CHÂTEAU DE BIZY. NORMANDIE, FRANCE.

From the 14th century, the Jubert family owns the lands of Bizy. In 1675, Nicolas Jubert de Bouville, State Councilor and intendant of Orleans, raised the seigneury of Bizy to the rank of marquisate. He built a residential castle. In 1721, the Duke of Belle-Isle bought the marquisate of Bizy. He was the grandson of Louis XIV’s superintendent of finance, Nicolas Fouquet. He keeps the Château built by Jubert de Bouville and focuses on the park. He undertakes the expansion of the estate, builds a hydraulic network to supply the Château with water, and arranges gardens with fountains and water games. He called on the architect Contant d’Ivry, considered to be the “best architect of Europe“ who, among other things, built the Palais Royal staircase for the construction of buildings constituting a barnyard. Today, the magnificent stables remain. They were built to resemble those of Versailles In 1749, the Duke of Belle-Isle, who became Marshal of France in 1741, receives Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. Having no descendants, he bequeathed the castle to King Louis XV in 1759. The king then exchanges Bizy with the principality of Dombes (in the Ain) with the count of Eu who will bequeath it on his death to his cousin, Louis of Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre, legitimized grandson of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan The Duke of Penthievre had one of the most important fortune in Europe, but he spent most of his income doing good and was concerned with the poor. At the Revolution, the Duke of Penthievre continues to be acclaimed: “Why would the people want to harm me? I have always thought that the high rank analogous to my birth devoted me tosacrifice myself to them.“ In 1792, he settled permanently in Bizy with his daughter, Louise Marie-Adélaïde become, thanks to her marriage with “Philippe-Égalité“, Duchess of Orléans. ​ The Duke of Penthièvre died in 1793. In Perlet’s journal of March 7, 1793, it was stated: “Citizen Penthièvre is dead ... it was the heritage of the poor man deposited by Fortune in the hands of Virtue ...“ The property of the Orléans family is confiscated and the Château de Bizy is declared national property and abandoned. ​ Merchants will dismantle the Château des Jubert de Bouville and sell it stone by stone. In 1858 Baron Schikler bought Bizy. He preserves part of the transformations of Louis-Philippe whose galleries of the main courtyard and built, with the help of the architect William Henry White, the central part, sumptuous building of neoclassical style, preserved today . In 1909, the baron bequeathed Bizy to his grand-nephew, Louis Suchet, fourth Duke of Albufera, descendant of Suchet, Marshal of the Empire and 1st Duke of Albufera. Madame Vergé, born Isabelle Suchet of Abuféra is still today the owner of the castle. Based on