Château de Castellane

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château de Castellane, known as Petra Castellana, occupied the summit of the Roc overlooking the town, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. The site is mentioned under this name in texts as early as 977 and, from the 10th to the 13th century, became the seat of the lords of Castellane, an important family of the Provençal nobility attested since the mid-11th century. The fortress had several defensive towers linked by a fortified enclosure, overlooking a medieval settlement organised on three levels: the Rupes (the castle, at the summit), the Castrum (halfway up the slope) and the Burgum (the market town, in the valley, on the site of the present-day town). In 1189, Baron Boniface III of Castellane asserted his independence from the comital power of Provence. In 1262, Charles I of Anjou confiscated the seigneury, which later passed to the French crown in 1481. The castle was dismantled in 1483 on the orders of King Louis XI. The population, part of which had already settled in the market town since the late 13th century, then completed its move to the valley. The remains of the site, notably sections of wall and the foundations of the Church of Saint-André, can now be reached on foot via the Roc trail, near the chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Roc.