The Savoyard Castles

14 July 2019

Vaud (also known as pagus Waldensis in Latin and Pays de Vaud in French) has been a strategic location since Roman times, situated at the crossroads of major roads connecting northern and southern Europe.

Vaud was part of the ‘first’ kingdom of Burgundy (443-543) after the fall of the Roman Empire, then it came under Merovingian (561-751) and Carolingian authority (751-843).

It became a county, Comitatus Waldensis, in this period. Vaud was part of the second kingdom of Burgundy (888-1032). Thereafter, the region was part of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Duchy of Savoy (formerly the counts) took control in 1286. The carré savoyard is the Savoyard castle from this period. This type of castle first appeared in the years 1258-1265 in Yverdon.

(Quelle: O. Meuwly and others, Histoire Vaudoise, Lausanne 2015).