The Château de La Bâtie-Seyssel is a

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 Barby in the

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population o ...

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.

Position

The castle was built at the foot of Mont Pennay, on a rocky outcrop, in a bend of the Leysse river.

History

From the start of the

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

era, it was the property of the Seyssel family. In the 13th century, on the death of Humbert III, lord of Aix and Bordeau, it was inherited by the younger son, Hugues, while the elder received the fortress of

Aix Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *Alternate index, for an IBM Virtual Storage Access Method key-sequenced data set * Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belg ...

. With the death of the last of the cadet branch, in 1517, the Château de La Bâtie reverted to the lords of Aix. At the death of Maurice de Seyssel, marquis of Aix and La Chambre on 14 May 1660, the

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

of La Bâtie passed to Jacques d'Allinges, who sold it in 1679 to François d'Oncieu (President of the

Cour des Comptes The ''Cour des Comptes'' (, "Court of Accounts") is France's supreme audit institution, under French law an administrative court. As such, it is independent from the legislative and executive branches of the French Government. However, the 1946 ...

, Baron of Saint-Denis, Chaffardon, and la Batie, lord of Genissia, Senator at the Savoy Senate). His family's lands at La Bâtie became a

marquisate A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) ...

in 1699.

Description

The Château de La Bâtie-Seyssel comprises two fortified

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 ...

s, surrounding a residential building. The main access is through three successive gateways. The first has kept its

ogival An ogive ( ) is the roundly tapered end of a two- or three-dimensional object. Ogive curves and surfaces are used in engineering, architecture, woodworking, and ballistics. Etymology The French Orientalist Georges Séraphin Colin gives as ...

arcade and the vault supporting the guard room. The second gateway was altered in the 17th century to a semicircular arch; it is framed by two towers. The residence is a restoration in the style of the 15th century. The chapel dates from the 15th century and houses Roman

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s from the 4th century, discovered at Arbin. The Château de la Bâtie, its terrace and the lower floor which became the great hall, the chimney in the guard room and the Gallo-Roman mosaics, were listed on 6 April 1972 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 ...

. It is private property.

Bibliography

* Georges Chapier, ''Les Châteaux savoyards'', Éd. La Découvrance, 2005, p. 201-202. * Michèle Brocard, ''Les Châteaux de Savoie'', Éd. Cabédita, 1995, p. 48-49.

References

External links