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Origin and history

Chaumot Castle, built in the 10th century in a valley near the hamlet Les Vinées, was a majestic estate with rooms of water, gardens, vineyards and a large park still partially visible. He welcomed Louis IX before his crusade and Jeanne d'Arc en route to Sens. Reconstructed at the beginning of the 18th century by Paul Delpech, Receiver General for Finance of Auvergne, it became a "modern" castle with basins, hydraulic and common machines. When he died in 1751, his heirs had to sell the estate because of financial debts.

In 1771 Prince François-Xavier of Saxony acquired the castle and set up a partially German-speaking courtyard there, modifying the communes and creating an avenue. Discontented with his size, he considered extensions, but only one wing was made. In 1792, the castle was burned during the Revolution, then looted and sold in spare parts between 1809 and 1818. Its ruins, a tower and scattered elements (woodworks, grating) remain, while its lands were left in 1916 to communes to help orphans.

The estate also included mills, cellars, forests and a dovecote, now protected by the Thénard legacy. A 2013 natural inventory revealed remarkable biodiversity on the castle's old grounds. Renovation projects concern the Jardinerie and the pigeon house. The archives and objects related to the Prince of Saxony are preserved in part at the Mazarine Library (Paris) and the Archives de l'Aube (Troyes).

Among the notable remains are a single tower moved to the Thénard farm, ditches filled in the 1990s, and woodwork in a local notarial house. The painting La Madeleine de Cazes, offered by Xavier de Saxony, always adorns the church of Villeneuve-sur-Yonne. A medieval underground tunnel between the castles of Chaumot and Mardelin is evoked by oral tradition.

Recent academic research (2006–2022) explored the Prince's correspondence, his role in Champagne, and the social history of the field. Conferences in France and Germany (Chemnitz, 2008–2009) highlighted his European heritage. The departmental archives and the Mazarine Library keep its documents, while exhibitions (Reims, 2010) have traced its course.

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