Timeline

  • 888 First reference to Lourdon on an act for the sale of land at the Château de Lourdon.

  • 922 Bill of sale passed to the Chateau of Lourdon for the construction of the Abbey.

  • 1093-1105 Arnaud is cited as the first dean of Lourdon

  • 1153 William I, Count of Chalon, with a band of Brabancons ravaged the valley of the Grosne.

  • 1156 These looters took the castle of Lourdon and ransacked the abbey of Cluny. Called for help by the Abbé Etienne, Louis VII, King of France, came to hunt the robbers and dispossess Guillaume of his property

  • 1166 and 1173 Castle occupied by the enemies of Cluny

  • 1180 Phillipe Auguste comes to sign peace with Count de Chalon.

  • 1250-1252 The bailiff of Macon threw his troops on Cluny, took Lourdon and set up a garrison there, the abbey having refused to contribute fi nancially to the crusades.

  • 1252 Following the intervention of the Pope, the soldiers abandoned the chateau without repairing the damage they had caused

  • 1253, July - Guillaume du Blé sells the monks his interests at Lourdon and Lournand

  • 1471 - 1476 Requisitioned by the troops of Charles the Temeraire who base themselves in the library and treasury of the monks. After this occupation the abbot "restored the dungeon, built a southern tower and new buildings"

  • 1562 and 1565 - the castle is used to safeguard the treasures of Cluny

  • 1572 - Castle taken by the Calvinists

  • 1574 - Castle taken and pillaged by the Huguenots who abandoned it in 1576

  • 1575; 1581 – Inquiry into the ravages, burnings and other extortions carried out by the invaders

  • 1575 - 1612 the abbot Claude de Guise restored the castle and constructed major new buildings there, in particular the real tennis court, which carries his coat of arms with the date 1586

  • 1590 Claude de Guise manufactured the royal canon of Lourdon (weight 659kg), which is now on display at the Musee des Invalides in Paris

  • 1593 The chateau repulsed an attack by Royalists but later surrendered to the royal troops in 1595

  • 1600 the castle welcomed a general chapter of the order of Cluny

  • 1632 The defensive walls of the castle were blown up at the request of the Bishop of Macon, with the consent of the governor of Burgundy, and in return for compensation to the abbot. Cardinal Richelieu, then abbot of Cluny, asked for 60,000 livres which was paid by the states of Burgundy and Mâconnais in 1632.

  • 1791 The remains of the fortress are sold by the state

  • 1791 - today The chateau and the land around it have remained in the same family for over 200 years

  • 1809 The cadastral showed the real tennis court, the stables, the eastern tower and two western turrets were still habitable

  • 1840 The cadastre of 1840 showed only the eastern tower was still habitable

  • c1900 The tower was refitted and occupied at least until 1944

  • 2013 The chateau and hilltop were leased to the Association Castrum Lordo