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Origin and history

The castle of Loisy, located in the municipality of Loisy in Saône-et-Loire, occupies an eminence overlooking the valley of the Seille. Its origin dates back to a castral motte attested from the year Mil, with a first fortress built around 1150 by Hugues de Brancion. The ensemble is organized around two successive enclosures, of which round archery towers dated from the 13th to the 16th century remain. The site, strategically placed, was destroyed and rebuilt several times, especially after the wars of Religion (1565), which ravaged the medieval building.

The major reconstruction took place in the 17th century, with a body of rectangular houses flanked by square towers and covered with a rumped roof, typical of Burgundy classical architecture. In 1633 Antoine Bretagne, an adviser to the Parliament of Dijon, acquired the estate and began work. In the 18th century, Claude de La Michodière and Jean-François-Gabriel-Bénigne Chartraire de Bourbonne, the son-in-law of President Bouhier, completed the transformations, incorporating elements Rocaille such as the horse iron staircase and the wrought iron gate. The coat of arms of the Chartraire and Bouhier, carved on the pediment, bear witness to this period.

The castle preserves traces of its successive phases: the two round towers of the thirteenth century, the ditches delimiting the castral plate, and a 17th century painted decoration in one of the towers. Property of the family of La Chapelle since the 19th century, it remains a private residence, classified as Historic Monument in 2007. Its spatial organization — low courtyard, terrace, English garden — reflects the evolution of usages, moving from the medieval fortress to the seigneurial home of the Ancien Régime.

The archives mention a continuous occupation since the Middle Ages, with noble families succeeding: Loisy (XIII–XIVth centuries), Massol (XVIth century), Brittany (XVIIth), then Bouchu and Chartraire (XVIIIth). The seigneury of Loisy, linked to the Abbey of Tournus and then to the Parliament of Dijon, illustrates the power networks in Burgundy. The destruction (1565) and reconstruction (1633, 1748) marked the political and religious upheavals in the region.

Today, the castle is distinguished by its preserved castral ensemble: gate in the middle of the hangar, ditches, towers of angle, and an interior partially renovated in the nineteenth century. Although not open to the public, it is a remarkable example of architectural adaptation, combining medieval defenses and classical elegance. Its inscription in the Historical Monuments protects all subsequent modifications, with the exception of transformed commons.

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