Châteaumeillant

Châteaumeillant Chastèlmelhan (Occitan)
Commune
The town center
Coat of arms
Location of Châteaumeillant
Châteaumeillant Châteaumeillant
Coordinates: 46°33′46″N 2°12′05″E
Country	France
Region	Centre-Val de Loire
Department	Cher
Arrondissement	Saint-Amand-Montrond
Canton	Châteaumeillant
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Frédéric Durant
Area 1	42.48 km2 (16.40 sq mi)
Population  (2021)	1,703
• Density	40/km2 (100/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	18057 /18370
Elevation	212–388 m (696–1,273 ft) (avg. 253 m or 830 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Châteaumeillant (French: [ʃɑtomɛjɑ̃]; Auvergnat: Chastèlmelhan) is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France.

Geography

An area of winegrowing, farming and forestry comprising a small town and several hamlets situated in the valley of the small river Sinaise, some 40 miles (64 km) south of Bourges at the junction of the D943 with the D3 and the D70 roads.

The town of Châteaumeillant is an official stop on the Camino de Santiago routes and benefits from an AOC for its wines

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1962	2,462	—
1968	2,528	+2.7%
1975	2,429	−3.9%
1982	2,186	−10.0%
1990	2,081	−4.8%
1999	2,058	−1.1%
2008	2,082	+1.2%

Sights

• Saint-Genès Church: This Romanesque sandstone building (stone from Saulzais), dating back to the early 12th century, is a remarkable example of Romanesque art in Berry. Inside, historiated capitals depict the creation, a fantastic bestiary, and plants. The Romanesque nave has a wooden vault (recently restored). The furnishings include an 18th-century painting of Saint Gervais and wrought iron chancel railings from the same period. Stained glass windows from the 19th century and others, installed in 1994, were created by Jean Mauret, a master glassmaker from Saint-Hilaire-en-Lignières. The gable of the facade was replaced by a bell tower in 1857. The church is listed as a historical monument.

• Notre-Dame-la-Petite Church, also called "Le Chapitre": This chapel was built in the 10th and 12th centuries and once served as the castle’s chapel. In 1517, Jean d'Albret, Lord of Châteaumeillant, founded a college of canons, giving it the name "Le Chapitre". During the Revolution, its bell tower was demolished, and the nave was transformed into a covered market. The upper part was later turned into a theater. The apse has served various roles, including as a prison, justice of the peace, wedding hall, and finally the town hall until 2005.

The community of Boischaut-Marche moved its offices here afterward. The nave became the Museum of Old Trades in 2015. The building is listed as a historical monument. Frescoes from the 13th century depicting scenes from the New Testament adorn the upper part of the apse. An acroterion from one of the side chapels, reused in the facade of the library next to the town hall, features a crane bearing the coat of arms of Jean d'Albret, surrounded by the Order of Saint Michael’s collar.

• Émile-Chénon Archaeological Museum: Housed in a 15th-century mansion known as Maison Grégueil, this museum was founded in 1961 by archaeologist Jacques Gourvest. It presents a collection of nearly 350 Greco-Italic and Italic amphoras discovered in amphora cellars on the oppidum, along with locally made or imported Gallo-Roman ceramics. The museum also exhibits grain mills, coins, urns, statues, sarcophagi, and a bronze treasure found in a Gallo-Roman well in 2012. The museum is labeled as a Museum of France, and the building was listed as a historical monument in 1964. Website of the museum (in French)

• Museum of Ancient Trades: This new space was set up in the hall of the former church of the Chapter in the summer of 2015. It brings together all the medieval collections previously exhibited at the Émile Chénon Museum, enriched with presentations of old trades (winemaker, blacksmith, clog maker, etc.), with a giant wine press at its center.

• Oppidum of Mediolanum Biturigum: This impressive oppidum was excavated by Émile Chénon (1857–1927) and, from 1957 to 1984, by Émile Hugoniot and Jacques Gourvest. Excavations resumed in 2001 and led to the discovery of an exceptional Gallo-Roman era deposit. In 2012, more than 5,000 objects and fragments were discovered in well 269, including pieces of jewelry, an oenochoe, a lock with a keyhole depicting the bust of Hercules, a horse with a pouring spout, a solid bronze lion, and other items now on display at the Chénon Museum.Notable Figures Linked to the Commune

History

This town, whose nearby slopes produce renowned "gris" wines, played an important role during the Gallo-Roman era as a market and communication hub. It is believed to have been evangelized by Saint Genès, who was martyred, according to tradition, on the site of the current church.

• Antiquity : Named Mediolanum (the "middle plain") in Antiquity, the town of Châteaumeillant has been inhabited since at least the end of the 3rd century BC. A century later, this Gallic oppidum (fortified settlement) was protected by a significant wall, surrounding a previous enclosure made of intertwined beams with earth, covered with a stone facing, which Caesar would call "murus gallicus."

Over 600 amphorae found on the site testify to intense trade with the Mediterranean basin, from where the inhabitants mainly imported wine from Italy. Once emptied, the amphorae were stored in amphora cellars that have made the site famous. These cellars were discovered at the end of the 19th century and in the second half of the 20th century in the gardens of Châteaumeillant residents, in the Saint-Martin district, south of the town.

In the mid-1st century BC, during the Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar arrived in Berry. Despite increased defense of the oppidum with the construction of a massive earth rampart in its southern part (still very visible), Mediolanum, like about twenty other Biturige cities, was likely burned at this time under orders from Vercingetorix, who practiced a scorched-earth policy.

The Gallo-Roman period is especially known for the many water wells dug throughout the town. In these wells, archaeologists have found numerous remains. Mediolanum was then a roadside station on the route from Argentomagus to Clermont-Ferrand, mentioned on the Peutinger Table.

• Middle Ages : The town was the site of a mint during the Merovingian period and again in the 13th century. Vine cultivation can be traced back to the 6th century.In 583, the town witnessed a battle between King Chilperic I of Neustria and his brother Gontran, King of Burgundy. The Guillebaud family, originating from the Château de la Roche-Guillebaud, seized the lordship of Châteaumeillant in the early 11th century. At the beginning of 1115, upon the death of Adalard Guillebaud, lord of Saint-Chartier, Châteaumeillant, Cluis-Dessous, and Neuvy, his possessions passed to Raoul the Elder, prince-lord of Déols, who was married to his daughter Beatrix (also known as Fénion). His brother, Guillaume Guillebaud, inherited only Château-Guillebaud and the Château de Rochefort on the Millevaches Plateau (in the heart of Limousin).

In 1141, Raoul de Déols died, and his possessions passed to his son, Ebbes II, who died in 1160. In 1152, another battle occurred between King Louis VII and Ebbes II of Déols, who was a vassal of Henry Plantagenet. In 1188, Philip II Augustus seized a series of places from Henry II Plantagenet and dismantled the principality of Déols. The town's lords included some of the most prominent feudal families: the princes of Déols, the viscounts of Brosse, the Bomès/Bommiers, the Sully, the La Trémoille, the d'Albret, the Foix-Lautrec, the Clèves, and the Gonzague of Nevers.

• Modern Times : On February 22, 1588, Louis de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers, the last hereditary lord of Châteaumeillant, sold his barony to Georges de Gamaches, whose descendants continued to hold the estate until its division and sale by his heirs. In 1644, Jean Fradet de St-Août, a marshal and lieutenant general in the French artillery, became the owner, and the barony was elevated to a county in his favor by the young Louis XIV.

• Contemporary History : During the Occupation, the residents of Châteaumeillant protected about forty Jewish families who had taken refuge there, hiding them and shielding them from the French authorities and German occupation troops. Since 2004, a plaque commemorating these events can be seen on one of the pillars of the market hall. The town has been admitted to the "Villes et Villages des Justes de France" network, and a commemorative plaque was added beside the first one in June 2022.

External links

• Official town website (in french with English traduction)
• Website of the winegrowing cooperative (in French)
• Website of the museum (in French)