Château de Chenaux

Around 1011, during the time of High Burgundy, King Rudolph III donated the castle in Font, very close to Estavayer, to his wife. It is undoubtedly the predecessor of the castle that was erected in the High Middle Ages and destroyed during the Burgundian Wars in 1475. Its ruins still lie on a small hill today.

It is assumed that there was also an original structure in Estavayer. The highest point of the rock, which is divided by two small parallel valleys, is indeed called "Motte-Châtel". This word "Motte" could refer to the first castle that occupied this site. It presumably belonged to a noble family from High Burgundy, who are known to have borne the name of Estavayer around 1100. With a few exceptions, they inhabited the castle until the 15th century and served the Counts of Savoy and the Bishops of Lausanne.

As a result of inheritance divisions, the family split into several branches, and their estates were consequently fragmented. Even if the center of the lordship suffered, it was possible to preserve to this day the wide Fribourg enclave, which extended from Broye on Lake Neuchâtel to the thirteen villages near Estavayer, which formed the dominion of Reynaud I of Estavayer and his successors from 1150 onwards.

The Motte-Châtel, now occupied by a college, was undoubtedly the starting point for the founding of the city, and presumably also of the Saint-Laurent church. The first fortifications undoubtedly encircled the castle, the church, and the intersection of the roads from Murten, Avenches, and Yverdon; they must have run along the two small valleys already mentioned. One of these, the one in the southwest, which was favorable for the creation of artisanal enterprises, was enclosed in the area in the 13th century and was equipped with a second castle, erected further south on a small elevation.

While virtually nothing remains of these two castles (unless one considers the Savoy Tower as part of one of them), the third, the newest castle, still stands. As a defensive unit erected in the late Middle Ages, it is considered one of the most important of its kind. Chenaux Castle also arose from an inheritance division towards the end of the 13th century and reveals the style of Peter II of Savoy: a quadrangle formed by strong constructions, encircled by moats and partly by curtain walls, flanked by an impressive circular keep in one of its corners and by three towers flanking the buildings of the other three corners. In Bulle, this type of construction has been preserved in its pure state; in Estavayer, it was modified over the centuries. The large keep, which rises to 33.5 meters and whose walls reach a thickness of three meters, still stands, while two turrets have disappeared; only the one in the east, the "Pigeonnier", remained.

It is quite possible that the position of this castle, far from the stream and the moats that surrounded the city, required the construction of additional fortifications. Around 1400, the space separating it from the village was also surrounded by a wall, and in the course of the 15th century, the castle was also reinforced by a remarkable advanced work. After the Savoyard counts acquired the fortress, they had an impressive barbican built near the large keep in 1432 and a tall gate tower with a square plan on the city side in 1450.

The House of Savoy had reached the peak of its power at this time. Elevated to the rank of dukes in 1416, its members, in the person of Amédée VIII, provided the Church with a Pope, Felix V. In 1439, he ascended to the pontifical throne as a result of the Council of Basel. The House of Savoy made common cause with the Duke of Burgundy and especially with Vaud, which was subject to it. Thus, in 1475/76, they participated in the conflict in which Charles the Bold opposed the Confederates. The latter advanced to Lake Geneva, and all who tried to resist their army were annihilated. Count Jacques of Romont refused to surrender. The city of Estavayer was attacked in October 1475. Its garrison, on the orders of Claude of Estavayer, was the victim of a terrible massacre. The city was plundered and the castles burned. For a long time, Bern and Fribourg, who had ordered this monstrous crime - a truly clumsy act - suffered morally from it, even after they had emerged victorious from the battles of Grandson and Murten.

Savoy repurchased the lordship of Estavayer from its ministerials, the Barons of Estavayer, in 1454. Due to ongoing financial difficulties, they had to borrow money from the Fribourg hospital and pledge Chenaux Castle. Therefore, after the Burgundian Wars, Fribourg found itself the owner of at least part of the lordship. Chenaux Castle, the only one rebuilt, and the territories belonging to it continued to form a Fribourg enclave in Savoyard territory even after the signing of the peace treaty in 1478. In 1536, during the conquest of Vaud by the Bernese, the lord of Chenaux called on the citizens to place themselves under the protection of Fribourg. Later, the castle served as the seat for the Fribourg bailiffs, then for the prefecture of the Broye district.

The reconstruction work undertaken after 1476 largely gave Chenaux its current appearance.

The advanced towers and the excellent works were adapted to the new fortification techniques and were equipped with various annexes. The bridge was replaced by a solid wood and brick construction. The brick used in the 15th century for the construction of other castles on the western plateau (Vufflens, Saint Maire of Lausanne) also served Estavayer as a construction material, especially for the two separate towers standing on each side of the northern face of Chenaux. Erected only in 1503 by architects Marmet Bonvespréz, they mark the completion of a work that astonishingly reflects the model of Peter II in a new spirit. Over the years, various buildings of the castle had to be renewed: in the 15th century the west wing, where one will notice the late Gothic windows on the courtyard side, and in the 17th century the wide north wing. The city wall was no longer rebuilt, which allowed for better ventilation and lighting of this side of the courtyard.