Château de Bussy-Rabutin

Photographed by James Derheim of European Focus in June, 2015

The Château de Bussy-Rabutin, also known as Château de Bussy-le-Grand, is a château which developed from a 12th-century castle, located in the commune of Bussy-le-Grand, in the Côte-d’Or department, Bourgogne, eastern France. 

The castle was founded in the 12th century^[1] by Renaudin de Bussy. It was rebuilt in the 14th century, and the Renaissance galleries were added in the 1520s. It was altered during the reigns of Henri II (1547–1559) and Louis XIII (1610–1643).

Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy (1618–1693), fell into disgrace for allegedly having taken part in an orgy at the Château de Roissy, near Paris, during Holy Week. Bussy was ordered by Louis XIV to retire to his estates, where he passed the time by composing his Histoire amoureuse des Gaules. This account of various courtly love affairs caused further scandal, and he was eventually sent to the Bastille on 17 April 1665, where he remained for more than a year. Bussy only obtained his release on condition that he retired once more to Bussy-Rabutin, where he lived in exile from court for seventeen years. Although he briefly returned to court in the 1680s, he soon returned to Bussy-Rabutin, dying there in 1693. During his exile he amassed a collection of portraits, which remains in the château. (Wikipedia)