Wijnendale Castle stands in Wijnendale, in Torhout, West Flanders. Robert I, Count of Flanders, built it in the late eleventh century as a military base. In 1297 Guy of Dampierre signed a treaty with Edward I of England here. Mary of Burgundy died at the castle in 1482 after a fall from her horse.
The castle was besieged in 1302 and 1325. Protestants burned part of it in 1578, and French troops blew up part of it in 1690. It was rebuilt in 1699 and 1700. In 1811 French troops damaged it so badly that only ruins remained.
Josse-Pierre Matthieu bought the estate in 1833 and had the castle rebuilt from 1837 to 1852. Jules Joseph Louis Matthieu modified it in 1877. Today it is mostly a nineteenth-century restoration, and parts of the north wing date from the fifteenth century. The owners live in one wing, and another is a museum.
Comments