The château de Maulnes is a 16th-century, Renaissance-style château located in Cruzy-le-Châtel in the department of Yonne, France.
This château was built between 1566 and 1573 and has several unique design features. For example, it has a novel pentagonal-shaped house and is buttressed by five towers, and has a centrally located well surrounded by a spiral staircase.
During the 20th century, the château was in an advanced state of disrepair. In 1942, the château was classified as a historic monument and in 1997 it was purchased by the Conseil General of Yonne. It has since been the focus of historical and archaeological research and restoration. In 2005, the château was made open to the public.
History
The "motte of Maulnes" The site on which the château stands is believed to have been occupied since the Neolithic era. The earliest reference to the area is found in a book written in the year 863 called "Molnitum".
A fortified structure, known as the "motte of Maulnes", was built in a clearing within the forest Maulnes, by the counts of Tonnerre in the 13th century. The time-frame has been confirmed by references made in historical writings as well as research using aerial photography. This structure is thought to have facilitated the counts in hunting activities, such as in the company of distinguished guests including the Duke of Burgundy Philip the Bold, who came to hunt in 1366 and 1374.
In 1411, a quarrel broke out between the Count of Tonnerre (Louis II of Chalon-Arlay) and the Duke of Burgundy (John the Fearless). As a consequence, the Burgundian troops invaded the county and destroyed this structure, as well as others.
The project
A century and a half later, after the death of her first husband, the countess of Tonnerre, Louise de Clermont, married Antoine de Crussol, Duke of Uzes, Both were influential and well known figures, close to the court of France as well as the queen herself, Catherine de Medici.
In 1566, the couple decided to build a château in the forest Maulnes where the "motte of Maulnes" once stood. By this time, the sixty-two year old Louise had considerable exposure to and appreciation for architecture. For example, her brother, Antoine III of Clermont, entrusted the architect Sebastiano Serlio to building him a château in Ancy-le-Franc, near Maulnes, about 25 years earlier.
With the signing of the Edict of Amboise in 1563, France enjoyed a brief period of peace from internal religious wars, allowing for a large-scale project, such as building the Château de Maulnes, to come to fruition.
Antoine de Crussol, who became Duke of Uzes in May 1565, no longer had a residence worthy of his rank in the county. The château would stand as a symbol of his newly acquired power, if not by its size, then by its beauty and architectural originality.
The location of the château in the forest was likely chosen due to nearby hunting opportunities as well as the economic incentive for extracting timber from the vast forests of the region. At the time, the sale of firewood to Paris was the most important resource of the region.
The construction (1566–1573)
On May 7, 1566, Antoine de Crussol signed a notarized contract to hire a master mason and a master carpenter and provided them with detailed plans of the Château de Maulnes. While there is much speculation regarding the possible architect for the project, the designer is not known.
In February 1568, following a period of religious unrest, the Prince of Conde's army occupied the suburbs of Tonnerre and besieged the city, relenting with the payment of a ransom. In November, the Catholic troops seized Noyers (Yonne), and about a year later the army of Marshal de Cosse arrived and restored the peace in Tonnerre.
Despite these setbacks, progress on the construction continued. In September 1569, Louise de Clermont moved to Maulnes, and furnished the château. In January 1570, Antoine de Crussol joined her in the completed château. The second project, constructing the adjoining buildings, may have started in August 1570, after the departure of Crussol who joined the French court in later life.
In 1572, Antoine de Crussol was made peerage of France, for his Duchy of Uzes. During this time, tensions in the country were particularly high between Catholics and Protestants. On August 24, 1572, Anthoine's brother Galiot became one of the victims of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. From January to July 1573, Antoine de Crussol participated in the siege of La Rochelle (1572–73). He returned to Château de Maulnes exhausted and ill and died August 14, 1573.
The Clermont-Tonnerre period (1573–1697)
Once again a widow, Louise de Clermont spent her remaining years between Paris, Tonnerre, Ancy-le-Franc and Maulnes. After May 1575, she did not return to Maulnes and entrusted the building to two men. In 1576, the Château de Maulnes, was listed in a publication as one of the top 30 exceptional buildings in France.Jacques Androuet Hoop published the first volume of the "Plus Excellents Bastiments de France"
In the following years, Louise faced legal trials filed against her as well as the estates of her deceased husbands. At 92 years old, she died in May 1596 in the Hotel-Dieu de Tonnerre. Louise de Clermont died childless and with unresolved legal problems. In March 1606, her great-nephew and heir Charles-Henri de Clermont reached an agreement with the creditors. After a paying out a settlement, he became Count of Tonnerre, Cruzy and Maulnes. In 1610 Charles-Henri made enhancements to the ceiling in the great hall.
Charles-Henri also divided the regions of Maulnes and Cruzy, and made his youngest son marquess and his oldest son the count of Clermont and Tonnerre.
Despite these preparations for his sons, after his death in 1640, his eldest son François de Clermont claimed that some of the possessions of his brother Roger, to have always belonged to Tonnerre County. That same year, his representative took possession of the château de Maulnes. It is not known if it was inhabited by either brother, however an engraving of Israel Silvestre in 1650 suggests that it was in a state of neglect. With respect to the ownership of the château, in 1658 a judgment of parliament sided with the younger brother Roger, Marquess of Cruzy.
A fortified structure, known as the "motte of Maulnes", was built in a clearing within the forest Maulnes, by the counts of Tonnerre in the 13th century. The time-frame has been confirmed by references made in historical writings as well as research using aerial photography. This structure is thought to have facilitated the counts in hunting activities, such as in the company of distinguished guests including the Duke of Burgundy Philip the Bold, who came to hunt in 1366 and 1374.
Between 1650 and 1670, In 1647 Roger returned from the armies of Flanders and between 1650 and 1670 he made modifications and repairs to château de Maulnes.
The Louvois period (1697–1844)
Between 1683 and 1685, François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois bought Tonnerre county from François-Joseph Clermont, the grandson of Francis and the grand-nephew of Roger. Louvois was well known for his role as the French secretary of state for war.
Louvois died in 1691 and his widow, Anne de Souvré maintained possession of Tonnerre county. In June 1697, Anne bought Maulnes and Cruzy from Roger's son, who was experiencing financial difficulties, and thus taking possession of the château de Maulnes and reuniting Charles-Henri's divided estate.
Anne de Souvré drew a detailed map of the forest Maulnes and died in December 1715. The estate is settled six years later, and Maulnes was again abandoned.
In 1721, the eldest son of Louvois, Michel-François Le Tellier marquis Courtanvaux, inherited Tonnerre County, but he died soon thereafter. His daughter, Anne-Louise de Noailles, received temporary guardianship until his two-year-old son, Francis Tellier Caesar Courtanvaux, became an adult.
In 1723, the royal council of finance authorized timber to float from Maulnes to Paris by the Armançon, Yonne and the Seine rivers. As a consequence, a small community of workers formed around the château. As an adult, Francis continued the timber operations. In 1775, the timber merchants near the château received permission from the Marquis to start a glassworks industry, which was more profitable than selling timber. This industry transformation significantly changed the landscape of Maulnes with the gradual clearing of the forest and the growth of the community.
In 1781, the Marquis died with no direct heir. His cousin Louis-Sophie Le Tellier Souvré, son of François-Louis Le Tellier, became Count of Tonnerre. He died in debt four years later and his widow Jeanne Marie Henriette Bombelles Victory supervised the estate on behalf of her two-year-old son. Both survived the French Revolution and the abolition of French feudalism and regained the property and she managed it until her death in 1822.
In 1806, a note drafted by the subprefect of Tonnerre described the processes and in the production of Maulnes glassware, specifically mentioning production of 300,000 bottles per year. This production could only occur 6 months out of the year due to timber limitations of the forest of Maulnes.
When he took over the management of glassware in 1819, Louis Le Tellier Souvré became a peer of France under the Restoration. In 1804, his son, Auguste Felicite Michel Le Tellier, married Athénaïs Grimaldi of Monaco, daughter of Joseph Grimaldi and niece of the Prince of Monaco Grimaldi Honoré IV.
In 1819, production doubled and the local glassware industry was employing a hundred workers, in addition to the loggers and valets.
In 1824 the Maulnes estate was rented to a master came glassmaker from Bayel, François Vallory. In 1834, the financially ruined Marquis de Louvois sold Maulnes, including the château, to the glassmaker. In 1844, François closed the estate, facing his own financial difficulties.
Period of abandonment (1844–1997) The château and the surrounding land was sold in 1851 to Gabriel Knight, a banker from Châtillon-sur-Seine, who abandoned the château. After his death in 1866, succession documents describe the buildings "in poor condition". In the 1880s, some repairs were undertaken. After the bankruptcy of Adrian Knight, the Maulnes estate is purchased by the Prunier family in 1898. It then passed into the hands of the industrialist Ferdinand Serres and his son, who own it from 1918 to 1960. It is believed these successive owners were more interested in the land and woods surrounding the château, since the château itself was not maintained and gradually falls into serious disrepair during this period.
On 11 July 1942, le château de Maulnes was classified by France's Service des Monuments Historiques, who unsuccessfully attempted repairs in 1943 and 1944. In 1960, the deed of sale indicates "a château and outbuildings, all in ruins". The château, without the land was purchased by the Friends of Maulnes Company and for the first time, a large backup funded plan was implemented. In 1964, a work permit was granted to repair the crumbling façades. Fundraising continued until 1969.
But the company suddenly ended the campaign and deterioration worsened with the storms in 1979 and 1981–1982. In 1985, a decree compelled the owner to perform the restoration work; they are led to office in 1987. Finally in 1997, the General Council of the Yonne acquired Maulnes after an expropriation procedure.
The period of rediscovery (1997–)