Château Saint Triphon (Ruin)

As significant as the St.-Triphon complex presents itself in its entirety, so meager are the traces that the castle has left in written tradition. The documentary records, which only begin in the 13th century, confirm that the rock of St.-Triphon already bore a large fortification at the time of the Kings of Upper Burgundy, in which the House of Savoy then erected the actual main castle in the 11th or 12th century. The mighty tower can be dated to the 12th century based on its construction.

Before 1200, the Lords of St.-Triphon are mentioned. Their relationship to the House of Savoy is unknown. It is certain that the castle complex of St.-Triphon had its great period in the tradition-poor era of the 11th and 12th centuries and that it already lost its significance in the 13th century. This is the only way to explain the fact that around 1232, Thomas of Savoy exchanged the castle as a fief to Guy of Saillon, who in return ceded his rights in Saillon, which were apparently more important to Savoy, to the Count.

Subsequently, the Lords of Saillon and their related Lords of Pontverre sat on St.-Triphon as Savoyard vassals.

In the 14th century, the fief changed hands several times, until it fell first to the Lombard banking family Thome, who were in Savoyard service, in 1341, and then to the Rovéréaz in 1367.

In the 15th century, the lordship began to dissolve, but the Rovéréaz were able to reassemble the main part of their estates and rights around 1530. They managed to maintain their land ownership until 1798, while the sovereign rights, following the Burgundian Wars, were taken over by the Bernese, who had seized the Savoyard lordship of Aigle, and incorporated into the Mandement Ollon.

The Burgundian Wars also brought about the downfall of St.-Triphon Castle when the Valaisans undertook an invasion of the Savoyard lower Rhone valley in 1475 and destroyed a number of castles.