Château de Corabœuf: a perfect example of feudal military architecture
The oldest buildings date from the 13th and 14th centuries. The most notable element is the keep. It is a large square tower, measuring 10 metres each side, with 4 turrets. The sturdy structure of the keep, the scale of its materials and the thickness of its walls make it a perfect example of what in the Middle Ages was called a Maison Forte (fortified house).
The other buildings are also very nice, and in a very good state of conservation outside. Two curiosities of note: a fortified barn and the "Tour du Chasseur" (huntsman’s tower), which complete this set of buildings classified as a Private Historical Monument.
Château de Corabœuf: eight centuries of history
A few surprises
The fortified house, enclosed in a belt of ramparts surrounded by ditches, would resist the assaults of the free company soldiers, bands of demobilised soldiers who terrorised the countryside during the last years of the Hundred Years War.
A little later, Louis XI gave the order to dismantle the fortress, but this order would never be carried out.
Even when in 1576, the Huguenot army of Casimir Duc des Deux Ponts set fire to the Château, the main part of the fortress remained standing.
A succession of owners
At the origin of the construction of the château, the Corabœuf family would retain the land whose name it bears until the beginning of the 15th century.
The fiefdom then passed to the Salins family (founders of the Hospices de Beaune), then successively to the Esdouard family and the Spada family till the 18th century.
It then became the property of the family of Richard d'Ivry, until the death of the last Marquis in the line, ancestor of the present owners, the Lauriston-Boubers.
Tour of the Château de Corabœuf
The Château is located in Val-Mont (near Ivry-en-Montagne and Jours-en-Vaux), not far from Beaune and Nolay.
Corabœuf is open to the public for free all year round. But only the exterior of the Château is accessible to visit.
Besides the Château itself, you can stroll through the park, at the bottom of which hides a small 18th-century pavilion. An arboretum has also been planted along the park, where you can admire a range of different species.
More information : Château de Corabœuf
