Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Folembray came into being in 1209, when Enguerrand III, lord of Coucy, erected a castle with four towers. This first building, located on the heights of the village, is completely razed in the 16th century to give way to a reconstruction in Renaissance style under the impulse of King Francis I. The works, carried out between 1538 and 1547 by the master masons Pierre Tâchéron and Jean Lemoisne, transform the site into a royal hunting lodge prized, notably by Francis I and his son Henry II. The latter, after the fire of the castle by Charles Quint's troops in 1554, had him restored and apologised against Mary of Hungary, the emperor's sister.

Over the decades, the castle of Folembay remains a strategic place for the monarchy. Henry III offered to his half sister Diane, before the estate returned to the crown. In 1596 Henry IV signed the edict of Folembay, marking Charles de Mayenne's submission and the end of the conflicts with the Catholic League. However, the decline began in the 17th century: ravaged several times between 1649 and 1653, the castle was finally demolished in 1672 under Louis XIV. Its ruins, briefly exploited as glasswork in the early eighteenth century, disappear almost entirely, leaving only scattered remains.

Architecturally, the castle of Folembay was inspired by the style of Villers-Cotterêts, with an elongated courtyard and rectangular pavilions. Today, his appearance is known only through engravings, such as those of Jacques Androuet du Cerceau or the frescoes of the Galerie des Cerfs in Fontainebleau. A new castle, built in 1859 at another location, bears the same name but has no historical connection to the original royal building.

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