Château de Montjoie en Haute-Savoie

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Origin and history

The castle of Montjoie, also called castrum Montis Gaudii or castle of Béatrice, was a 12th century military building located in the Faucigny, in the heart of the village of Contamines-Montjoie. Disappeared today, he occupied the present location of the local church, its tower being integrated into the bell tower. This quadrangular castle, endowed with a dungeon, strategically controlled access to the Bonhomme and Joly passes, playing a "border march" role between the Faucigny and Beaufortain, then under the authority of the archbishops of Tarentaise.

The name Montjoie comes from the German mundgawi ("military border height"), Latinised in Mons Gaudii by medieval copyists. The presence of Béatrice de Faucigny, known as the Grande Dauphine, has earned the castle its nickname of Château de Béatrice. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, it was the seat of a châtellenie dependent on the bailiage of Faucigny, including the parishes of Saint-Nicolas-de-Véroce, Saint-Gervais and Notre-Dame de la Gorge. His weapons, a gold lion in the field, symbolized his importance in the feudal hierarchy.

Built probably under the impulse of Béatrice de Faucigny, the castle lost its strategic role after the Treaty of Paris (1355), when the Faucigny passed to the Counts of Savoie. The châtellenie was then administered from the fortified house of Saint-Gervais, built in 1373. The decline of the castle is explained by the disappearance of the border he was monitoring, moving power to economic centres like Saint-Gervais. Today, only archaeological traces and archival records attest to its existence.

Organized in the 12th century, Montjoie's chestnutry ranked 8th among the nine orders of the Faucigny. In the 14th century, it was integrated into the fifteen, then seventeen Delphinal chestnuts. The chestnut, an officer appointed by the Count of Savoy, managed the tax revenues and maintenance of the castle, sometimes assisted by a receiver. The châtellenie accounts, kept at the departmental archives of Savoie (series SA 14001-14137), document this administration until the 16th century.

Historical excavations and searches reveal a quadrangular castle around which the houses of the village stowed. Its location, on the right bank of the Bon-Nant, made it a point of control of the roads leading to the Alps. Although lost, his legacy persists in local toponymy and archives, testifying to his central role in the medieval history of the Faucigny.

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