Baillival Castle (Bulle)

Baillival Castle (Bulle) is a bailiff's castle in the municipality of Bulle of the Canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.[1]

Baillival Castle (Bulle)
Château de Bulle
Bulle
Baillival Castle
Baillival Castle (Bulle)
Baillival Castle (Bulle)
Coordinates46°37′03″N 7°03′29″E
CodeCH-FR
Site information
Conditionexisting
Site history
Built1291—1331

History

The castle was erected from 1291 to 1331 by the bishops of Lausanne and is situated at the south side of the market place. It has the characteristic square floor plan of castles erected by the House of Savoy in the nearby Canton of Vaud (f. e. Morges Castle, Romont Castle or Yverdon-les-Bains Castle). This ″Savoy square″ is uncommon because Lausanne and Savoy fought for the bishop seat of Lausanne since the year 1239 and Bulle always was an episcopal town that never belonged to the House of Savoy. But in a short time period right before the year 1239 members of the House of Savoy were bishops of Lausanne. That causes speculations about an earlier building in Bulle that was erected by the House of Savoy which became more likely after a coat of arms of Savoy was found engraved in a window of the castle of Bulle during a renovation.[2]

The castle survived the Burgundian Wars by entering an alliance with the city of Fribourg which protected Bulle and the castle from looting in 1476. During the conquest of the Vaud by the Bernese in 1536 Fribourg took the chance to get Bulle under full protection because the bishop of Lausanne Sébastien de Montfalcon had fled. Fribourg then transformed the episcopal castle into the bailiff's castle and later found an agreement with the bishop of Lausanne in 1614. The castle was renovated from 1763 to 1768. In 1798 the people of Bulle used the French invasion to throw the governor out of the city. Since then the castle is a district administration building. Prisons cells were added since 1854.[3][4] Since the castle was never destroyed, it still looks like it did centuries ago. It consists of an inner courtyard surrounded by the buildings, a tower in the southwest and bartizans on the other corners. The castle is surrounded by a former moat that was filled by the water of the Les Usiniers canal. The former bridge that led to the main gate was a wooden drawbridge but has been replaced by a stone bridge.[5]

See also
  • Media related to Château de Bulle at Wikimedia Commons
  • "Castle (1291)". La Gruyère. Retrieved 8 November 2020.

References
  1. "Kantonsliste A-Objekte". KGS Inventar (in German). Federal Office of Civil Protection. 2009. Archived from the original on 28 June 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  2. Erich Schwabe: Burgen der Schweiz, t. 9: Kantone Bern und Freiburg (in German), Silva-Verlag, Zürich 1983.
  3. Bulle in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  4. Bulle (Vogtei/bailliage/baliaggio) in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  5. "Castle (1291)". La Gruyère. Retrieved 8 November 2020.


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