Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Castle of Rebetz has its origins in the 12th century with a first attested building. Over the centuries, he passed into the hands of influential families, such as the Malherbe, who became their owners in 1473. Robert Malherbe, squire and chamberlain of Kings Louis XI and Louis XII, passed on the seigneury to his nephew Charles Pellevé, married to Hélène de Faÿ. Their son, Cardinal Nicolas de Pellevé, began in the 16th century the construction of a new Renaissance-style castle, marking the architectural climax of the estate.

In 1622 the poet Jean Loret dedicated a work to the lord of Rebetz, Philippe de Pellevé, abbot and nephew of the cardinal. The castle then changed hands by marriage alliances: it echoed the Morlet du Museau in 1633, then the Massol de Rebetz in 1692. The latter, including Jean VII de Massol, a lawyer general at the Chambre des comptes de Paris, expanded the estate to more than 325 hectares in 1777. The Marquisat de Rebetz, endowed with high-justice rights symbolized by patibular forks, then embodies the local seigneurial power.

The French Revolution marked a dramatic turning point: in 1791 Félix-Pierre Geoffroy de Charnois acquired the estate and four years later had the castle razed. The stones are used to erect a small castle from the entrance porch, while the communes, organized around a square courtyard, are preserved. In 1843, landscape architect Louis-Sulpice Varé redesigned the park, the last testimony of today's fragmented but history-laden heritage.

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