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Above the commune of Saint-Pierre de Rumilly stands up, at an altitude of 550 meters, a castle looking good-natured, having more the features of a pleasure residence than of a fortress. It is the Arcine castle, which history lacks glorious feats, and which luster comes only from the personality of its occupants. This large mansion was previously known as Rumilly-sous-Cornillon, name due to its proximity to Saint-Pierre de Rumilly and its location below the Cornillon castle of which only remain nowadays some ruined walls. In the past it protected the entrance of the Borne valley and was the seat of a seigneury, which stretched out on a twenty square kilometers territory. The Rumilly-sous-Cornillon castle, to give it the name that had been it's until recently, is considered to have been built by the counts of Genève during the twelfth century. In 1395 it was the property of Pierre de Genève who gave it as a dower to his wife Marguerite de Joinville, who later on sold it the duke of Savoy, Amédée the eighth. Later on the castle passed from hand to hand. In 1530 Pierre de la Forest purchased it from Philippe de Savoie, duc de Nemours, near whom he had been brought up as a page. Pierre was highly thought of by Duke Charles the second who appointed him ambassador to the king François the first. From that time the castle passed on from father to son in the la Forest family, and was successively owned by Charles 1 de la Forest, lieutenant general of Savoy, who fought the famous baron des Adrets, and died in Vienna in 1565, then by Jean de la Forest, colonel of the famous regiment of Savoy, that fought successfully against the Bernese in 1589, and was killed the following year during the battle of Bonne, then by Georges de la Forest, baron de Rumilly, and then by Gilbert 1 de la Forest, also lieutenant general and who bore the title of comte de Rumilly. In 1733, the castle was owned by Victor Amédée de la Forest who sold it to General Muffat de Saint-Amour, one of the best of Prince Eugene's lieutenants. Then Rumilly became the Arcine family's property, thus its current name. The ancient seigniorial estate, still strong on its foundations, still looks nice with its square tower, three floors high of which the ground floor was used as a prison in the past, and with its massive residential part which angle forms an inner courtyard full of greenery. All these buildings are taken up by living quarters with narrow windows, in which numerous successive generations have left their marks. The whole is built on a plateau from which we enjoy a wide view on the surrounding area, and where we breathe a wonderfully pure air arriving directly from the neighboring Alps.
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