Montrond Castle

Montrond Castle, locally known as Château de Montrond, lies next to the village of Montrond-le-Château in the Doubs department in France.

Montrond Castle was built in 1231, next to the village on the Montrond Hill; an oval plateau rising 90 m above the surrounding countryside. It was built by Amédée de Neufchâtel, Lord of Montrond. Pierre V de Scey was cited as co-builder. It is safe to assume that the castle was preceded by some other fortification at this site, probably a wooden tower or something alike, as the seigneury of Montrond already existed for almost a century before the castle's foundation.

The 1356 Basel earthquake caused the collapse of a tower of the castle, even though Basel is over 150 km away.

Archduke Maximilian of Austria, son-in-law of Charles the Bold, husband of Mary of Burgundy and future Holy Roman Emperor, celebrated Christmas at Montrond Castle in 1492.

During the Franco-Dutch War, in 1674, the troops of Louis XIV of France conquered the Spanish province of Franche-Comté since Spain was an ally of the Dutch. Montrond Castle was besieged and taken by the French after which it was dismantled. It was never to be rebuilt. Remaining buildings were apparently taken into use as a farm. Later everything fell to ruin.

Up until 1935 a 10 m high tower ruin was still to be seen, but then it collapsed. Its remains were knocked down afterwards, due to safety hazards.

At present the site of Montrond Castle is freely accessible. The remains however are small and the site is very much overgrown, so it is hard to see architectural details. Not a very interesting site.

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