Chateau de Pierre-Scize. The castle of Pierre Scize, also called the castle of Pierre Encise, now disappeared, was located in the municipality of Lyon, in the current metropolis of Lyon. It occupied a strategic position, facing the Saône at the western entrance to Lyon, which marked the border between the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire. Perhaps the home of the former kings of Burgundy, certainly that of the archbishops of Lyon, recovered by Louis XI as a state prison, it was demolished in 1793. The name of the rock on which the castle was built originates from the name Petra incisa, split/incised stone, which recalls the great work of the Roman roads set up by Agrippa - by which it should be understood that the Romans began to notch the rock to make pass a way. Indeed according to Clerjon, the spur of Pierre Scise then advanced to the middle of the Saône. The Pierre Scise spur is part of the crystalline base on the eastern edge of the Massif Central. On the heights dominating the castle, this granite is covered by the sedimentary massif of the Monts d'Or which dominates the valley of the Saône by a steep slope almost -continued from Fourvière to Millery; this slope corresponds to an exhumed fault line escarpment. The crystalline base is found on the left bank of the Saône at the level of the Pierre-Scize gorge and in the very bed of the Saône, upstream at Île Barbe. Further downstream, at the exit of the canyon of Pierre Scise, was a projection of the rock of Pierre Scise, also in the bed of the Saône; it measured 85 m wide and 115 m long, and emerged about 3 m in periods of medium water. The central piers of the Change Bridge are supported there. This rock was destroyed at the mine around 1847.The castle was located on Pierre Scise, a rocky outcrop on the right bank of the Saône at the entrance to the Pierre-Scise gorge, where the river rushes between the Fourvière hill on the right bank and that of Croix-Rousse on the left bank. It overlooked the Saône from about fifty meters. The name passed to the Pierre-Scize quay which runs along the Saône at the foot of the remains of the spur. In the High Middle Ages, the town of Lyon was the group of houses without ramparts gathered around the Saint-Nizier church which served as a fortress. Another village, Bourg-Neuf, is between the rocky outcrop of Pierre-Scise and the collegiate church of Saint-Paul ; the castle of Pierre-Scise serves as a fortress. Later, the medieval fortifications of the city join the castle, thus integrating it into the defensive system of the city : towards the south-east a valley separates the castle from the height of Fourvière, but high walls on the Gallo-Roman remains connect it to the fort sur Fourvière and to the districts of Fourvière, Saint-Just and Saint-Irénée. Among the surrounding forts, Pierre Scise is the one located at the western entrance to the city. From this fairly massive set, stood out a high round tower built at the top of the rock and serving as a keep. On the south side of the castle stretched a terrace shaded by a large tree and watered by a good spring. There was a Saint-Michel chapel in the castle. From the castle, descended in the direction of the Saône a staircase of more than 200 steps carved into the rock, terminated at the bottom of the hill by a door called the Porte de Pierre Scize, which marked the beginning of a narrow and winding suburb. The site was certainly occupied during the time of the Roman Empire: workers clearing the earth at the foot of the castle found remains of sepulchral lamps, medals and other ancient objects. But the evidence of its existence only begin XII th century. The site's position is, however, too favorable not to have been put to good use before this century. According to Poullin de Lumina, Archbishop Hugues would have assembled there in 1099 a council of bishops of his province. Heraclius, archbishop of Lyon, took refuge there several times during his quarrels with the barons, his neighbors; he was the first to make it the fortress of the archbishops of Lyon. After periods of turmoil, the Archbishop Renaud de Forez added thicker walls, embellished the interior and raised the fortress to the rank of archiepiscopal palace. His successors settled in the castle. When Pope Innocent IV, up against Emperor Frederick II, came to stay in Lyon in 1244, Bishop Aymeric retired to the castle of Pierre Scise. In 1312 Archbishop Pierre de Savoie lost the justice of Lyon by the treaty of April 10 with Philippe le Bel for the benefit of the crown of France, but he reserved the temporal jurisdiction of the castle of Pierre-Scise with its dependencies. The governor in 1335 is the lord of Iseron, who receives 50 Viennese sous per week for this charge; he has under his command twelve men-at-arms, each at 8 florins per month. The archbishops of Lyon are present: in 1339 Archbishop Guillaume de Sure renders an arbitration award on the disputes between the Sire de Villard and Renaud de Dortans; in 1366 Archbishop Charles d'Alençon excommunicated the Seneschal of Lyon and the king's officers there following the disturbances subsequent to the Treaty of Brétigny and the dismissal of the armies in 1364.