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February 20, 2015

1464 FRANCE (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) - House of Châteauneuf


The Château de Châteauneuf-en-Auxois is a 15th-century fortress located at 43km from Dijon, a vast stone building, 75m in length and 35m broad, situated on a rocky outcrop 475m above the surrounding plains which dominates the valley of Canal de Bourgogne. The castle was built in 1132 by Jean de Chaudenay for his son Jehan, who took possession of it in 1175 and became Jean I de Châteauneuf. After nine generations in the castle, the reign of the Châteauneufs ended in tragedy when in 1456 the last heiress, Catherine de Châteauneuf, was burnt alive for poisoning her second husband, Jacques d'Haussonville. In 1457, Philippe le Bon, duke of Burgundy, offered the fortress to his advisor Philippe Pot, who modified the castle to make it more comfortable as a residence.

Philippe Pot died in 1493 without leaving an heir, so the castle went to his brother Guy Pot, then via various alliances to Marie Liesse de Luxembourg. With their entrance into the convent, the castle then passed to Charles de Vienne, count of Comarrin, and remained in the hands of this family for the next 150 years. In 1767, Louis Henri de Vienne sold the castle to a rich banker. During the French Revolution, all royal symbols and armorial bearings were defaced or destroyed. The castle was then auctioned and passed through various hands until 1936, when the count George de Vogue donated it to the state.

On the postcard is presented the family tree of the house of Châteauneuf, the owners of the castle in the 13th century until the 15th century (in red are the names of those who effectively possessed the castle). The three shells and the black strip placed on the middle of the shield of the coat of arms of the house of Chateauneuf are present even today on the coat of arms of the commune of Châteauneuf-en-Auxois, a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The most beautiful villages of France) association. Usually, in heraldry the scallop shell is as a badge of those who had been on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, although later it became a symbol of pilgrimage in general. Châteauneuf-en-Auxois was once a stop on the Way of St. James.

About the stamps


The first stamp was issued on July 3 2014, to mark the anniversary of 600 years Council of Constance.

The second stamp, depicting a tagetes, belong to the set Blumen, about which I wrote here.

References
Château de Châteauneuf - Wikipedia

Sender: Bärbel Plinke (direct swap)
Sent from Bremen (Bremen / Germany), on 16.01.2015
Photo: Pierre Combier

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