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Origin and history

Luisandre Castle is an early 14th century building erected in 1304-1305 by Count Amédée V de Savoie to secure the border with the Dauphiné. Located on Mount Luisandre at 805 metres above sea level, this strategic site controlled the route between Saint-Rambert-en-Bugey and the Savoyard lands of Bresse. The initial construction of land and wood was replaced around 1312 by a stone castle, in response to territorial tensions with the Dauphin, which built near the Allymes castle.

Luisandre's building played an ephemeral role: the Treaty of Chapareillan (1334) and the Treaty of Paris (1355) ended the hostilities between Savoie and Dauphiné, making the fortress obsolete. As early as 1334, the site lost its military utility, although the seigneury had remained infused with local families under conditions of support to the Counts of Savoy. The territory, mentioned in 1169, was successively owned by the Roux, the Guyot de Bourg, then the Monspey before being acquired in the seventeenth century by René de Lucinge, Lord of Allymes.

Over the centuries, the castle deteriorated: in 1650, it remained only an old tower. The seigneury changed hands again, passing to the Suduyrand, then to Jacques Estienne (1731) and finally to the Dujast d'Ambérieu family, owner in 1789. The ruins, the object of archaeological surveys, today bear witness to this ephemeral fortification, symbol of medieval rivalries between Savoy and Dauphiné in Lower Bugey.

The site illustrates the 14th century Savoyard military architecture, designed to control disputed territory. Its proximity to the Allymes Castle (800 meters in flight from the bird), built by the Dauphin in reaction, highlights the intensity of border tensions. Historical sources, such as the works of Samuel Guichenon (1650) or Alain Kersuzan (2010), document his role in the territorial strategy of the Counts of Savoy, despite his brief operational existence.

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