The Château de Sigy-le-Châtel 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 Sigy-le-Châtel in the

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

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. Sigy le Chatel ruiny zamku 3

Description

The castle was built on a rocky outcrop dominating a pass. It is one of the oldest castles in

Mâconnais The Mâconnais () district is located in the south of the Burgundy wine region in France, west of the Saône river. It takes its name from the town of Mâcon. It is best known as a source of good value white wines made from the Chardonnay grape; t ...

. It consisted of a large irregularly shaped ''

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 ...

'' made of thick curtain walls. The entrance, to the north towards the plateau, was flanked by two fortified semicircular towers. The only remains are some stretches of wall, the bases of two large circular towers pierced by cannon positions and, at the western end, the corner of a brick building with a

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging turret projecting from the walls of late-medieval and early-modern fortifications from the early 14th c ...

. The castle is privately owned and not open to the public.

History

''Origins'' * 10th century : earliest record of the castle ''House of Luzy'' * 1203: Renaud de Luzy was ''

seigneur A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owned a seigneurie, seigneury, or lordship—a form of ...

'' * 12th century : reconstruction undertaken ''House of Sauzet'' * 1266: Archambaud de Sauzet, seigneur de Chanay was the husband of Sybille de Luzy, dame de Sigy * End of 13th century: Humbert de Sauzet, son of the preceding, succeeded them * 1314: Alix, widow or sister of the preceding, became dame de Sigy ''House of Marzé'' * 1361: Jean de Marzé was ''seigneur'' ''House of Trezettes'' * 1373: Hugues de Trezettes was the husband of Guillemette de Marzé ''House of La Guiche'' * 1560: Philibert de La Guiche was ''seigneur'' '' House of Valois-Angoulême'' * 1629: Marie-Henriette de La Guiche, daughter of the preceding, married Louis-Emmanuel d'Angoulême, grandson of King Charles IX; the fortress was then abandoned and returned, by successions, to the La Guiche family * 1794: Amable-Charles, marquis de La Guiche, last ''seigneur'' of Sigy,

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

Other arms

* Luzy: ''De gueules au chevron d'argent, accompagné de trois étoiles d'or, 2 en chef et 1 en pointe''

Bibliography

* F. Perraud, ''Le Mâconnais Historique'', (1921)

References

Saône-et-Loire Ruined castles in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté {{France-castle-stub

Description

History

Other arms

Bibliography

See also

References