St. Just-en-Chevalet Castle

St. Just-en-Chevalet Castle, locally known as Château de Saint-Just-en-Chevalet, lies in the village of the same name in the Loire department in France.

Perched on a rocky promontory overlooking the Loire valley, St. Just-en Chevalet Castle traces its origins to the 9th century, established by the Counts of Forez to guard the region. It was first mentioned in 1257. By the late 14th century, from 1372, the powerful Bourbon dukes held the seigneury until it passed into the hands of Pierre II d’Urfé in 1507.

The Urfé family held the property for over two centuries, until the line came to an end with Adélaïde Marie-Thérèse Lascaris d’Urfé, the last descendant of the house in the female line. As her marriage to the Marquis de Chastel transferred the Urfé name and assets to another family, the possessions were seized and auctioned off in 1765.

St. Just-en-Chevalet Castle was then purchased by the Marquis Antoine Hector de Simiane. In 1781, his children sold it to Antoine de Meaux, lieutenant general of the town of Montverdun. The De Meaux family still owned the castle at the end of the 18th century, when they built a new residence on top of the castle ruins. Most of the medieval castle disappeared during these transformations.

What remains today is the 16th-century castle gate, a section of the original enclosure wall, the castle chapel constructed between 1342 and 1361, and a former prison building from the 1600s.

Today, the site of St. Just-en-Chevalet Castle is freely accessible.  A tranquil site, but its many transformations make it hard to envision the medieval castle.

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