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Origin and history

The château de Frôlois is a medieval fortress built in the 13th century, then transformed in the 14th and 18th centuries. Situated at the southern end of the village of Frôlois (Côte d'Or), it overlooks the Vau valley and the departmental road 122 by 100 metres. Its strategic location on a rocky spur makes it a major defensive site, once surrounded by walls, a ditch cut in the rock, and protected by a drawbridge before the entrance.

In 1117 there were conflicts between the seigneuries of Frôlois and Mont-Saint-Jean. The archives attest that in 1243 and 1301 the châtellenie was the fief of Saint-Seine. In 1372, the castle — with the exception of its dungeon, owned by the Rhodes Hospital — was surrounded by ramparts and houses a church, a presbytery and a cemetery in its enclosure. This status was confirmed in 1614. The fortress, the capital of a barony of the Duchy of Burgundy, passed in 1683 to Pierre du Ban de la Feuillée, who littered in the county.

In the 17th century, a house body partially replaced the old structures. The 18th century salon, decorated with Bergamo's Italian painted tapestries, bears witness to subsequent developments. In 1795, the estate was acquired by Nicolas Pierre Regnault. In the 20th century, remains of remains classified as Historic Monument: facades, roofs, walls, and a room decorated by Antoine de Vergy, protected since 1977 and 1991.

Today's architecture thus combines medieval defensive elements—top terraces, moats—and residential spaces of Modern Times. The site illustrates the evolution of a Burgundian stronghold, marked by feudal conflicts, then by its adaptation to seigneurial uses under the Old Regime.

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