Château de Grosbois
Encyclopedia
The château de Grosbois is a French castle in Boissy-Saint-Léger
, Val-de-Marne
.
gave the abbaye de Saint-Victor de Paris lands at Grosbois in exchange for lands in the bois de Vincennes
. The abbey ceded these lands in 1563 to Raoul Moreau, treasurer of Spain, whose relation Nicolas Harlay de Sancy, surintendant des Finances et des Bâtiments du roi, built a château there at the start of the 17th century. This was still incomplete in 1616, when it was sold to Charles de Valois (1573-1650), count of Auvergne then duke of Angoulême (1619), illegitimate son of Charles IX of France
by Marie Touchet
. de Valois completed the château around 1640, notably building the enclosing wall (1623) and the two wings. On his death in 1650 the estate passed to his granddaughter, wife of Louis, Duke of Joyeuse
.
In 1718, the estate was bought by Samuel-Jacques Bernard (1686-1753)
, son of the financier Samuel Bernard
, who commissioned the woodwork in the salon Régence. He then sold it to Germain Louis Chauvelin
in 1731, who in 1762 sold it in turn to François Marie Peyrenc de Moras
. She left it to her great-niece Anne Marie de Merle de Beauchamps in 1771 - Anne Marie was daughter of an ambassador to the king of Portugal and wife of Pierre Paul Gilbert des Voisins, président to the parlement de Paris. She and her husband sold it to the comte de Provence
in 1776.
It was confiscated as national property on the French Revolution
and sold on 9 November 1797 to Barras, known as 'the king of the Directory
'. After 18 brumaire
, Barras was exiled to Belgium and sold the château, in 1801, to général Moreau
. In 1804, after Moreau's arrest, Napoleon I
bought the château via Fouché
and in 1805 granted it to maréchal Berthier, prince of Wagram. Berthier spent much money embellishing it, expanding the library, the galerie des Batailles, the salon de l'Empereur and the salon des Huissiers. He also built two more pavilions and the entrance gate across the road. He enlarged the estate to make it the best hunting-ground in the French Empire and gave grand festivals there. His son Napoléon Berthier expanded the library, which included over 3,000 works.
The last prince of Wagram, Alexandre Louis Philippe Marie Berthier
, died without issue in 1918, leaving Grosbois to his sister, the princesse de la Tour d’Auvergne, and to his nephew, prince Godefroy de la Tour d’Auvergne. In 1962, René Ballière, president of the Société d’encouragement à l’élevage du cheval français, bought the estate to set up a training centre for racehorses.
, flanked by two pavilions of the same height and by two lower wings at right angles. It is built on a rectangular platform in the middle of a once water-filled moat, now dry. It is reached by three bridges.
:
Boissy-Saint-Léger
Boissy-Saint-Léger is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Transport:Boissy-Saint-Léger is served by Boissy-Saint-Léger station on Paris RER line A.-References:** -External links:*...
, Val-de-Marne
Val-de-Marne
Val-de-Marne is a French department, named after the Marne River, located in the Île-de-France region. The department is situated to the southeast of the city of Paris.- Geography :...
.
History
In 1190, Philip II of FrancePhilip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
gave the abbaye de Saint-Victor de Paris lands at Grosbois in exchange for lands in the bois de Vincennes
Bois de Vincennes
The Bois de Vincennes is a park in the English landscape manner to the east of Paris. The park is named after the nearby town of Vincennes....
. The abbey ceded these lands in 1563 to Raoul Moreau, treasurer of Spain, whose relation Nicolas Harlay de Sancy, surintendant des Finances et des Bâtiments du roi, built a château there at the start of the 17th century. This was still incomplete in 1616, when it was sold to Charles de Valois (1573-1650), count of Auvergne then duke of Angoulême (1619), illegitimate son of Charles IX of France
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
by Marie Touchet
Marie Touchet
Marie Touchet , Dame de Belleville, was the only mistress of Charles IX of France.-Humble origins, mistress to the king:...
. de Valois completed the château around 1640, notably building the enclosing wall (1623) and the two wings. On his death in 1650 the estate passed to his granddaughter, wife of Louis, Duke of Joyeuse
Louis, Duke of Joyeuse
Louis de Lorraine, Duke of Joyeuse was a younger son of Charles, Duke of Guise and Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse.-Life:...
.
In 1718, the estate was bought by Samuel-Jacques Bernard (1686-1753)
Samuel-Jacques Bernard (1686-1753)
Samuel-Jacques Bernard , comte de Coubert after the death of his father in 1739, was the son of the financier Samuel Bernard, the richest commoner in France and his first wife, née -Magdeleine Clergeau; he was superintendent of finance for Queen Maria Leszczyńska from 1725, a maître des requêtes,...
, son of the financier Samuel Bernard
Samuel Bernard
Samuel Bernard , Count of Coubert , was a French financier.-Life:Of Dutch origin, Samuel Bernard was the son of the painter and engraver Samuel-Jacques Bernard...
, who commissioned the woodwork in the salon Régence. He then sold it to Germain Louis Chauvelin
Germain Louis Chauvelin
Germain Louis Chauvelin , marquis de Grosbois, was a French politician, serving as garde des sceaux and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under Louis XV.-Life:...
in 1731, who in 1762 sold it in turn to François Marie Peyrenc de Moras
François Marie Peyrenc de Moras
François Marie Peyrenc de Moras was a senior French politician.In a family from the Cévennes, he was the son of Abraham Peyrenc de Moras , son of barber enriched in the system of Law, who built the Hotel Biron rue de Varenne in Paris and his wife, Anne-Marie-Josephe de Farges . He married...
. She left it to her great-niece Anne Marie de Merle de Beauchamps in 1771 - Anne Marie was daughter of an ambassador to the king of Portugal and wife of Pierre Paul Gilbert des Voisins, président to the parlement de Paris. She and her husband sold it to the comte de Provence
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
in 1776.
It was confiscated as national property on the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and sold on 9 November 1797 to Barras, known as 'the king of the Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
'. After 18 brumaire
18 Brumaire
The coup of 18 Brumaire was the coup d'état by which General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate...
, Barras was exiled to Belgium and sold the château, in 1801, to général Moreau
Jean Victor Marie Moreau
Jean Victor Marie Moreau was a French general who helped Napoleon Bonaparte to power, but later became a rival and was banished to the United States.- Early life :Moreau was born at Morlaix in Brittany...
. In 1804, after Moreau's arrest, Napoleon I
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
bought the château via Fouché
Joseph Fouché
Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante was a French statesman and Minister of Police under Napoleon Bonaparte. In English texts his title is often translated as Duke of Otranto.-Youth:Fouché was born in Le Pellerin, a small village near Nantes...
and in 1805 granted it to maréchal Berthier, prince of Wagram. Berthier spent much money embellishing it, expanding the library, the galerie des Batailles, the salon de l'Empereur and the salon des Huissiers. He also built two more pavilions and the entrance gate across the road. He enlarged the estate to make it the best hunting-ground in the French Empire and gave grand festivals there. His son Napoléon Berthier expanded the library, which included over 3,000 works.
The last prince of Wagram, Alexandre Louis Philippe Marie Berthier
Alexandre Louis Philippe Marie Berthier, 4th Prince de Wagram
Alexandre Louis Philippe Marie Berthier was the son of Bertha Clara von Rothschild of the German branch of the prominent Rothschild family and Louis Philippe Marie Alexandre Berthier, 3rd Prince de Wagram...
, died without issue in 1918, leaving Grosbois to his sister, the princesse de la Tour d’Auvergne, and to his nephew, prince Godefroy de la Tour d’Auvergne. In 1962, René Ballière, president of the Société d’encouragement à l’élevage du cheval français, bought the estate to set up a training centre for racehorses.
Architecture
Designed by an unknown architect, the château de Grosbois is clearly influenced by those designed by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau. On a U plan, it is made up of a central wing curved into an exedraExedra
In architecture, an exedra is a semicircular recess or plinth, often crowned by a semi-dome, which is sometimes set into a building's facade. The original Greek sense was applied to a room that opened onto a stoa, ringed with curved high-backed stone benches, a suitable place for a philosophical...
, flanked by two pavilions of the same height and by two lower wings at right angles. It is built on a rectangular platform in the middle of a once water-filled moat, now dry. It is reached by three bridges.
External links
Le château de Grosbois Pages on base MériméeBase Mérimée
The Base Mérimée is the French database of monuments listed as having national significance in history, architecture or art. It was created in 1978, and placed online in 1995, by the French Ministry of Culture, division of architectural heritage. The database is periodically updated...
:
-
- http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/merimee_fr?ACTION=RETROUVER&FIELD_1=cmer1&VALUE_1=%27BOISSY%2dSAINT%2dLEGER%27&FIELD_2=cmer4&VALUE_2=ch%e2teau&FIELD_3=cmer5&VALUE_3=&FIELD_4=AUTR&VALUE_4=&FIELD_5=cmer2&VALUE_5=&FIELD_6=titre&VALUE_6=&FIELD_7=date%20protection&VALUE_7=&FIELD_8=DOSURLP&VALUE_8=%20&NUMBER=1&GRP=0&REQ=%28%28%27BOISSY%2dSAINT%2dLEGER%27%29%20%3aLOCA%2cPLOC%2cINSEE%20%20ET%20%20%28%28ch%e2teau%29%20%3aDENO%2cPARN%2cREMA%2cACTU%2cPDEN%2cMHPP%20%29%29&USRNAME=nobody&USRPWD=4%24%2534P&SPEC=9&SYN=1&IMLY=&MAX1=1&MAX2=100&MAX3=100&DOM=TousHistoric monuments],
- http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/merimee_fr?ACTION=RETROUVER&FIELD_1=cmer1&VALUE_1=%27BOISSY%2dSAINT%2dLEGER%27&FIELD_2=cmer4&VALUE_2=ch%e2teau&FIELD_3=cmer5&VALUE_3=&FIELD_4=AUTR&VALUE_4=&FIELD_5=cmer2&VALUE_5=&FIELD_6=titre&VALUE_6=&FIELD_7=date%20protection&VALUE_7=&FIELD_8=DOSURLP&VALUE_8=%20&NUMBER=2&GRP=0&REQ=%28%28%27BOISSY%2dSAINT%2dLEGER%27%29%20%3aLOCA%2cPLOC%2cINSEE%20%20ET%20%20%28%28ch%e2teau%29%20%3aDENO%2cPARN%2cREMA%2cACTU%2cPDEN%2cMHPP%20%29%29&USRNAME=nobody&USRPWD=4%24%2534P&SPEC=9&SYN=1&IMLY=&MAX1=1&MAX2=100&MAX3=100&DOM=TousGeneral inventory of cultural patrimony] and documentation.