Manor of Perugia en Savoie

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Origin and history

The Manor House of Perugia is a 13th-century building in Saint-Marcel, Savoie department. This quadrangular building, two storeys on the ground floor, originally belonged to the noble family of Chamousset, linked to the Viscounts of Tarentaise and vassal of the archbishops. Its strategic location, near the gorge of Saix and the old road to Montgirod, suggests a role in the control of access between the bass and the high Taraise, in addition to the castle Saint-Jacques.

In 1284, the house was attested as property of the Chamousset, an influential family whose two members became archbishop-counts of Tarentaise: Bertrand I (1297-1334) and John III of Bertrand (1342-1365). During the French invasion of the Savoy in 1600, led by Marshal Lesdiguières, the mansion was not mentioned in the fighting, unlike the Château Saint-Jacques, dismantled after its surrender on 12 October. Archives indicate that in 1736 the estate belonged to Guillaume Chrisanthe, Marquis de Chamousset.

Architecturally, the mansion presents itself as a derailed tower house, with narrow openings and two geminied bays on the first floor. The ground floor housed cellars and cellars, while the noble floor served as a seigneurial dwelling. Étienne-Louis Borrel notes the absence of external fortifications, suggesting that its isolation at altitude (700 m) was a defence. The site, probably used as a summer residence, illustrates the medieval seigneurial habitat in Tarentaise, marked by alliances between local nobility and ecclesiastical power.

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