The museum is located in the outbuildings of the château belonging to the de NOBLET d’Anglure family. It was built in the 14th century and stands in the heart of the town on the shores of a 30-hectare lake. (Unfortunately, the château and grounds are closed to the public).

 

 

 

The history of La Clayette Château

LA CLAYETTE Château dates back to the 14th century and was the seat of one of the area’s biggest seigneuries until the French Revolution.

Its origins seem to have been modest: a fiefdom located in Varennes sous Dun parish and including land near La Genette stream. There were also craftsmen’s workshops, a square and a mill.

The name LA CLAYETTE first appeared in 1307 in a document whereby Jean de Lespinasse recognized holding “the great pond called la claète and the adjacent mill” as a fiefdom of the king of France. The name’s origins may stem from the word claie, which meant a pond spillway gate.

In 1368, Philibert de Lespinasse, Jean’s successor, held the fief with a fortified house. It was a time when highway robbers and other brigands marauded around France, so King Charles V had his fortresses renovated.

The château was built in 1380, the last year of Charles V’s reign. It “was just a low-lying house that was completely rebuilt,” says one document. “Sire Lespinasse had the keep equipped with four large round towers and two buildings between them, with the pond road. The entire building was made in one year, from one All Saint’s Day to the next.

This building as well as the road displeased Sire de la Bazolle. So out of spite, he released the water from his pond (also fed by water from La Genette further upstream) and by the ravine, and through the impetuousness of his action ruined the new pond of La CLAYETTE.”
After a long trial, the Sire de la Bazolle was found guilty and sentenced to allow the work to be completed.

In 1420, the seigneurie of LA CLAYETTE fell to Louis de Chantemerle, Philibert de Lespinasse’s son. A faithful vassal of the Duke of Burgundy, Louis de Chantemerle had a brilliant career as the bailiff of Mâcon. He persuaded the duke to create the LA CLAYETTE fairs (1437) and markets (1450). In 1451, the bishop of Mâcon granted him permission to build the Saint Avoie chapel on Rue Lamartine. Louis de Chantemerle is considered the town’s true founder.

During the wars of religion, his brother Marc, who had embraced the Calvinist cause, ousted Antoine de Chantemerle, the lord of LA CLAYETTE, from the seigneurie.
In 1632, Alice de Chantemerle, the family’s last descendant, founded in her testament the Minims convent, whose buildings house the town hall today.
In 1722, Bernard de Noblet acquired the seigneurie of LA CLAYETTE, which on the eve of the Revolution spread out on land located in several parishes in the surrounding area.
In 1795, the château was requisitioned for military purposes.

In the 18th century, new buildings were added to the medieval keep. In the 19th century, the chateau was rebuilt according to plans by Viollet le Duc. The old chapel was decorated with a beautiful Renaissance fresco depicting angels playing music. The designated historic landmark comprising two “long parallel buildings bristling with towers and bartizans”, which look beautiful, and a fortified gate surmounted by machicolation stand intact further south.
The house opposite these buildings, which contains a grain store, used to be a community mill.
The drawbridge dates from the late 19th century.

 

Text from CHAUFFAILLES, LA CLAYETTE et LEUR REGION by Jean PERCHE