The Château de Brie-Comte-Robert is a castle in the town of Brie-Comte-Robert in the Seine-et-Marne département of France.
The castle of Brie-Comte-Robert was built at the end of the 12th century, when Robert I of Dreux, brother of the king Louis VII, was lord of Brie. Archaeological clues, elements of decoration and the choice of construction techniques, suggest the architecture of this turning point in history.
The castle remained in the Dreux family until 1254, then passed to the family of Châtillon. Through successive dowries and inheritances, it came to Marguerite d'Artois and then her daughter, Jeanne d'Évreux.
Jeanne d'Évreux, who held the manor of Brie-Count-Robert by inheritance, became the wife of the last Capetian king, Charles IV the Fair. After his death in 1328, she profited from comfortable revenues (a royal dower of many fiefdoms in Brie and Champagne), which enabled her to devote important sums to the maintenance and the improvement of her own possessions, including Brie-Comte-Robert. She did important work to the castle, as her accounts preserved at the Archives Nationales (national archives) attest.
The castle became a prestigious residence which the large lords of the kingdom, in particular the dukes of Burgundy, did not hesitate to visit. It was also the site, in 1349, of the marriage of Philip VI of Valois and Blanche d'Évreux, niece of queen Jeanne.
The lady of Brie made the siegneurial residence luxurious, particularly in the area located against the south-western and south-eastern curtains and, above all, in the north-east. She had a chapel built dedicated to Saint-Denis, joined to the Tour Saint-Jean (St John Tower), and laid out vast pleasure gardens. Jeanne d'Évreux died in the castle in 1371, aged 69.