A little history of Frolois castle
And also
The tops
Frolois, watch your back!
A Burgundian keep
Frolois dates back to the 11th century. Originally, it was an oppidum, a Roman stronghold located on a very strategical place, overlooking the valley.
Lords of Frolois were pretty mighty, at that time, they mixed with famous dukes of Burgundy.
Then, the castle fell to several owners, like the Rochefort in the 16th century…
Among them, we have Guy de Rochefort, chancellor of France at the service of dukes of Burgundy.
Honest, wise and brave!
Then, in the middle of the 17th century Pierre Duban de La Feuillée, a lieutenant, turned up.
Frolois was raised to a county by Louis XIV!
The Sun king knew Pierre well: he sent him with his son, to fight in Flanders. Pierre was 70 years old…
But according to the ″Memories″ Saint-Simon wrote, Pierre deserved the king’s confidence, because he was ″a sweet, honest, wise and brave gentleman″!
Italian wallpapers
His children and heirs altered the castle’s façades and re-decorated the apartments.
Especially with ″Bergamo tapestries″.
Why Bergamo? Because they were made in this Italian city!
In fact, those are painted tapestries… ancestors of our current wallpapers!
Revolution and widowhood
During the French Revolution, big change: the owners, the Le Bascle d'Argenteuil, had to go in exile, quickly!
The castle, abandoned, was occupied by villagers.
Frolois was bought at the beginning of the 19th century by the family Regnault.
They had to restore everything… But Bernarde Regnault had time to make those building works, because she had lost her husband at war...
The visit of Frolois
• We discover Antoine de Vergy’s bedroom, fit out in the Renaissance spirit, with painted beams.
• But we also visit the nice living-room (18th century) with the Bergamo wallpapers!
Don’t miss in this room the armchair recovered with yellow velvet. Pretty original!
It was created for Antoine de La Feuillée: seriously wounded in 1706, during war of Italy, he needed an armchair with a moving back, to lay down his crippled body...