The Château of the Dukes of Bourbon is a castle in

Montluçon Montluçon (; ) is a commune in central France on the river Cher. It is the largest commune in the Allier department, although the department's prefecture is located in the smaller town of Moulins. Its inhabitants are known as ''Montluçonna ...

, France, largely built by the

Dukes of Bourbon Duke of Bourbon () is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont, and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. In 1416, wit ...

. In 1070, Guillaume, son of Archambaud IV of Bourbon (died 1095) became ''

Seigneur A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owned a seigneurie, seigneury, or lordship—a form of ...

'' of Montluçon and built a fortress on a

castrum ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

. The English occupied the Castle of Montluçon from 1171 to 1188. After that invasion,

Philip Augustus Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), also known as Philip Augustus (), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: ''rex Francorum''), but from 1190 onward, Philip became the firs ...

handed it over to the Bourbon family. The latter transformed it into a stronghold. The remainder of the castle was built starting from 1370, at the heart of the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

, by

Louis II, Duke of Bourbon Louis de Bourbon, called the Good ( – 1410), was the third Duke of Bourbon. He was also the Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis and Lord of Beaujeu. Life Louis was the son of Peter de Bourbon and Isabella de Valois. His mother was the siste ...

. The edifice was surrounded by a double row of ramparts, was drilled by four doors and counted forty-one watchtowers. During the unification of the

Bourbonnais The Bourbonnais (; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Borbonés'') was a Provinces of France, historic province in the centre of France that corresponds to the modern ''département in France, département'' of Allier, along with part of the ''dépar ...

to the crown of France, during the reign of Francis I, the castle was abandoned. Louis II Duke of Bourbon, was the main contributor to the construction of the castle. It was started during the Hundred Years' War, but people still worked on it on the eve of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. In the first half of the 14th century,

and his successors raised the big abode, more or less such as it is today. The square tower, the opening of the East facade, the North wing and the Clock Tower are dated from the middle of the 15th century and belong to three construction campaigns, the two first ones being very close to each other. Finally, during the last half of the 15th century, the gallery was raised on the court, and the North inside was embellished. These varied constructions, even though quite modern, enable us to follow the well-known evolution that was produced in the French military architecture during the 15th century. Louis II came up with the idea of a real fortified castle that he couldn’t achieve, and which was embellished by his successors, with a gallery, an elegant turret and wide openings, became a place of pleasure for the last Dukes of Bourbon. It has been abandoned since 1527. After 1662, the princes of Condé, became lords tenants of crown lands of the Bourbonnais, conceded the castle to a farmer and they became totally disinterested by it. This one is in a very poor shape according to

Nicolas de Nicolay Nicolas de Nicolay, Sieur d'Arfeville & de Belair, (1517–1583) of the Nicolay (family) was a French geographer. Biography Born at la Grave in Oisans, in the Dauphiné, he left France in 1542 to participate in the Siege of Perpignan (1542), si ...

who observed that "without really taking care of the roof the castle fell in ruins", which was a "big shame". During the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

, only the coats of arms of the Dukes of Bourbon were destroyed from the Clock Tower. Then the police court, took its place in one of the rooms of the castle which, because of its size, served also as a place of meeting for the General Assembly of the inhabitants. The city of Montluçon bought the castle from Louis Joseph (the Prince of Condé at the time) on 8 April 1816 in order to do an infantry barracks. From that moment, the most deplorable demolitions happened.

Architecture

The castle got rid of its wood gallery to make room to concrete constructions. The inside was reworked many times for the installation of a court, an auditorium and offices for the city hall of Montluçon. To sum up, the castle of Montluçon, rebuilt during the very end of the 14th century had to suffer, after having known a moment of splendor, a three centuries period where nobody lived there. During the whole 19th century followed a period of demolitions still more disastrous. In 1935, the city of Montluçon restored the castle. From that restoration, only the wood gallery was carried out. Indeed, the gothic style skylight has been poorly restored and recovered by cement, as well as the room from the second floor of the donjon. A room that seemed to be the former bedroom of the Good Duke, Louis II of Bourbon, and in which he died in August 1410. In that room, there is a barrel vault in semicircle, raised, lowered on two arches. That vault is curious, because it is a rib vault with two additional branches, which go from each angle from the wall face, in order to end in the main keystone.A large stone at the top of an arch that locks the other stones in place This layout is caused by the fact that there is a hearth with cut section, the keystone which complete the whole of that room is composed of four fleurons shining all around a coat of arms and reunited by small arches in trefoil. The walls from that room are also covered by cement. The rock’s jointures of the castle of Montluçon are all renovated with cement as well, which cannot be considered as authentic. The ceilings from the main rooms of the castle were renovated with panelings, which were recovered, for some of them, by metal frames installed during the restoration of the 1930s. The castle was registered as one of the historical monuments 15 May 1926.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:The Dukes of the Bourbon castle in Montlucon History of Auvergne Castles in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes