The village is referred to as Finis Genliacensis (area of Genlis) in the chronicles of Saint Bénigne in an account of a public political assembly of prominent civil functionaries such as bishops, counts, and abbots, who were the King's advisors.

Berno of Genlis gives Saint-Pierre of Bèze some property he owns in the village of Coriant (which has since disappeared), reserving the income from it for his lifetime.

St. Pierre has rights to the land but he will not be the owner until Berno dies, as emphasized in the Latin deed: Notum sit omnibus praesentibus et futuris, quod Berno villicus Janlint Villae, quoddam alodum juris sui, quod jacet in villa Coriaut dicta, ea condicione dedit S. Petro, et propria manu super altare misit, ut ipsius alodi usuarium fructum retineret tempore vitae suae : post discessum vero vitae ad locum sancti Petri rediret cum omni integritate.

Hujus donationis, quam viva voce fecit, vivos testes adhibuit; quorum nomina haec sunt : Odilo Praepositus, Rodulfus, Dado, Aldo, Ewardu.

Let it be known to all, present and future, that Berno the steward of Villa Janlint, a certain successor of his own right, which lies in the village called Coriaut, gave this on condition to St. Peter, and put it in his own hand upon the altar, so that the user of Alodi might retain the fruit during the time of his life.

He gave living witnesses to this donation, which he made orally; whose names are these: Odilus the Provost, Rodulf, Dado, Aldo, Eward.

"Inside of the Gallo-Roman castrum, recognized thanks to its corner towers and its doubled perimeter walls, there were traces of simple buildings, most of them having only a single room, displaying the disorderly lines that date to modern times.

[11] Archaeological digs of the Johannot and Voie Romaine areas, located between Genlis and Izier, unearthed artifacts dating from the late Iron Age.

[12] Gaulish ceramic and amphora shards from 1 AD were discovered in a ditch between the sites, and the remains of a Merovingian village were also found nearby.

[13] In the early 1990s, construction work on the Highway A39 Dijon-Dole revealed the ruins of a Merovingian village at the localities of le Johannot and la Borde.

These digs revealed the existence of twenty-nine wooden semi-buried rectangular strutures called "hut foundations."

Additional small structures are thought to be granaries on stilts and silos that contained samples of rye, wheat, elderberries, pears, millet, cabbage, black nightshade, but also wild plants, reflecting pictures of cultivated areas and meadow forage grasses.

These 7th-century Genlissians were farmers and breeders as evidenced by the presence of barns housing oxen, pigs, goats, poultry and horses.

Among the objects excavated were ceramic shards from beakers, bowls, oules (pots), jugs and vases.

From the feudal period until the French Revolution Genlis was a fiefdom subservient to the seigneury, later marquisate, of Mirebeau whose lords paid direct homage to the Duke of Burgundy.

In the 18th century the Abbot Courtépée, in his Description générale et particulière du Duché de Bourgogne, reports that under the ancien régime Genlis was also a parish of the diocese of Chalon-sur-Saône, archpriesthood of Mailly, associated with Saint Martin and patronage of the priory of Saint-Vivant.

Feudal perks included the fortified house -- later the château -- of Genlis, as well as the various rights and privileges enjoyed by the lords.

Note that a household subscribing to pay royalties paid a certain sum of money at a certain time of the year.

This household escaped the seigneur's financial appetite and was no longer taxable or subject to limitless exploitation.

A seigneur would agreed to this arrangement in order to spare his sources of income at the risk of seeing his lands deserted.

The Janly allied themselves with the Burgundian nobility resulting from the sword and the robe: Estrabonne, Vaux (now part of Auxerre), Mâlain, Colombier, La Marche, Fyot, Le Fèvre, Mazille, Charrecey, Daubenton, Sennevoy, Balay and Thienes.

Humbert owned or had rights to other seigneuries including Magny-sur-Tille, Cessey, Varanges, Arc-sur-Tille, Arceau, Quetigny, Chevigny-Saint-Sauveur and Bressey-sur-Tille.

The barons of Tenarre owned large portions of the seigneury of Janly, including the fortified house, for almost two centuries from 1386 to 1565.

The latter receives the land and barony of Montmain, the castle, the right of watch and guard and its dependencies which are the seigneuries of Grosbois, Champandrey, the meadow at Verrey or Vitrey in the seigneury of Pouilly, Trogny in part, Montaigny in part, the toll of Glainon, Jarlan and Gallon with in all justice, fief and mortmain.

Catherine de Tenarre received the land and seigneury of Janly, with the castle, the right of watch and custody, Uchey, the vines of Gevrey, the banal river, and all justice.

The first of the Nagu who appears in history is called Jean, he lived till 1350 and was the lord of Magny and Fragny, as well as bailiff of the nobility of Beaujolais.

The authentic filiation goes back to the brothers Henri, Odon and Jean Walon, squires at Boux-sous-Salmaise, in 1394.

Notable, the Fyots occupy an advantageous social position which will lead them to the highest parliamentary offices and the Burgundian magistracy and they will ally themselves with the greatest names of the nobility of dress and sword of the province.

This branch, which became extinct in the 17th century, bore a variation of the coat of arms of the lords of Janly: azure with a silver fess accompanied by three cinquefoils of the same.

[42] Feudal marks are, for instance, the fortified manor house – then castle – of Genlis, as well as many rights and privileges that lords were benefiting.