Draft:Château de Pierre Scize

Castle in France From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Château de Pierre Scize or Château de Pierre Encise is a now-demolished fortress in Lyon.

View of the château de Pierre-Scize in Lyon by William Marlow, c.1765-1766.

It was built on a strategic location in the Middle Ages, facing the Saône at the western entrance to the city, the border between the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France. Home to the archbishop of Lyon and used as a state prison by Louis XI, it was finally demolished in 1793 after the French Revolution.

The rocky outcrop on which it was built was originally named "Petra incisa", meaning "split stone" or "cut stone", possibly recalling Agrippa's major works to build a Roman road through it.[1][full citation needed] According to Clerjon (1830), the spur of Pierre Scise used to reach as far as the middle of the Saône.[1]

Geology

The Pierre Scisse spur is part of the crystalline base layer on the edge of the Massif central. On the heights overlooking the château, this granite is covered by the sedimentary massif of Les Monts d’Or, with an average altitude of 300 metres, inclined towards the east and shaped into a 'cuesta' which overlooks the Saône river valley by a nearly continuous steep slope from Fourvière to Millery; this slope corresponds to an exhumed fault line scarp.

The crystalline lowest level is found on the left bank of the Saône at the Pierre-Scize gorge and in the riverbed of the Saône, upstream at Île Barbe.[2] That gorge begins at the same altitude as the church of Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens de Vaise (150 metres downstream of the pont Clémenceau in Lyon[3] and ends on the same alignment as the Église Saint-Paul (at the same altitude as the Saint-Vincent footbridge).

Further downstream, at the exit to the Pierre Scise gorge, was an outcrop of the Pierre Scise spur, also in the Saône riverbed. It was 85 metres wide by 115 metres long, emerging at around 3 metres above the waterline at average water levels. The central piers of the pont du Change were built against it. Explosives were used to destroy it around 1847.[4]

Location

1746 map of the city by Claude Séraucourt, with the fortress towards the top of the map, on the right bank (left side) of the Saône.

It is on the Pierre Scise, a rocky granite spur on the right bank (south side) of the Saône at the entrance to the Pierre-Scisse gorge, where the river rushes between the Fourvière hill on the right bank and the la Croix-Rousse hill on the left bank (north side). It looks down on the river from fifty metres above. The quai Pierre-Scize along the river is also named after the spur, at the foot of the remains of the spur.

History

During the high middle ages the 'bourg de Lyon' was a group of houses without ramparts gathered around Saint-Nizier Church. Another town, the Bourg-Neuf, was between the Pierre-Scise spur and the collegiate church of Saint-Paul.[5] ; le château de Pierre-Scise lui sert de forteresse[6] Later the city's medieval fortifications linked to the fortress into the city's defensive systems.[7] - towards the southeast a valley separates the fortress from the heights of the Fourvière, but the walls raised on Gallo-Roman remains linked the fortress to the fort on Fourvière and the Fourvière, Saint-Just and Saint-Irénée districts.[8]

Pierre Scise is located at the western entrance to the city and the route to northern Gaul.[9]

Architecture

A terrace runs along the south side of the fortress, shaded by a large tree and watered by a spring.[8]

The fortress included a chapel dedicated to Michael the archangel, mentioned in a 1392 document.[10]

Carved into the rock, a staircase descends from the fortress towards the Saône, with over 200 steps, ending at the bottom of the hill at the porte de Pierre Scize gate, which marks the start of a narrow and winding suburb.[8]

History

Construction

The site was occupied during the Roman Empire - workers clearing the earth at the foot of the fortress found the remains of burial lamps, medals and other ancient items. However, the fortress only dates to the 12th century[11][12]

According to Poullin de Lumina, Hugues, archbishop of Lyon assembled a council of his province's bishops on the site of the fortress.[13] Heraclius (archbishop from 1153 to 1163) took refuge there several times during his disputes with his neighbouring barons - he was the first to make the site into an archepiscopal fortress.[12]

After troubled periods Renaud de Forez (archbishop from 1193 to 1226) added thicker walls, embellished the interior and promoted the fortress into an archepiscopal palace. His successors based themselves in the fortress. He also repaired several fortresses and built some new ones - Chasselay, Anse, Francheville, Saint-Cyr, Dardilly, Rochefort, Ternan, Condrieu.[12][14][15]

Bishop Aymeric retired to the fortress in 1244 when pope Innocent IV came to stay in Lyon in 1244 during his conflict with Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor[16] - he resigned just after the First Council of Lyon in 1245.

In 1312 archbishop Peter of Savoy lost the right to carry out trials in Lyon to the crown of France in a treaty with Philip the Handsome on 10 April 1312.[17], mais il se réserve la juridiction temporelle du château de Pierre-Scise avec ses dépendances[18] In 1330 twelve armed men were put under the authority of the episcopal fortress' châtelain.[19]

In 1335 the fortress' governor was the lord of Iseron, who in return received fifty Viennese sous - he commanded twelve men at arms, each of whom received eight florins a month.[10] The archbishops of Lyon were still present - in 1339 archbishop Guillaume de Sure arbitrated a dispute between the lord of Villard and Renaud de Dortans there,[10] while in 1366 archbishop Charles of Alençon there issued an excommunication of the seneschal of Lyon and the king's officers following the fallout from the Treaty of Brétigny and the disbandment of the arms in 1364.[10]

Detail of a large-format plan of the Vaise district in Lyon in 1789.
"La Veue de Lion descendat par la Saosne" by Israël Sylvestre (1649-1650), showing the Fort Saint-Jean to the left and boats carrying the Sainte-Marie-aux-chaînes chains.

Hundred Years War

In 1418 the consulate, awaiting an attack from the Burgundians, reinforced several fortifications and stretched chains across the river.[20]

In 1434 "if the enemy approaches further, the Saint-George chain will be raised to prevent wheat and all provisions from leaving the city; also the one below Pierre-Scise".[21] These chains rested on a row of boats and blocked the river at night. Customs officers also had chains across the river upstream to stop smugglers bringing goods into the city by river.[22] The chain near Pierre-Scise gave its name to "Sainte Marie aux chaînes" quay, later renamed the quai de Serin and finally the quai Saint-Vincent,[20] and was not literally "below Pierre Scise" but slightly upstream of the fortress as shown in a watercolour by Victor-Jean Nicolle. In 1443 a capitulary shows that at least one archbishop sited the diocesan archives within the fortress.[10]

1453-1499

In 1454 Jean d'Aulon, former companion of Joan of Arc, became captain of Pierre Scize. In 1466 Louis XI of France surrendered the fortress to the archbishop Charles II de Bourbon by letters patent at Orléans dated 17 April, after the fortress had long remained in the hands of Charles VII of France and Louis.[23]

On 8 March 1468, with Lyon under threat, Louis wrote a letter to François Roger, bailiff of Mâcon, from the château de Monltiz lez Tours, ordering that Pierre Scize be occupied and the archbishop ousted from it:[24]

To our beloved and loyal counsellor Francois Royer, our seneschal of Lyon and bailiff of Mascon, greetings and best wishes. Because we have been informed that our very dear and beloved cousin the archbishop of Lyon has consented to the fact that the lord of Beaujeu and Jehanne de Bourbon, his brother and sister, have gone away in the company of some of those rebellious and disobedient to us, and that they have conspired and plotted and are conspiring and plotting several things against us and our lordship, and especially against our city of Lyon, we - for these reasons and to prevent any harm befalling us or our aforesaid city - order and command and expressly enjoin you to go to this our city of Lyon immediately and with all diligence and to take and place in our hands the place named 'Pierre Assise' [sic] and to guard it for us without surrendering it to anyone whatsoever, until we order you otherwise.[25]

Pierre Scise's governor was then Odile des Estoyés, an officer of the archbishop - in 1465 he had been a member of the League of the Public Weal. Roger was ordered to dismiss him. From then on the kings of France kept control of the fortress and the archbishops stayed in their Saint-Just palace near the cathedral.[26] The fortress was turned into a state prison, with its first notable prisoner being Jacques d'Armagnac duc de Nemours (1475).[26] In 1476 Louis XI left Lyon after staying there for over three months, during which he visited the fortress on 16 July.[27]

16th to 18th centuries

Louis XII of France only imprisoned foreigners in the fortress, such as Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan and his cardinal brother Ascanio Sforza in 1500 for fifteen days.[26][28] In 1562, Protestant troops captured Pierre Scize and held it for over a year. It was besieged in 1588 by the Gueux de Lyon (revolting for religious freedom along the same lines as the Dutch.[29] In the last quarter of the 16th century Charles-Emmanuel, duc de Nemours commanded the fortress.

Under Richelieu Louis XIII made it a royal fortress.[30] At the end of the 18th century it was commmanded by M. André de Bory and from 1780 by Claude Espérance de Regnauld-Alleman (1728-?). The most famous prisoner of his tenure was Anne-Louis Goislard, viscount of Monsabert. In 1788, as a member of the Parliament of Paris, he opposed Loménie de Brienne's attempt to tax major landowners and was therefore arrested during a futile attempt to force the Parliament to back down in de Brienne's fiscal struggle against the king's ministers. This arrest did not achieve the desired result and he was quickly freed.[31]

On 26 October 1793 it was completely demolished.[32] From the start of the 19th century the spur was used as a quarry for stone for nearby building work, notably that on bridges and roads.[9]

  • Château de Pierre Scize, watercolour by Victor-Jean Nicolle (fin XVIIIe s.), after a lithograph by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand (mid 18th century) : 'The quai d'Alincourt at the entrance to the Pierre-Scize gorge"
    Château de Pierre Scize, watercolour by Victor-Jean Nicolle (fin XVIIIe s.), after a lithograph by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand (mid 18th century) : 'The quai d'Alincourt at the entrance to the Pierre-Scize gorge"[33][34]
  • The former porte de Pierre Scise (18th century). Etching by Joannès Drevet (late 18th century).
    The former porte de Pierre Scise (18th century). Etching by Joannès Drevet (late 18th century).
Early 20th century postcard of "quai Arloing" and the Loyasse Fort (on the hill). The Observance Chapel beside the river, with the quai Pierre Scise to the left and the quai Chauveau (it was the quai Chauveau and not the quai Arloing you can see on the right of the chapel).

Notable prisoners

  • Jacques d'Armagnac was imprisoned there in 1475 by Louis XI for taking part in the revolt by the League of the Public Weal; he was later moved to the Bastille and beheaded.[26]
  • Ludovico Sforza (captured by Louis II de la Trémoille in 1500) and his brother Ascanio, only there for fifteen days until being transferred to the château de Lys-Saint-Georges.[35][28]
  • the captain of Fenoyl, who had tried to resist Protestant troops, guarded by the baron of Les Adrets François de Beaumont.[28]
  • the baron des Adrets,[28] guarded by Fenoyl[28]
  • Claude de Bauffremont, baron de Sennecey, of the Catholic League, around 1592; he was only released by letting his four children be imprisoned there instead, including Henri, future maréchal de camp.
  • Charles de Coligny, 1593.
  • the duc de Nemours, September 1593 until his escape in July 1594
  • Cinq Mars and de Thou, 1642 for plotting against Richelieu, later executed[30]. Le duc de Bouillon, compromis dans la même affaire, séjourne lui aussi au château.[36]
  • Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt, marshal of France, 28 December 1644, he was interrogated in 1647 and left the following year.[36]
  • Philippe de Lorraine-Armagnac, known as the Chevalier de Lorraine, lover of Philippe d'Orléans, Louis XIV's brother, 1670, but only there for a short time before being transferred to the château d'If.
  • Hennequin, marquis de Fresne, for trying to sell his wife to a pirate, 1671
  • François Christophe de Klinglin, temporary Prêteur Royal de Strasbourg, 1753-1757.[36]
  • Charles Albert de Moré de Pontgibaud, 1753-1757, on government orders
  • Le marquis de Sade, 1768.
  • David Dombre, 1788, aged 16.
  • Camille Teisseire, close to the Montagnards, a few days in 1793.
  • Ludovico Sforza.
    Ludovico Sforza.
  • Cinq-Mars.
    Cinq-Mars.
  • The marquis de Sade.
    The marquis de Sade.
  • David Dombre.
    David Dombre.

Quotations about Pierre Scize

  • Albert Jouvin de Rochefort (c. 1640 - c. 1710 ), travel journals, 1672 : The château de Pierre Ancise is most marvellous to see, although it is not of great extent; for it is only on the ridge of a piece of rock, which is close to it and all the more so as it is steep on the side of the river, which washes its foot, and on the other side defended by a wide space in the form of a ditch on the side of the mountain... One climbs up to it by several steps cut into the rock, and what is most pleasant is a large spring which comes out of the rock in the castle, where there is a keep covered with some cannons, which defend the entrance to the Saône river and the Vèze gate (travel journals, 1672)
  • Alfred de Vigny, Cinq-Mars : Among the old castles which France regrettably loses each year, there was one, with a dark and savage appearance, on the left bank of the Saône

Bibliography (in French)

Studies

  • Claire Combe, La ville endormie ? Le risque d’inondation à Lyon — Approche géohistorique et systémique du risque de crue en milieu urbain et périurbain (doctoral thesis in geography, planning and urbanism), Université Lumière Lyon 2, 2007
  • Ernest Cuaz (1907). Le Château de Pierre Scize et ses prisonniers. A. Rey..
  • C. Pelletier (1980). Châteaux et maisons bourgeoises dans le Rhône. Horvath..
  • Clerjon (1830). Histoire de Lyon, depuis sa fondation jusqu'à nos jours (sur archive.org). Vol. 3. Lyon: Théodore Laurent. Retrieved 18 February 2020..
  • Joseph Vaesen et Étienne Charavay (1887). Lettres de Louis XI, roi de France (sur gallica). Vol. 3 - Lettres de Louis XI, 1465–1469. Paris: libr. Renouard. Retrieved 18 February 2020..
  • Joseph Vaesen and Étienne Charavay (1909). Lettres de Louis XI, roi de France (sur gallica). Vol. 11 - Préface, itinéraire et tables. Paris: libr. Renouard. Retrieved 18 February 2020..

Articles

  • Michel Demarcq, 'Pierre-Scize, la Bastille lyonnaise sous la Révolution', Rive gauche, Société d'études d'histoire de Lyon, Rive gauche, no 201,‎ 2012

Other sources

  • Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (1714). Mémoires de Madame la marquise de Fresne. Amsterdam..
  • Archives historiques et statistiques du département du Rhône

Historical novels

  • Pierre Virès (2004). Les Gueux de Lyon. Éditions des Traboules. ISBN 2-911491-13-0.

References (in French)

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