Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Montgilbert, built around 1250 by the family of Saint-Gérand under the reign of Louis IX, is a strategic castle between Auvergne, Forez and Bourbonnais. Located at 565 m above sea level on a rocky spur, it controls a meander of the Vareille, tributary of the Sichon. Its two enclosures – the exterior of the 15th century for artillery, the square interior with round towers – housed house seigneurial, vaulted chapel, and reserves (tank, silo). The lower court welcomed servants and commons, protected by archeries and a bastion added after 1434.

Acquired around 1280 by the Aycelin de Montaigut, bourgeois anoblis, the castle passes by marriage to the families of Vienna and Saulx-Tavannes. During the Hundred Years' War (1434-1439), he was confiscated for the benefit of the Spanish mercenary Rodrigue de Villandrando, who reinforced the defences (canonières, enhancement of the lower court). In the 16th century, the Saulx-Tavannes adapted to Renaissance comfort (windows, coatings, ramp of access), but the wars of Religion and the attachment of Bourbonnais to France marked its decline.

From the end of the 17th century, the owners (Saulx-Tavannes and then of the Bravards of Eyssat Duprat) abandoned Montgilbert for the castle of Mayet-de-Montagne. Sold as a national property in 1794 after the emigration of his last lord, the ruin served as a stone quarry in the 19th century. Ranked a historic monument in 1930, the site has been saved since 1974 by a voluntary association affiliated with the Union Rempart, which organizes restoration sites.

Gallo-Roman bronzes, including an oenochoe (BR. 195), were discovered on the leperon in 1867, suggesting an anterior castrum, although no pre-medieval architectural trace was confirmed by recent excavations. In 2025, research in the history of science helped locate these artifacts, two of which were attributed to the site with certainty.

Three local legends surround the castle: that of the Democratic Sir, a cruel lord swallowed up by the earth after having tortured a beggar; The Duel of Colossus, where a black knight kills a greedy lord near the forest; and the cruel Games, evoking sadistic festivals where guests danced on coals or fought bulls. These accounts reflect the image of a violent and superstitious medieval nobility.

External links