Royal castle of Quierzy Quierzy sur Oise : a place of history and recollection
The Roland Tower
Around 600AD, on the banks of the River Oise around an old Gallo-Roman harbour, activity increased. A Roman way lead to Carisiacum later to become Quierzy. The reigns of the Merovingian King were ending and the mayors of the palaces were ready to rise to power. The triangle formed by Laon, Soissons and Compiègne, enclosing Quierzy in its centre, was about to become the cradle of the Carolingian dynasty. A stronghold was installed at the border with Gaul. For three centuries, Quierzy was to be one of the favourite castles of the Carolingian Kings.
Charles Martel passed away there in 741. He’d prepared the crowning of his son, Pippin the Younger whose spouse Bertrada of Laon best known as Bertha with the big foot, gave birth in Quierzy the following year to the future Charlemagne.
In Quierzy in 754 Pippin the Younger welcomes Pope Steven II and they sign the donation of the Ravenne Exarchate which will give the Popes a temporal power that will last for a thousand years. A few days later in Saint Denis, Pippin King of the Franks is crowned by Steven II.
When in 756 the Franks drove the Lombards out, Pope Stephen II claimed the exarchate. In Quierzy, his ally Pippin the Younger, King of the Franks, donated the conquered lands of the former exarchate to the Papacy in 756; this donation, which was confirmed by his son Charlemagne in 774, marked the beginning of the temporal power of the popes as the Patrimony of Saint Peter.
Charlemagne, Pippin’s successor, gradually transforms the villa into a palace. Today’s castle rests on these original foundations. Shortly after being crowned as Emperor by Leon III Charlemagne invites the Pope in Quierzy thus reinforcing the relationship between France and the papacy.
His grandson Charles the Bald signed a new page of history when he promulgated in 877 the Capitulary of Quierzy. The capitulary served as a guarantee to the aristocracy that the general usage would be followed in the existing circumstances, and also as a means of reassuring the counts who had accompanied the emperor into Italy as to the fate of their benefices. It will stay valid until the French Revolution nine centuries later.
During the Xth century the Carolingian dynasty comes to an end when Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine died shortly after having been captured bu Hugh Capet. Quierzy then was abandoned by the king and became a fief that was to be defended against the Normands then against the English.
After the year 1000 Quierzy passes to the powerful Chérisy family. They will take part in all crusades where they were almost always victorious.
In the XIVth and XVth centuries they are followed by the de Roye and the d’Halluin. On August 25th 1597 the lands of Quierzy are purchased by Catherine of Médicis’ private secretary Pierre Nicolas Brulart. In 1649, his son Charles, Richelieu’s Ambassador and Canon of Paris puts the last touch to the fitting up of the castle with the architect Couturier, hence the magnificient dormer window in the flamboyant style still present to date.
The Renaissance façade on the park side
In 1692 the domain will pass to Count Roger de Bussy-Rabutin, Madame de Sévigné’s cousin. Many of the celebrated “Lettres de la Cour” come from their epistolarian exchange. The lands are combined with those of Manicamp where one of the most beautiful castles of the area could be seen. But the Royal Castle of Quierzy alone will survive the French Revolution, that of Manicamp having ended in a blaze in 1808.
Around 1830 the architect Claude François Petit purchases Quierzy; he ends up razing down the walls and the annexes to the old fortress of the Chérizys and having the ditches and moats filled. He’ll nevertheless keep the plans.
In 1914-1918 the castle is requisitioned by the German army as general quarters. Then in 1924 new owners finally let fashion and comfort eradicate the décor set by Charles Brulart.
The castle is registered in the Inventory or Historical Monuments in 1928. Since 1970 the safeguard and bringing out of this site, the witness of thirteen centuries of history, has concentrated the efforts of all.
The Mediaeval façade on the river side
Château de Quiersy
Charles Martel choisit d'y finir ses jours, en 741.
Il a préparé l'avènement de son fils Pépin le Bref, dont l'épouse, Bertrade de Laon - plus connue sous le nom de Berthe aux grands pieds, va mettre au monde l'année suivante à Quierzy le futur Charlemagne.
Pépin le Bref reçoit à Quierzy en 754 le pape Etienne II et signe avec lui la donation de l'exarchat de Ravenne, reconnaissant aux papes un pouvoir temporel qui perdurera mille ans. Quelques jours plus tard, Etienne II sacre Pépin roi des Francs à Saint Denis.
Son successeur Charlemagne transforme progressivement la villa en palais et c'est sur ses fondations que s'élève le château actuel. Sacré empereur d'Occident par le pape Léon III à Rome en 800, il invite le pape à Quierzy en 804 et renforce les liens entre la Papauté et la France.
Son petit-fils, Charles le Chauve, écrit à Quierzy une nouvelle page de l'Histoire, en y signant le capitulaire de 877 qui établit l'hérédité des offices de la noblesse : il restera en vigueur jusqu'à la Révolution française, neuf siècles plus tard.
