The Château de Bazoches is a Château in the Burgundy region of France.
It is located at Bazoches, 84km from Autun in Burgundy. The feudal Château has a trapezoidal layout, four towers and a keep surrounding an inner courtyard.
The castle was built by Jean de Bazoches in 1180, on the site of an old Roman post, it has had twenty owners since and since 1675 it has been owned by the Bazoches, Chastellux, Montmorillon and la Perrière families.
Today it is private property, and classified as a listed Historic building.

Château de Bazoches

Account

by category

Login

Name

by region

Title

Name in English

Château de Chastellux is a French castle with elements from the eleventh, thirteenth, fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is located in Chastellux-sur-Cure in the Yonne,  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
This castle is still inhabited by the family who built it, a rarity in France. The oldest existing part of the building, the Saint-Jean tower, was built c. 1080 AD.
The main building was the first part to be registered as a monument historique in 1925. The Saint-Jean tower and the surrounding buildings were later classified in 1976 and 1989, respectively.
History
The house of Chastellux takes its name from a place called Castrum Lucii located on the banks of the Cure, 15 km from Avallon. Initially, the building in its original state was a Roman fort made of wood and stone. There remains  many traces of Roman influence in the region, including the mosaic of Chagnats found in the fields and currently on display at the museum of Avallonnais, Avallon.
Middle Ages
The oldest evidence of presence of the lords of Chastellux on the current site of the castle is an account of a hearing at "the ancient Saint Jean tower in 1116". The hearing was about a property rights dispute between local barons and clergy of the Abbey of Molesme.
For ten centuries, the castle of Chastellux did not stop growing, embellished and restored by successive generations of the family.
Planted on a rocky peak surmounting the Cure, its strategic location helped to protect the castle from attack. Located on the borders of the Yonne and Nièvre, the fortress hosted armies that came to defend the borders of Burgundy, being an independent duchy at the time.
In the twelfth century, the castle became a fortress, composed of tall towers linked by a thick battlement and guarded by a walkway. Wooden buildings are backed along the walls. They are used for livestock housing and the storage of animal feed. Comfort was nonexistent and homes played a very minor role compared to the "defensive" role of the fortress. The tower of St. John is the last remnant of this fortress. The tower, one of the oldest in Europe, consists of five levels. The staircase leading to the floors was cut into the thickness of the wall (a thickness of 3.5 meters at ground level). On the second floor is a prison officer and a dungeon accessed through an opening in the floor. The roof is topped with a lantern containing the warning bell, to alert the castle inhabitants of impending danger.
For additional protection, there was a second wall with several smaller towers, two of which still exist today. A ditch joining the two valleys close this second wall is no longer present.
In the 13th century, out of necessity, a larger building was built. The year 1240 was inscribed on stone walls, providing a date of construction of the guard room, which is the second oldest structure (after the tower of Saint-Jean).
The scaffolding of tower of the Ermitage and the Archives still exists today. On the west side a keep was created as well as an archives tour and the defensive tower of Amboise.
Throughout the history of the lords Chastellux remained near the Dukes of Burgundy and fought with them especially during the fall of Paris in 1417. The marshall of France, Claude de Chastellux defeated the Franco-Scottish army at the Battle of Cravant in 1423. This victory allowed him to receive several honorary privileges, such as the title of first hereditary canon of the Auxerre Chapter. He is buried in the chapel within the castle.
Over the last fifteen years of his life, the Marshal of Chastellux enlarged the second main building located between the tower of the Archives and the bastion of the tower of Amboise and built the Octagonal Tower and the castle chapel.
Modern times
In 1592, Olivier de Chastellux, Quarré Baron, Viscount of Avallon, and governor of Cravant, Yonne, raises the military bastion located at the end of the castle near the Tower of Amboise, Tower of Amboise was converted into a living quarters at this time. He also built a terrace that surrounded the castle.
Until the end of the reign of Louis XIII, the castle remained a fortress with a large garrison. In 1615 the Prince of Conde ordered the establishment of a company of 100 trained infantry and a company of 60 cavalry and the establishment of its castle and place of Chastellux. The castle site made for a strategic location for the defense of Burgundy.
Hercules, son of Oliver, was elected to the nobility of Burgundy States in 1618. In 1621, to demonstrate his esteem and gratitude for services rendered and for those of his father, Louis XIII meets the various strongholds in Chastellux. He meets with the lordship of Chastellux, the barony of Quarré-les-Tombes, Yonne and the Viscount of Avallon in county of Chastellux.
In 1780, François-Jean de Chastellux participates in the American Revolutionary War with George Washington. He explored the country and studied its diversity and later published reference books on his travels. He entered the Académie française in 1775. He is also known for being one of the first in France to receive and successfully test the vaccine against smallpox.
In 1786, on the death of his father-in-law, the Duke of Duras, Henri-Georges the count of Chastellux took command of the horsemen in honor to Princess Victoire, daughter of Louis XV, and begins his service. In anticipation of looming threats of the French Revolution, the princesses of France flee Italy in February 1791. They asked the Chastellux to accompany them, while the children of Henri-Georges stay in Autun.
The castle suffered considerable damage during the revolution. Revolutionaries vandalized the castle: all the old medieval weapons were stolen in 1792, the winery was looted and auctioned. On 5 August 1793, the furniture and archives were seized, paintings, priceless, are burned on August 10 at place Saint-Julien Avallon, currently the site of City Hall. The furniture was stolen, sold, and dispersed. All traces of the family blazon, found on woodwork, painting or a decorative element were promptly destroyed.
Contemporary times
After nineteen years of exile in Italy, the Earl and Countess of Chastellux did not return to inhabit the castle at the end of the Empire (1810). Their daughter, Georgine Chastellux became the wife of Charles de la Bédoyère. Charles de la Bédoyère helps Napoleon from his return from the island of Elba and consequently Louis XVIII makes charges for his arrest. After the fall of Waterloo, Louis XVIII shot Charles La Bédoyère on August 19, 1815 in Paris, despite the friendship between the monarch and the house of Chastellux.
Under the Restoration, the brother of Georgine, César Laurent Chastellux renovates the castle and the grounds. He removed the decorative additions of the eighteenth century and fully restored its medieval decor.
In 1940, General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny briefly took over the castle with his staff and forced the Earl and Countess of Chastellux to leave.  However, the Earl and Countess of Chastellux return after three months of absence.  In 1975: a chimney fire set fire to the roof and attic. The tower of Amboise still bears the traces of this fire, with the absence of a roof.
Several films have been shot at the Château de Chastellux during the 20th century. These include Mon oncle Benjamin (1969), "L'épingle noire" (1982), "Le fantôme du lac" (2004).
Protection
The castle, not including the tour of Saint-Jean, was registered as a monument historique since 10 November 1925. The Saint-Jean tower has been classified as historical monument since 10 November 1976. The collection of facades and roofs of the outbuildings, terraces and basement, were classified as a historic monument on 17 February 1989. The castle and its surroundings are a protected site and a site registered by order of 9 September 1935.
Visiting
The castle is privately owned but has been open to visitors since 2008.

Château de Chastellux

Le château de Lantilly situé sur la commune de Cervon, dans le département de la Nièvre, est un manoir reconstruit aux xviie siècle et xixe siècle sur les restes d'un édifice médiéval du xviie siècle partiellement détruit au cours des guerres de Religion.
Histoire
Origine
La terre de Lantilly, dont le nom indique une origine romaine, était une seigneurie avec haute , moyenne et basse justice mouvante du Comté de Château-Chinon et de la baronnie de Lormes-Challon.
Située au Sud-Est de Corbigny, aux limites du Nivernais et du Comté de Château-Chinon, l'ancienne forteresse, posée sur la rive droite de l'Anguison, contrôlait la route antique venant de Corbigny.
Propriétaires successifs
Famille de Torcy
En 1504, la terre de Lantilly appartient à noble Jean de Torcy, écuyer, issu d'une des plus anciennes familles du Nivernais.
En 1600, Jean, Charles et Claude de Torcy, écuyers, sont seigneurs de Lantilly et de Cervon, en partie.
En 1637, Michel de Torcy, écuyer, est coseigneur de Lantilly avec Paul-Léonard de Remigny, baron de Joux, qui tient ses droits de sa femme Marguerite Savary de Brèves. Catherine de Torcy, mariée à Louis Le Bascle, baron d'Argenteuil, lui porte aussi une partie de la terre de Lantilly.
Familles Dugon et de Damas
En 1765, Louis-Antoine de Torcy meurt au château de Lantilly sans de postérité. Lantilly passe alors à Claude-Robert Dugon, son neveu, comte de Boislamy, sieur de Monche et de Marcellange, et à Antoine-François-Henri, vicomte de Damas, seigneur de Guipy, qui font aveu en 1771. Elie, vicomte Dugon, sieur de La Rochette, renouvelle ce devoir, au nom de Gabrielle Le Bascle, sa femme, dix ans après.
Famille de Certaines
En 1788, le vicomte Dugon vend le château à Louis-Antoine de Certaines.
Famille Formé
En 1803, La famille de Certaines vend à son tour Lantilly à Louis Formé.
Famille de Gabriac
En 1850, Valentine Formé, petite-fille de Louis Formé, épousa le vicomte Alexis de Gabriac, ministre plénipotentiaire de France au Mexique sous Napoléon III, qui devient alors le nouveau propriétaire du Château.
Famille Ramillon 
En 1910, le château est acheté par Monsieur Albert Ramillon, la propriété est depuis dans la même famille.[réf. nécessaire]
Le château est maintenant converti en chambre d'hôte et accueil d'évènements familiaux et se visite de juin à septembre tous les jours de 14h à 18h (fermé le mardi), le reste de l'année sur réservation.
Descriptions du Château
L'ancienne maison forte qui comportait 6 tours avec une double enceinte de fossés alimentés par les eaux de la rivière, avec pont-levis, entourant la basse et haute cour ainsi que le donjon fut partiellement détruite au cours des guerres de religions. Cinq des six tours d'enceinte ont disparu. De l'ensemble défensif ne subsistent que l'aile nord-ouest et sa tour, ainsi que l'aile nord-est en retour d'équerre. Un nouveau bâtiment fut reconstruit au cours des xviie siècle et xixe siècle. À l'intérieur, le château conserve quelques vestiges médiévaux, des charpentes authentiques et un plafond à poutres et boudins de torchis.
Le bâtiment est entouré de deux circuits de douves en eau alimentées par la rivière et conserve l'ensemble de son système hydraulique comprenant une fontaine, des allées d'eau, ponts dormants et ponts déversoirs, buses, vannes, et dépendances.
Aujourd'hui l'accès se fait par un pont dormant à deux arches donnant sur une porte ouverte au centre de la façade Nord-est sous une voûte en plein cintre. L'ensemble possède des murs très épais et comprend trois niveaux, avec les combles. Certaines ouvertures furent ajoutées au xviie siècle. Il possède, d'origine, une fenêtre à baies géminées avec ses arcs en accolade. Il reste des consoles sur le côté Nord-Ouest.
Rez-de-chaussée
La porte d'entrée de la façade de l'aile Sud-est, donnant sur la cour intérieure, est à jambages en bossages en harpe chanfreinés et plate bande à claveaux passant un sur deux. La tour, construite sur une butte talus, comprend deux niveaux. Son soubassement est percé de canonnières. Elle est coiffée d'un toit à quatre pentes très raides qui prend appui sur des solives formant encorbellement. Les ouvertures des anciens hourds sont conservées. La première enceinte extérieure comporte une large douve et une tour ronde qui fut aménagée au xxe siècle. En 1810, la cour est rehaussée de quelques centimètres, à la suite de la destruction de cinq des six tours d'origine, pour éviter que l'eau des douves ne l'inondent, décision du propriétaire, Louis Formé de Framicourt.
Pour accéder à l'étage, un escalier datant du xviie siècle remplace l'ancien escalier à vis du Moyen Âge. Cet escalier est fait en pierre bleue, et garde des croisées d'ogive en bois.
Éléments protégés
Les douves, le boutron et le colombier (cad.G 654,653,651) font l'objet d'une inscription au titre des monuments historiques par arrêté du 6 novembre 1985.
Intérieurement, la salle décorée au xixe siècle située au rez-de-chaussée, l'escalier, la salle avec le plafond en poutres et torchis située à l'étage, la chambre avec la grande cheminée à l'étage, ainsi que, extérieurement, les façades, les toitures et les dépendances, le jardin et les structures d'eau, en incluant les aménagements hydrauliques (cad.F 43 ; G 640, 642 à 651, 653, 656, à 661, 663, 664, 693, 785, à 788, 790 à 796, 825, 826 ; ZV 11,35) font l'objet d'une inscription au titre des monuments historiques par arrêté du 18 août 2005.