dAf 33
GIULIATO Gérard
Châteaux et maisons fortes en Lorraine centrale
(Prix du livre d'histoire régionale lorraine, Feuilles d'or 1992)
An exhaustive inventory of fortified residences is compared here to written evidence, figurative representations and fieldwork. It retraces the evolution of seigniorial residences of the Xth to XVth centuries. These elements are reinserted into the domain and social context thanks to the drawing up of unpublished genealogies. In this imposing work, a continual contact is maintained between past and present outlining the progress of archaeological research. Actual problems such as the protection of this threatened heritage are also evoked here.
Abstract
Abstract
This is an archaeological and historical exhaustive study of the types of fortified and seigneurial dwellings i.e. the castles and fortified mansions that could be seen in the heart of
This survey covers180 communes . (2100 km2) east of Nancy between the Moselle and Seille valleys, this area enjoys a variety of natural conditions similar to those found throughout Lorraine i.e. a central hilly region surrounded by small plateaux separated by rivers running North to South.
The political history of this region is typical of the whole province. In the middle of the XVth century period, the Upagi of Scarponois, Saulnois and Chaumontois were replaced by principalities like the county of Bar, the duchy of Lorraine, the episcopacies of Metz and Verdun which were constantly at war whith each other until the end of the XVth century.
The second part of this study contains 69 monographs with a wide selection of dated texts, maps, architectural blue prints and plans, photographs of different dwellings in various states of preservation. The history of these buildings is accessible thanks to numerous seigneurial family trees. The author describes 13 castles refered to as castrum or chastel. They are mansions and royal residences given to an agent called advocatus in the Xlth and Xllth centuries thereafter called châtelain. The administration was undertaken by a provost whose judiciary and financial authority extended over a châtellenie from 4 to 5 villages.
The types of castle change in the Xlth and Xllth centuries. The castle with a mound and farmyard is predominantly seen at Amance, Mousson and
The quadrangular castle appears after 1250. The most appropriate sites were strategic hills, the edge of a plateau then the base of a valley.
Chapels, priories, commanderies and boroughs are always in the neighbourhood of these castles, they concentrate the population and remainthe centres of power until the XVllth century. The Thirty Years War, which devastated
The 57 fortified mansions are very different. Only 4 of them date from before 1240, 34 from 1240-1340 and 19 from 1340-1490.
This was the period of demographic and economic expansion of the lowerand middle aristocracy who settled in the countryside with royal permission.
Seigneurial residences are scale l models of the castles. Before 1230 they are built on a circular plan i.e. the motte at Dombasle, moated walls at Athienvjlle.
After 1250 they are imitations of the quadrangular castle and are at times limited to a single tower.
Their strategic function is limited, except for those adapted to the artillery requirements in the XVth century (Thézey-Saint-Martin, Port-sur-Seille, Damelevières).
Each seigneurial dwelling has Agricultural land grange attached to it. 62% of these fortified mansions are built by a river, 95% on agricuItural land and 75% on the outskirts of a village. In this area of
