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Origin and history

Château des Outards is an ancient fortified house built in the 13th century, whose remains are located in the commune of Beaufort, in the department of Savoie, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Built after 1246 by Pierre, seigneur of Beaufort, it resulted from an estate sharing with his brother Guillaume, who inherited the ancestral castle. This strategic site, located on the left bank of the Dorinet, overlooks the hill of Vanches and offers a view of Beaufort Castle, 1.2 km northeast of the village.

In 1277, Pierre de Beaufort, in debt with Pierre de Savoie, seigneur of Faucigny, ceded the Château des Outards to Béatrice de Faucigny to repay a loan of 1,500 livres. His descendants later obtained permission to build a new castle in Beaufort, the Sallaz. The site, mentioned as the castrum of Altaribus in 1297, remains linked to the movement of the states of Faucigny. In 1320, Pierre and Jacques de Altaribus, the son of Raymond de Beaufort, asked for the right to erect forks, marking an administrative phase in his history.

Today, the medieval castle remains only a few walls in ruins and a barely legible coat of arms, replaced by a modern dwelling. Its history, although discreet after the 13th century, illustrates the feudal dynamics and the inheritance stakes of the medieval Savoy, between seigneurial debts and family scores. The remains also recall the military architecture of the period, typical of the strong Alpine houses, designed to control valleys and communication axes.

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