Château de Joux

La Cluse-et-Mijoux

Mentioned as early as 1039, the castle of the lords of Joux guards the cluse (transverse gorge) that opens the road to Switzerland. Bought by Philip the Good in 1454, confirmed to France by the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678, it was modernised by Vauban between 1678 and 1693, then by Captain Joffre in 1879–1881. Its well, sunk to 147 metres, was for a time the deepest in France. A state prison, Joux held Mirabeau in 1775 and above all Toussaint Louverture, kept in solitary confinement from August 1802 in a cell whose window was almost walled up, where he died on 7 April 1803. But the place owes its oldest story to Berthe de Joux: around 1170, her husband Amauri leaves for the crusade; the knight Amé de Montfaucon, back wounded from the Holy Land, announces his death and becomes her lover. Amauri reappears, kills Amé with three sword blows, has his body hanged in the forest of La Fauconnière and shuts Berthe up in a cell so cramped that she could only crouch in it, brought out twice a day to contemplate her lover's corpse. Freed by her son Henri, she withdrew to the abbey of Montbenoît, where she can be traced until about 1228. The castle, open to visitors since 1958, still shows Berthe's cell.

Getting there : 4 km south-east of Pontarlier on the N57, signposted climb from La Cluse-et-Mijoux; paid guided tours, car park at the foot of the fort

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound