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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Fleurigny, mentioned in the 13th century as "new", was originally owned by Érard de Brienne, Sire de Ramerupt, who tried unsuccessfully to capture Champagne County. After his defeat, he yielded the suzeraineté of Fleurigny to the knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, thus linking the fief to the command of Launay. This castle, built on an island and surrounded by water, became a strategic issue in the Senonian region, before being defortified by order of Charles VII in 1435 to eliminate English positions.

In the 14th century, the castle passed to the family of Fleurigny, vassale des Brienne, then to Robinet de Florigny, chamberlain of the Duke of Burgundy. Without an heir, he left him to his brother Philippe, close to Duke Louis d'Orléans. The Leclerc family, which acquired the estate in the 16th century, undertook important transformations: the slaughter of the south wall for a Renaissance façade, the construction of a chapel decorated with ancient stained glass windows and pre-revolutionary tomb plates. Pierre Lescot, famous architect and Leclerc parent, would have influenced this work.

Under the July monarchy, the last Leclerc de Fleurigny adds an English-style wing and integrates the fortified door of the Launay Commanderie in its park, inverting its coat of arms. The chapel, classified in 1889, and the castle in 1930, house treasures like a Merovingian sarcophagus discovered on the estate. The site, combining medieval, Renaissance and English heritages, bears witness to seven centuries of noble and religious history.

The park, structured around a pond and a circular vegetable garden, also includes an old seigneurial farm converted into an equestrian center, a 19th century sepulchral chapel, and stables. Inside, the "guard room" preserves a monumental fireplace that impressed the Order of Malta investigators in the 17th century, while a painted cabinet illustrates castral life. These elements reflect the opulence of a large domesticity in the service of the lords until the Revolution.

The architecture of the castle, in arc from northwest to northeast, combines a sandstone exterior and an interior brick courtyard, typical of the Renaissance. The chapel, the jewel of the Senonais, combines exuberant decoration and ancient stained glass windows, while the Merovingian sarcophagus, relegated in its attic, recalls the high medieval origins of the site. These stylistic contrasts highlight the historical strata of the monument, from Merovingians to Leclerc.

Ranked a Historical Monument, the Château de Fleurigny embodies the mutations of a medieval fief in aristocratic residence, marked by political alliances (Brienne, Burgundy, Orléans) and artistic influences (Renaissance, English). Its park, outbuildings and interior decorations make it an exceptional testimony of seigneurial life in Burgundy, from the Hundred Years War to the Revolution.

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