Château de Montsalvens
Origin of the name Château de Montsalvens
The name is linked to « Mons Silvanus », the forest-covered mountain.[3]
Founding of Château de Montsalvens
Recorded in the 12th century, the castle stands above the Jogne gorge, now in the municipality of Broc, facing the plain where the Sarine and the Jogne meet. It belonged to a Montsalvens family, probably descended from the counts of Gruyère. It was meant to shield the county from invasions from the Jogne, the Schwarzsee or the Simmental, and to keep in check Bulle and the lordships of Vuippens, Everdes and Corbières, often at odds with the counts. The lordship covered the right bank of the Sarine, from the Tine gorge to the Jogne, except Estavannens, with the Motélon valley, the Mortheys and part of Châtel-sur-Montsalvens. The castle was the seat of one of the county's three castellanies, with its own banner.[1][2][3]
History of Château de Montsalvens
12th century. The lordship of Montsalvens takes shape, and the castle appears in the records.[1][2][3]
1183. Rudolph I of Gruyère inherits the lordship from William of Montsalvens.[1]
1274. Count Philip I of Savoy allows Peter II of Gruyère to strengthen the castle with extensive fortifications, down to the edge of the Jogne. Below it a small town with two gates and two rows of houses gradually takes shape.[1][2][3]
1277. Fribourg, allied with the local lords, occupies the castle.[1]
1281. Fribourg grants Montsalvens as a fief to Richard of Corbières. The castle returns to the Gruyère family in 1283.[1]
Late 13th century. The lordship serves as an appanage for a younger son, sometimes the eldest, of the house of Gruyère.[1]
14th century. The lords of Montsalvens move to the more comfortable fortified house at Broc, the Château d'En-Bas, which commands the crossing of the Sarine.[1][2]
1407. A Bernese raid sacks Montsalvens. The site never recovers and is no longer inhabited.[2][3]
1433. The town has disappeared.[1]
1555. After the bankruptcy of Count Michel of Gruyère, Fribourg takes over the county, and the castellany of Montsalvens is attached to the bailiwick of Gruyères.[1]
1840. Johann Friedrich Wagner depicts the ruins in a lithograph.[2]
1864. The municipality of Broc, which owns the site, takes the first steps to preserve it.[3]
1940s. Excavations uncover the foundations of the town's houses and of its lower gate.[2][3]
1999. The Association pour la sauvegarde du site médiéval de Montsalvens begins consolidating the remains and making them better known.[3]
Historic sites in Château de Montsalvens
Tower and keep. The tower and keep of the old fortress look out from a viewpoint over the alluvial plain above Broc. The medieval castle ruins are listed as a cultural property (category B).[3][4]
Enclosure and upper gate. Sections of the enclosure wall and of the town's upper gate are still standing.[2][3]
Remains in Château de Montsalvens
Town of Montsalvens. The foundations of the houses and of the lower gate, uncovered in the 1940s, are now hidden by vegetation.[2][3]
Bataille fortification. On the rise of the first hairpin bend, at the place called Bataille, a name said to come from a word for fortification, a few ruins of a lower work survive. A long wall is thought to have linked it to the town.[2][3]
Sources
- Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, « Montsalvens » (Jean-Claude Vial, version du 04.07.2013)
- Signalétique patrimoniale de la Jogne, « Les ruines de Montsalvens »
- Signalétique patrimoniale de la Jogne, « Ruins of Montsalvens »
- Office fédéral de la protection de la population, « Révision Inventaire PBC 2021 : Liste cantonale Canton de FR » (état au 1.1.2026)
Other villages near Château de Montsalvens
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