Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Vaux-sur-Aine stands on the town of Azé, in Saône-et-Loire, on the hillside. Its architecture combines a rectangular house and four towers: a circular at the corner of the courtyard, a square housing the staircase, and two others with various dimensions. The eastern façade has a arched arched bay, while the entrance door to the stair tower, remodeled in the 19th century, features Tuscan canned pilasters and an entanglement adorned with triglyphs. A terrace runs along the west façade, served by a straight staircase. The chapel, now extinct, was located north of the building.

The first historical mention concerns Jean de Verrey, lord of the places in the 16th century, involved in a plot against Charles Quint before dying in the Charolais. In 1560-1561, Judge Gilbert Regnaud acquired the estate, which then passed to Vincent Bernard, captain of Mâcon, around 1600, after the departure of the Regnauds, Calvinists exiled in Bresse. In the 17th century, Jean-Christophe Bernard, adviser to the Chamber of Accounts of Dijon, founded a chapel there in 1679. The castle then changed hands between the Patisser de la Forestille and Murard families in the 18th and 19th centuries, before being bought in the early 20th century by Mr. Testot-Ferry, descendant of General Claude Testot-Ferry. Today, it belongs to Mr. Joseph Chervet and remains a private property.

The castle illustrates the architectural transformations and changes of owners typical of Burgundy monuments between Renaissance and contemporary times. Its history reflects religious upheavals (exile of the Calvinists Regnaud) and social changes, with owners from the nobility of robe (Bernard) or bourgeois families (Testot-Ferry). The foundation of the chapel in 1679 also underlines the importance of Catholicism in the local aristocracy after the wars of Religion.

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