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Key figures

Origin and history

Mount Touleur, culminating at 581 meters in Morvan (Nièvre), houses the ruins of a medieval fortress built between the 11th and 12th century. Destructed in the 15th century, probably in 1474 by the Count of Roussy, it was part of a network of high castles girding the area. Its thick stone and hard mortar walls frame a central hall with remains up to 6 metres. The site, occupied as early as Neolithic, overlooks a strategic access to the educal oppidum of Bibracte, on the nearby Mount Beuvray.

The excavations of 2017 revealed traces of medieval occupation (ceramic furniture of the 11th-XIIth centuries) and protohistoric (tasks of La Tene). Surveys also revealed neolithic or protohistoric enclosures, as well as a mortar spoiling area. No archive mentions the site, but local scholars evoke ancient occupations. The map of Cassini (18th century) indicates an unidentified element, highlighting its historical mystery.

The fortress, typical of the Morvan height defences, used relief as its main protection. Like its counterparts (Roussillon, Glenne), it was abandoned after the Hundred Years War, in favour of centralized towns. Today, its ruins, unprotected and overgrown by vegetation, remain visible from the top, offering an exceptional panorama on the valley and Mount Beuvray. A local legend places a wivre guardian of treasures, linked to Palm Sunday.

Mount Touleur, wooded and of volcanic origin, is integrated into the Natura 2000 site "Bocage, forests and wetlands of the South Morvan". A 13.5 km hiking trail, classified as difficult, makes it possible to go around without reaching the summit, reserved for detours since GR 13. The ditches and piles of rubble below bear witness to complementary defensive arrangements, now at risk.

The architecture of the fortress, rectangular (21x13 m), incorporates the carved rock in its walls 1.80 m thick. The central room, surrounded by prolonged northward walls, suggests both a residential and a strategic function. Carbon dating 14 (2017) confirms a unique construction in the 12th century, while charcoal in the mortar dates back to 1045-1095. These elements make it a key witness to the medieval occupation of Morvan.

The systematic destruction of high fortresses in the 15th century, like that of Touleur, marks the end of a defensive system based on isolation. The seigneurial power then re-centered on the villages, more adapted to a post-war period of Hundred Years. The ruins, although threatened, recall this historic turning point, while the site retains a major archaeological value, from neolithic flint to medieval remains.

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