Municipality of the Pays Viennois

 

Septème derives its name from the seventh military post on the Roman road connecting Vienne to Aosta (Italy).

On this site, a castle was built in the 10th and 11th centuries. A few of its ruins are still there. In the 13th century, the ramparts were built: along a total length of a kilometre, they fortified the town until the time of the Revolution.  

Septème has a rich and glorious past as well as the only fully preserved castle in the Pays Viennois, which has belonged to a succession of illustrious families. To name the most famous ones: the first Lords, the Terric de Septème, the Beauvoir family, the Counts of Savoy, and then, under the aegis of the Dauphins of France, the Count of Tallard, future Marshal of France, Baron Pecoil, for whom the Court granted that Septème was to be elevated to the status of Marquisate, and finally, on the eve of the Revolution, Monsieur de Viennois, famous for his negotiations with the Court, and respected by the people of Septème.  Catherine de Medicis and the French Court spent the night of 16 July 1564 in Septème. The castle currently belongs to the family of the Counts of Kergolay.