Château d'Hyères

The castle dominates the city of Hyères, in the French department of Var.

The Saracens who occupied eastern Provence were driven out of Fraxinet in 972-973 by William, Count of Provence, his brother, Roubaud, the Marquis of Turin and several great lords of Provence, including the lords of Fos (among whom was a certain Pons de Fos). In reward, William offered the current territory of Hyères, La Londe and Bormes to the lords of Fos, already owners of the current territory of Fos-sur-Mer. The first mention of the castle, which was built in the middle of the 11th century by Pons de Fos, dates from 1062, where a castrum (castle) is mentioned. Thirteen years later, in 1074, a castellum (village, therefore probably castle and village, which surely means that inhabitants settled around the castle) is mentioned. It is possible that the castle was built about thirty years earlier, on the site of a previous fortification. In 1254, upon returning from the Seventh Crusade, Saint Louis and his family stayed there. After a military struggle between Ildefons I and Amelin de Fos over the possession of the city and castle of Hyères, the territory finally returned to Charles I of Anjou, Count of Provence, in 1257. The lords of Fos abandoned the castle, the city, its territory and the Hyères islands in exchange for other territories in Provence. The sum of the exchange was estimated at ten thousand Provençal sous. Charles II of Anjou received Queen Jeanne in 1348. From 1423 to 1431, the castle belonged to Arnaud de Villeneuve, of the family of the lords of Trans, and finally from 1481, to the royal domain. In 1524 and 1536, the armies of King Charles V swept through Provence. The first time the castle resisted then was occupied, the second time the castle was spared. During this period, the castle received visits from two kings of France, Francis I in 1530 and, a few years later, Charles IX in 1564. During the Wars of Religion, the city of Hyères remained loyal to the king, but the castle often changed hands. From 1596, the triumph of Henry IV led to the conquest of the city. But it took a five-month siege for the king to succeed in taking the castle. As punishment, it was decided to dismantle the castle, but it was finally his successor, Louis XIII, who had it dismantled in 1620[insufficient source]. The writer George Sand visited it in the 1850s. As of 2014, the city municipality launched an archaeological research program based on regular excavation campaigns.

The castle, which is the largest feudal castle in Provence, is composed of two lower courtyards, a well, a keep and several gates (north, skewed, etc.). An inventory mentions a chapel, rooms, a kitchen, a cistern, a mill, a cellar, an attic, a forge, a stable and a sheepfold.

There are also quadrangular flanking towers open at the gorge, built in the 13th – 14th century, which were part of the first enclosure. It is built of limestone and schist, the remains of the first lower courtyard, where the buildings reserved for services and garrison parking were located, the second gate which was preceded by a drawbridge and a portcullis spanning a ditch 4.50 m deep, the skewed gate which was a gate used to protect the well and was oriented in such a way that a battering ram could not be used, the well which was a source of drinking water in the event that the castle had to withstand a siege and which was protected by the skewed gate and the keep which is mentioned for the first time in the inventories of 1373 and 1431 under the name of "Grande Tour". It was dismantled in 1620, at the same time as most of the castle.

In the 2000s, the Hyères town hall renovated the three entrance towers as well as some loopholes. At the top of the castle, two orientation tables have been installed. Information panels have also been installed at different locations on the site.

J. Vroomans Leclercq, Histoire et archéologie du Vieux Château d'Hyères, G. Mouton, 1925, 50 pages. Paul Turc, Hyères et les seigneurs de Fos : fin Xe siècle-1257, Centre Archéologique du Var, Société Hyéroise d'Histoire et d'Archéologie, Mémoire à lire, Territoire à l'écoute, 2003, 141 pages. Le château d'Hyères

List of castles in Var List of historical monuments of Hyères Hyères

Resources related to architecture: Inventory Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Mérimée

Portal of castles of France Portal of French historical monuments Portal of Hyères