Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château d'Épinac stands on a plateau overlooking the Drée valley, near the village of Épinac in Saône-et-Loire. From the original building remain two bodies of houses with imposing attices, forming an angle marked by a scald, as well as two of the four original towers. A massive square tower, four-storey, closed the house to the northwest, while a second tower, planted in a south-easterly angle, probably housed the entrance and commanded a drawbridge that was now extinct. The ditches have been filled, but part of the polygonal enclosure, once surrounding terraces and gardens, remains visible. Private property, the castle is not visited.

The seigneury of Epinac, formerly called Monétoy or Monestoy, is attested from 1209. A strong house was mentioned there in 1326, before the lineage of the Monétoy died in 1396 with Hugues, who died at the Battle of Nicopolis. In 1430, Nicolas Rolin, Chancellor of Duke Philip the Good, acquired the land and undertook major reconstructions, marking the beginning of a long possession by his descendants. The castle then changed hands by successive inheritances: he passed to the Pernes in 1630, then to the House of Clermont in 1641, before Louis II de Pernes renamed the seigneury "Epinac" in 1656.

In the 18th century, Marshal Gaspard of Clermont-Tonnerre launched the first coal mining operations on the estate, foreshadowing local industrialisation with the installation of a glass factory. The French Revolution marked a tragic turning point: in 1794 Jules Charles Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre was guillotined, resulting in the confiscation, dismemberment and sale of estates. Two towers were then destroyed, before Samuel Blum, a local entrepreneur, acquired the remains and stopped their destruction. In the 20th century, the castle, divided into houses and degraded, was partially restored.

The archives reveal a turbulent history, where the castle alternates between the role of seigneurial residence, the heir issue, and the symbol of economic and political upheavals. Its current architecture, though fragmentary, bears witness to the successive transformations, from the medieval reconstructions of Nicolas Rolin to modern industrial adaptations. The coal research initiated in the 18th century illustrates the link between aristocratic heritage and industrial revolution in Burgundy.

The bibliography available, including the Historical Notice on Epinac d'E. Lavirotte (1855), highlights the local importance of this monument, classified among the castles of Saône-et-Loire. Its evolution reflects regional dynamics, between seigneurial power, land change and mining growth, while embodying the challenges of preserving a fragmented private heritage.

External links