Montmayeur Castle

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Montmayeur Castle
Access to the Montmayeur Castle

Access to the Montmayeur Castle

Creation time : 1271 or 1312
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Construction: Quarry stone
Place: Arvier
Geographical location 45 ° 41 '18.3 "  N , 7 ° 8' 25.2"  E Coordinates: 45 ° 41 '18.3 "  N , 7 ° 8' 25.2"  E
Height: 1112  m slm
Montmayeur Castle (Aosta Valley)
Montmayeur Castle

The castle of Montmayeur , also called Castle of Arvier , French Château de Montmayeur , it. Castello di Montmayeur is the ruin of a hilltop castle in the municipality of Arvier in the Aosta Valley . It lies above the confluence of the Valgrisenche valley on the orographic right side of the Dora di Valgrisenche ( Italian ) / Doire de Valgrisenche (French). The ruin is open to the public. It can be reached via a footpath from the village of Grand-Haury .

location

Montmayeur Castle floor plan

From a lithological point of view, the rock on which Montmayeur Castle stands is albitic , gray mica schist with a brownish patina, characterized by the presence of chlorite and quartz : it comes from deposits of rubble containing volcanic material and has an alpine metamorphosis on.

In the 19th century, the castle acquired the name "Nid de vautours" (Eng .: vulture's nest) because of its impregnable location.

From the castle you can see the rock face of La Ravoire .

history

The castle tower on an old photo

The castle of Montmayeur had the family of the Counts of Montmayeur built on a natural elevation in the 13th century , on which it can still be found today. Certainly the castle keep , if not the entire castle, go to the year 1271 back when Anselme and d'Aymon Avise to Philip I of Savoy feudal tribute for "Rupem Arbareti vel Montis Melioris" paid where the Count them Gave permission to build. However, another document from the Counts of Bailly of Aosta shows that the castle was built in 1312.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the Montmayeur fiefdom formed part of the Avise dominion , which formed a sesto . In 1309/1310 the Count of Savoy acquired the fiefs of Aymonet and Faucon de Montmayeur and in 1323 he had them guarded by his armies. In 1337 the castle of Montmayeur was between the inputs and the outputs presented to the audiences and was available to the Bailly, the castellan of Châtel-Argent and Montmayeur.

In 1351 the castle belonged again to the House of Savoy , but in 1359 it was loaned to Pierre de Montmayeur on the occasion of his investiture and in 1430 to the D'Avise brothers . Jean-Baptiste de Tillier confirmed that the castle of Montmayeur and the castle of Rochefort were still inhabited as the files of the general audience recorded the presence of garrisons .

Legend

Legend has it that a Count of Montmayeur, who had been found guilty of a dispute with a cousin by the Chambéry court, invited the presiding judge of the court, Guy de Feissigny , to apologize and, when they arrived at his house, beheaded him read. The head of the president was then handed over to the judges in Chambéry as a "document that was missing in the process". In order to escape his capture, the Count of Montmayeur fled to the mountains and had the Montmayeur fortress built there.

description

Today the complex consists mainly of ruins; the castle has been uninhabited for centuries and only a few traces remained: a keep, which rises up as a round tower with dovetail battlements, is surrounded by numerous remains of the wall ring and the remains of the actual castle complex.

Gallery images

  • The elevated entrance to the tower

  • During the restoration work, the opening at the base of the tower was closed.

  • Wall remains

Individual references and citations

  1. ^ A b Francesco Prinetti: Andar per sassi. Le rocce alpine fra natura e cultura. Valle d'Aosta, Canavese, Valsesia . Musumeci, Quart 2010. ISBN 978-88-7032-857-8 . P. 159.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f André Zanotto: Guide des châteaux du Val d'Aoste . Musumeci éd., Quart (1978) 2002. ISBN 88-7032-039-1 . P. 60.
  3. ↑ Libravit Richardo de Brezaul, pro adrectu facto per ipsum ad edificandum castrum Montismelioris [...]
  4. ^ Jean-Baptiste de Tillier : Historique de la vallée d'Aoste . L. Mensio. P. 167 (500). (1737) 1887. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  5. ↑ Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 . P. 54.

swell

  • André Zanotto: Guide des châteaux du Val d'Aoste . Musumeci éd., Quart (1978) 2002. ISBN 88-7032-039-1 . P. 60.
  • Mauro Minola, Beppe Ronco: Valle d'Aosta. Castelli e fortificazioni . Macchione, Varese 2002. ISBN 88-8340-116-6 .
  • Jean-Baptiste de Tillier: Historique de la vallée d'Aoste . L. Mensio. (1737) 1887. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  • Carlo Nigra: Torri e castelli e case forti del Piemonte dal 1000 al secolo XVI. La Valle d'Aosta . Musumeci, Quart 1974. pp. 44-45.

Web links

Commons : Castello di Montmayeur  - Collection of images, videos and audio files