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Origin and history

The castles of Ternier, located on a hill in the present village of Ternier (comune of Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, Haute-Savoie), were two fortified 13th century buildings, possibly built on earlier structures. The site, known as the Savoyard Poype (Castral Motte), overhanged the valleys of the Air and Arand at 490 meters altitude. These fortresses controlled the Geneva-Chambery road, alongside the Château de Viry, in a border area disputed between the Counts of Geneva, the Savoys and later the Bernese.

Originally, the Comtal Castle probably belonged to the family of Ternier, a noble rival line of the Counts of Geneva, before being ceded to them in the 12th or 13th century. The house-forte of the nearby Poype remained in the hands of the Ternier, who bore the titles of barons and vicomtes. The Ternier toponym (attested from 1220 onwards in the form Terniaco or Ternye) would come from a Gallo-Roman domain (Terniacum) or from a designation of borders (Terra ad lacum, "Lands at the end of Lake Geneva").

In the Middle Ages, the castles were at the heart of the conflicts between the Counts of Geneva and the House of Savoy. In 1250, the château comtal was pledged by the Count of Geneva to Philippe I of Savoy, before returning to Geneva. In 1252 the bishop of Geneva granted a weekly market to Ternier, emphasizing his economic role. In the 14th century, the seigneury became a comtal chestnut, managed by shawls appointed to collect revenues and maintain fortresses. The Terniers, though vassal, retained the Poype until 1418, when Girard de Ternier, the last heir, bequeathed his property to his nephew Richard de Montchenu.

The modern period was marked by the wars of Religion and tensions between Protestant Geneva and the Catholic Savoy. In 1536 Bern occupied Ternier, making a bail until 1567. In 1589, the Genevans took the Comtal Castle, before the Duke Charles-Emmanuel I of Savoy took it back after a canonary seat. Despite the surrender of the defenders, the Duke hanged the 40 Geneva soldiers and razed the castles. The seigneury was definitively reinstated in the Savoy, before the removal of the bailiff in 1780.

Architecturally, the two castles had advanced defensive features for the time. The château comtal had a 21-metre dungeon with 2.8-metre thick walls, modified several times, and a quadrangular tower (13×11 metres) added between 1321 and 1328. An angled shield wall protected the enclosure. La Poype, surrounded by a double enclosure, housed a chapel Saint-Nicolas and served as a residence for the family of Ternier. Today, only remains remain buried under vegetation, including traces of ditches and access roads.

The castles of Ternier illustrate the strategic and dynastic stakes of the region. Their destruction in 1589 symbolized the struggles between Savoie and Geneva, while their history reflected the changing alliances of the local noble families (Ternier, Montchenu, Milliet de Challes). The archives, like the châtellenie accounts held in Chambéry (SA 12119-12189), bear witness to their administrative and military role until their decline in modern times.

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