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Origin and history

Novel Castle, also known as Novel Manor House, is a strong house built in the 12th century on the present town of Annecy (Haute-Savoie). Originally, the site reportedly housed a Gallo-Roman villa, as suggested by its toponym Novel, meaning "newly cleared land". Owned by the Counts of Geneva, it served as an occasional residence before their final installation at the Château d'Annecy in 1219. Count Amédée I signed an agreement there in 1174 under the arbitration of Saint Anthelme de Chignin, and William I of Geneva died there in 1195.

In the 14th century, the seigneury was infused with a family named Novel, before passing into the hands of the Renguis, then Chenex in the 15th century. In 1512, the estate was married to the Sales family, whose father of Saint Francis de Sales was named Lord of Novel. In the 16th century, the mansion belonged to Amédée Viellon, then to his heirs, whose daughters entered the Visitation in the 17th century, giving the property to the visitandines. The latter made it a farm until the Revolution, when it was confiscated as national property.

Architecturally, the 15th-century quadrangular mansion retains a round tower and remains of an enclosure with ditch and drawbridge, mentioned as "totally gassed" in 1612. In the 19th century, a building body connects the tower to the dovecote, while a large agricultural building was erected in 1803 in the courtyard. Partially classified as historical monuments in 1975 (falls and roofs), the castle was bought by the town of Annecy in 1972 after serving as a farm until the 1960s.

The written sources evoke a dovecote in poor condition as early as the 17th century ("rambocher and ironer"), as well as an oak drawbridge supported by dots. The site, initially strategic at the foot of the hill of Annecy-le-Vieux, loses its defensive vocation to become an agricultural economic heart, before its contemporary restoration.

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