castle. In 1967, the owners undertook the work of rescue and restoration, in co-operation with the chief architect of ''

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, ...

''. Thanks to the efforts of ''Friends of château de Druyes'', the castle has been open to visitors since 1981 and has hosted several cultural events.

Description

The local geography and town

The castle and grounds are built on a high limestone plateau, with a defensive marsh valley dominating the surrounding countryside. On this triangular-shaped hill is a fortified village with towers and gateway, which was the main defense for the castle. The top of the hill is flat and triangular, measuring about 300 meters wide, and surrounded by a wall. The town was typically accessed by a

postern A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often placed in concealed locations, allowing inconspicuous entrance and exit. In the event of a siege, a postern could act as a s ...

(secondary gate), located at the northern tip of the triangle, where the slope is more gentle. The plateau overlooks the valley and its shape made the castle practically impenetrable at the time it was built. The wall was defended by the towers (Bonnon tower or Jean Martin tower) with an outside ditch and a wooden palisade at the more vulnerable areas. The entrance door, which suffered little damage over time, is topped with a terrace and a protective

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

battlement A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

. Additions to the battlements were made to the entrance in the 14th century.

The fortification

Châteaux de Druyes is part of the first generation of Philippians castles, that is, castles built in the time of King

Philip Augustus Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), also known as Philip Augustus (), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: ''rex Francorum''), but from 1190 onward, Philip became the firs ...

with a simple plan and circular towers that allowed a better defense at low cost. It is built on a square plan of 52 m wide. The corners are defended by four round towers. Three of the four curtain walls have a square tower. The north tower is the highest and served as a gatehouse. A large residence, now gone, was located along the south curtain wall and had Romanesque arched openings.

The curtain walls

The walls have a thickness of about 2 m and a height of 7 m, though the southern curtain that protected the house was 10 m high. There was a walkway on top of the walls that was protected by battlements, which allowed for movement as well as access to the ground from the four towers. With the exception of the south curtain wall, that was defended by an important natural elevation, the other three walls have a square tower in the middle of their walls which reduced the flanking distance to 20 m, allowed the archers to

crossfire A crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I. ...

and increased protection at the wall base.

The round towers

Round towers at the time of King Phillip were a major innovation in castle construction. A round tower required less stone than a square tower, was more resistant to blows and besieging and had no hidden angles in shooting. At the Chateau de Druyes, the towers at each of the four corner lie mostly outside of the path of the wall, allowing a more effective visual scan of the base of walls and minimizing the threat of undermining. The south towers that frame the house, named the Sault and Beauregard towers, are the highest at 15 m. These 6 m diameter towers were accessed through the court as well as through the first floor of the house. They were probably covered by a

-style terrace, and the domed roofs were later replaced with pepperpot-style roofs. One domed roof still remains in good condition. The lower North towers were not accessible from the court, acting more as niches in the wall. Druyes Tour-Porche par Victor Petit

The gatehouse

The gatehouse is a square tower and the tallest tower of the castle at 20 m. It was placed in the middle of the north curtain wall. It is the only gate of the enclosure and was protected by a wooden gate outside, and a double door from the inside. It was reinforced by buttresses whose lower part has been made more massive later. Unlike the rest of the castle, masonry was of good quality, medium-sized brick. The gatehouse acted not only as an important defensive component of the

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 ...

, but also as a symbol of feudal power and stately residence. The first floor was a command room: it controlled access to the parapets of the curtain wall with two doors, allowing it to operate the gate as well defended the passage under the porch with three

murder-hole A murder hole or meurtrière is a hole in the ceiling of a gateway or passageway in a fortification through which the defenders could shoot, throw or pour harmful substances or objects such as rocks, arrows, scalding water, hot sand, quicklime ...

s. Access from the courtyard was by ladders that were removed in case of siege in order to keep the tower relatively isolated. The second floor was accessed by an internal wooden staircase which housed the

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension (physics), tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a Bobb ...

and the

portcullis A portcullis () is a heavy, vertically closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications. It consists of a latticed Grille (architecture), grille made of wood and/or metal, which slides down grooves inset within each jamb of the gateway. ...

mechanism. A stone staircase built within the thickness of the wall leads to the terrace. The battlements were not installed until later, probably at the same time as the installation of the

of the town. In 1762, the battlements were replaced by a wall of large windows and covered with a Classical

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

and a

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other vertical sides ...

. Wishing to have a

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

, the villagers of Druyes obtained authorization of the Marquis of Anlezy to install a clock on the tower and a bell bearing the words: "I belong to the town of Druyes and I have been made at their expense." In 1797, the buyer of the castle wished to dismantle the bell, but was forced to flee after threats of the population.

The other towers

The square tower of the west curtain wall now stands at 12 m, but it was higher initially. It was accessed by a circular path through an arched entrance. The other square tower facing it, housed the

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

portion of the chapel, which was adorned with

frescoes Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

. The bay-style

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

portion of the chapel was covered by an interrupted

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

extended into the courtyard. Two open windows in the tower lit the apse, but weakened the defenses of the structure. The columns, moldings and the capital are Romanesque style.

The residence

The stately home, now completely gone, was a large building of 49 m with 12 supports on the south curtain wall, facing the door to the gatehouse. Its foundations and walls were actually built tightly against the south curtain wall. Courtyards separated the other three walls from the residence. The residence included a ground floor with service rooms and apartments, and a noble floor with a large framed ceremonial room with two smaller rooms. The first floor received light by a decorative set of stone windows called a "Romanesque gallery", which is still visible on the south curtain wall. It consists of a succession of semicircular arcs: some are blind, others surround Romanesque twin windows in columns. The

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

s (protruding stones) that supported the house beams are still visible and indicate the level of the second floor, which was well below the windows. The entire bottom of the walls therefore remained available for benches, furniture and tapestries.

Gallery

File:Château-de-Druyes 6.JPG, The exterior of the gatehouse File:Château-de-Druyes 10.JPG, Stairs built into the tower walls File:Château-de-Druyes 1.JPG, The north curtain wall and the square north tower File:Château-de-Druyes 3.JPG, The south curtain as viewed from the tower

References

Bibliography and sources

Most of the information on this page comes from two sources, well documented, concise and accurate: * Robert Némo et Bernard Collette, ''Le château de Druyes'', Yonne, 1989 * Les amis du château de Druyes, Plaquette de visite "Parcours découverte", 2009 Other sources : * Challe, "Druyes", ''Annuaire historique du département de l'Yonne'', année 1840 * Fr. Vachey, "Château fort de Druyes", ''Bulletin de la Société des Sciences Naturelles et Historiques de l'Yonne'', 1849 * Victor Petit, "Guide pittoresque de l'Yonne",
Annuaire historique du département de l'Yonne
', 1861 * Druyes, les châteaux sur plan carré de l’Yonne, Strasbourg, Castrum Europe, Châteaux-forts d’Europe, 2005 Editions du Centre d'étude des châteaux-forts, n° 17

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Château de Druyes Castles in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Monuments historiques of Yonne