Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Vauvry, built in the 13th century on a circular motte surrounded by ditches, is a strong house typical of Burgundy. Its structure includes a rectangular brick tower with a dardian roof, a housing body in return for square, and a chapel built on a vaulted crypt. The defensive elements (broken arched door, outside staircase) and the sill bays, now closed, testify to its architectural evolution between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

Originally, the seigneury of Vauvry was dismembered from Verdun-sur-le-Doubs at the beginning of the 13th century for the benefit of Hugues, son of Guy V. It then passed to the families of Vienna (XIVth century), then divided between Rye and Rougemont (early 15th century). In 1422, Jean de Rye sold his share to Louis de Chalon, prince of Orange, before the estate was ceded in 1465 to Pierre de Goux, chancellor of Burgundy. The Bouton family reunited the seigneury in the 16th century, but the castle suffered a fire in 1636 during the Thirty Years War.

The castle was restored in the 17th century by the Thyards of Bissy, and remained in this family until the 19th century, where it passed into the hands of M. Nivière, treasurer-payer of the Rhône, and then to the family of Maistre. In the 20th century, it belonged to farmers (Mr. Cahuet in 1954) and suffered a new fire in 1976 (west wing destroyed). Private property, it does not visit, but its history reflects Burgundy nobility alliances and military upheavals.

The coat of arms of the family owners (Vienna, Rye, Bouton, Thyard) illustrate their prestige: golden eagles, fascists, or Gules crayfish. The brick chapel, with its slightly broken arched door and crypt, as well as the stone-fronted windows of the house, recall Gothic and Renaissance influences. The site, listed in the heritage inventory (Mérimée base), retains traces of its medieval ditches.

The castle embodies the social transformations of Burgundy: first a seigneurial fortress linked to feudal fragmentation, it becomes an aristocratic residence in the 17th–15th centuries, before passing to bourgeois owners and then agricultural. Its architecture combines brick and stone, materials typical of the region, and its history in conjunction with that of Verdun-sur-le-Doubs illuminates the local dynamics of power.

External links