Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Autricourt was built in the 11th century by the Autricourt family as a fortress with deep towers and moats. This first building, designed to house a garrison, passed into the hands of local lords such as Jehan d'Anglire (1176) or Pierre de Mont-Saint-Jean, before being ceded in 1299 to Duke Robert II of Burgundy. His strategic role made him a coveted one, changed several times, including Guichard de Saint-Seine in 1397, rewarded by Duke Philippe le Hardi for his services.

In the 14th century, the fortress was rebuilt, then profoundly modified after the Wars of Religion (XVI century), reflecting the defensive adaptations of the period. The Saladin d'Anglure, already owners three centuries earlier, bought the estate in 1536 and kept it until 1673. The castle then passed into the hands of noble families: the Valois (1718), the Marquis de Crillon (1769), then Jacques Alexandre Gautier de Vinfrais in 1794, before becoming the property of the Treil de Pardailhan for nearly two centuries. These hand changes illustrate its importance in the Burgundy aristocracy.

The current architecture combines medieval elements (round towers, moats, cannons) and additions from the 16th and 19th centuries, such as a chapel in a square tower or a turret "trobadour". The castle, organized in U around a courtyard, preserves traces of its bassyard (pigeon house in ruins) and its hydraulic system (channels for feeding moat). It is a private property and today bears witness to nearly a thousand years of history, between military office, seigneurial residence and family heritage.

The site is documented by a 19th-century lithography by Eugene Nesle and Auguste Bry, offering an iconographic testimony of his appearance at that time. Its listing in the Mérimée inventory highlights its heritage value, while its moats, still in water, recall its past of stronghold controlling the Urce Valley.

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