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Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Chevreaux, located in the Jura in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, is built on a rocky promontory at 473 meters above sea level, offering a dominant view of the Bressane plain. Mentioned for the first time in 1158 in monacal writings, it was then the center of a seigneury owned by the house of Coligny, a noble family influential in the area since the tenth century. The site, originally named « Chevrel », was ceded in 974 by Manassès III de Coligny to the monks of Gigny-sur-Suran, marking its anchor in local religious and feudal networks.

The seigneury of Chevreaux changed hands several times throughout the marriage alliances. After the Colignys (until 1332), she passed to the Montluel by the marriage of Guy de Montluel with Marguerite de Coligny in 1280, then to the Vienna in 1334, when Marguerite de Montluel married Philippe de Vienne. The baronie, a title acquired in the 16th century, was finally transmitted to the Damascus of Antigny in 1651 via Claude-Alexandrine of Vienna. These successions reflect the strategies of alliances and power characteristic of medieval and reborn aristocracy.

The castle experienced several violent episodes related to regional and national conflicts. In 1480, by order of Louis XI, he was dismantled after the death of Charles the Temerary, marking the end of Burgundy independence. In 1595 Henry IV's troops damaged the gate during the invasion of the County. The most devastating bag took place in 1637, when the Duke of Longueville, after a three-day siege, destroyed the dungeon at the mine and partially razed the fortifications during the Ten Years' War. These events illustrate its strategic role in the struggles for the control of Franche-Comté.

Despite these destructions, a 1628 text still describes a castle "well covered with towers and walls", consisting of twelve bedrooms, a chapel, attics, and outbuildings such as stables and a garden. This description demonstrates its residential and defensive importance before its gradual ruin. Since 1990, restoration sites have been designed to preserve this heritage, highlighting its architectural and historical heritage for the region.

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