Guédelon is a small castle-residence imagined from a hypothetical social context for a fictitious lord with a fairly modest status in the feudal hierarchy and with limited financial means. The lord-sponsor of the castle of Guédelon, Guilbert, is a small lord knight of Puisaye, a vassal of Jean de Toucy, himself a vassal of the King of France. He was born in 1199 and joined a more illustrious lineage by marrying a niece of Jean de Toucy. His marriage brought him land, mills, and forests from which he derived rights of ban and passage. Guilbert later obtained permission from his suzerain to bastir chatel i.e. to build a castle.