Maligny
A parchment from 1035 first cites Maligny, where it is called by it’s Latin name “Merlenniacus”. Even at this time, Maligny was a fiefdom of the Counts of Champagne, and was likely a southern trench to ward off the Counts of Burgundy. Guy II of Maligny first planted vines in 1217. Maligny’s famous landmark, the Château de Maligny, came into existence in the 12th century, edified by Hughes de Maligny: it is the most magnificent estate in all of the Chablisien.
Around the same time as the Château’s building, Maligny’s church was built. (It still stands today.) It was restored several times and consecrated to Notre-Dame just before 1500. Other notable stops in the village include le Grand Pont, a bridge from 1786 which spans the Serein River, the wooden marketplace reconstructed in 1838, the municipal building developed in the caves of the ancient town hall and the Laroche-L’Isle-sur-Angelay railway stop (no longer used today). The famous mathematician Maurice Fréchet, responsible for significant advances in the field of topology, was born in Maligny in1878, and the village was also the birthplace of Jacques Lafarge, scientist, pharmacist and inventor.
Like most of the villages of the Yonne, Maligny has seen its ups and downs. Before phylloxera, the population of Maligny was 1500. War with the great louse, followed by the two Great Wars catalyzed a decrease in inhabitants, with its population reaching a low of 510 in 1975. Since then, its citizenship has risen, and today Maligny counts 707 citizens as its own.
