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Origin and history

The Château du Vieux Chambord is an old fortified house built between 1370 and 1390 in the Besbre Valley, on a strategic site controlling a Roman way from Autun to Vichy. This crossing point, borrowed by the Roman legions going to the thermal baths of Aquae Calidae (Vichy), justified from the thirteenth century the existence of a fortification, attested by a bell dated 1222. The fief then belonged to the powerful family of Châtillon, lords of Jaligny, before being passed on in 1276 to John I Champroprin under condition of vassality towards Guillaume de Châtillon, bishop of Laon and peer of France.

The seigneury of Chambord, which became free alleu (free of any vassalic bond) in 1346, remained in the same family line by marriage, passing from Champropin to Joulle, then to Devaulx (authorized in 1815 by Louis XVIII to adopt the name Devaulx de Chambord). Among his notable lords, Louis I de Chambord accompanied Bertrand du Guesclin to Randan's siege in 1377. The castle, designed to defend the valley, was redesigned in the 15th, 16th and 19th centuries, with additions such as cannon guns, a spiral staircase, or a new southern entrance.

Architecturally, the Old Chambord illustrates the evolution of bourbon's strong houses: a 28-metre square dungeon flanked by two-tiered (rarissisms) scathed with a barlong house. The similarities with the castle of Montessus (Saône-et-Loire) suggest a common regional influence. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1972, it retains medieval defensive elements (precincts, niches) while integrating posterior residential features, such as windows pierced in the 16th century or roofs redesigned in the 17th and 19th centuries.

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