Château de Cruseilles en Haute-Savoie

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Key figures

Origin and history

Cruseilles Castle, probably built in the 13th century, was a strategic military building in Geneva County. Located on the road from Geneva to Annecy, it controlled a key passage after Mount Sion Pass and before Les Usses. The village he protected consisted of three doors (Pontet, Annecy, Corbet) and a poterne, reflecting its defensive and commercial role. Associated with the extirpated Fort of Pontverre, he dominated the banks of the Usses.

In 1402, Cruseilles and his county passed under the rule of the house of Savoy. From 1563, already in ruins, the castle served as a prison, then sheltered Spanish troops in 1590 during the bag of the city. In the 17th century, there was only a square tower, inhabited by a peasant in 1865. The remains then included partial ramparts, a gate decorated with Savoy's weapons, and gardens cultivated on the esplanade.

The castle housed a chapel of Sainte-Agathe (mentioned in 1371–1373) and three chapels in the 15th century. The seat of a comtal chestnut, it was managed by a chestnut named by the count of Geneva, gradually replacing hereditary vidoms (attested as early as 1160). The arms of the mandation, "a silver shell on Gules", date from the seventeenth century. The site illustrates the evolution of local authorities between Geneva and Savoie.

The archives mention the castle in the accounts of chestnut (XIIIth–XVIth centuries), preserved in the departmental archives of Savoie. Its decline is part of regional conflicts, including the Franco-Savoyard wars and tensions with Geneva. Today, there are only ruins evoking its medieval past and its role in the defence of Geneva.

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