Château de Linchamps: A Medieval Fortress in France
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- Primary era
- Early Modern
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- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page10 sections
History
Château de Linchamps is a medieval fortress in France, above the upper Semoy near the hamlet of Nohan in the commune of Thilay, Ardennes. Its origins lie somewhere between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, but the early development of the site remains uncertain. The documented fortress was built by Jean de Louvain between 1531 and 1535, and it served as a stronghold from which people living nearby and travelers were held for ransom.
The Louvain fortress
In 1530, Antoine de Louvain, lord of Rognac in Tardenois and father-in-law of Gaspard de Heu, acquired Linchamps. The site belonged to the Collegiate Church of Braux, a church served by a college of clerics rather than by monks. A local tradition claims that the Louvain family obtained the rock by intoxicating the canons into an exchange, while another version says that they seized it by force.
Jean de Louvain began construction on the steep hill in 1531 and completed the fortress in 1535. Its position made it a powerful base, but its use soon brought opposition. In 1538, Charles V demanded that the castle be destroyed. Charles V was the Habsburg emperor whose territories included the Holy Roman Empire, and the dispute over Linchamps reflected the wider rivalry between the French crown and the imperial sphere.
War and destruction in the sixteenth century
The political dispute continued during negotiations for the Truce of Crépy-en-Laonnois in 1544. Imperial delegates argued that Linchamps lay in Luxembourg and therefore belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. The French king, by contrast, supported Rognac, who had formerly served as his page. That same year, Jean de Louvain pillaged and burned Braux, Levrezy, Nouzonville, and Gespunsart, communities that he was supposedly protecting.
Royal troops besieged Linchamps in June and July 1550 after a dispute between Rognac and the Duke of Nevers, governor of Champagne. In a letter, Henri II described the expulsion of Rognac and other outlaws. The garrison, numbering about sixty men, endured three or four hundred cannon shots before surrendering. Foreign soldiers were released, while the king’s subjects were executed as rebels. Henri II ordered the fortress to be razed so that no suspicion would remain that he intended to use it against the emperor. Henri II was king of France from 1547 to 1559.
The castle nevertheless returned to use. François de Clèves rebuilt it in 1554, and Henri de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, strengthened it between 1585 and 1589. Catherine de Clèves administered Linchamps in 1589.
Royal control and final destruction
Louis XIII purchased the castles of Linchamps and Château-Regnault in 1629. In 1650, M. de Ligniville, a Frondeur allied with Spain, seized Linchamps. The Fronde was a series of rebellions against the French monarchy, mainly during the minority of Louis XIV. Condé captured the fortress on 30 November 1653. Here, Condé refers to Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, a leading nobleman and military commander.
The Treaty of Paris of 4 June 1659 returned Linchamps to the French kingdom. The castle was handed over to the king in 1660 in the presence of Abraham de Fabert d’Esternay, governor of Sedan. In 1673, the king ordered its final destruction as part of a restructuring of French fortresses. An explosive mine carried out the demolition, leaving the abandoned ruins scattered across the rocky site.
Remains
The remains occupy a rocky spur overlooking a meander of the Semoy by about 100 metres. The complex extends approximately 250 metres from north to south, with an irregular width that probably reaches 120 metres at its maximum. Vegetation now covers much of the site. Stone blocks, walls cut into the rock, and fragmentary traces of former buildings mark the fortress area.
Northern sector
An inclined path rises through the northern sector, followed by a rudimentary staircase leading toward the steepest part of the site. A rocky ridge slopes at approximately 15 percent and ends at a fissure on the north. The ascent runs for about 45 metres. At its end is a rectangular cavity known as the Spinner’s Bench. A line of rocks extends to the east.
Central stronghold
The central sector forms the largest part of the remains and occupies an elevated rocky position on the main ridge. Probably the central section of the castle, it measures about 115 metres along its north-south axis and 95 metres from east to west. Steep slopes and high rocks bound it on most sides, while the southern facade forms the principal open edge. The surviving features include low walls, a masonry wall, a chamfer with a concave moulding, notches cut into the rock, a complex of stairways, and the ridge of a building. A cannon embrasure, an opening through which a cannon could be used, or a postern, a small secondary entrance, also survives among collapsed rooms.
Intermediate sector
Between the principal areas lies a narrower sector now heavily overgrown. Its plan is roughly trapezoidal, with dimensions of about 30 by 25 metres. Its longer side measures approximately 40 metres and its shorter side about 17 metres. At the northern end, a massive rock overlooks a hollow way, a sunken route, cut into a V-shaped profile.
Petit Paté and southern defenses
The area called the Petit Paté is identified by its staircase. At the summit, a level platform measures about 20 by 10 metres. Along its long sides, a row of cut rocks forms a boundary approximately 90 centimetres thick. Farther south, a broad ditch follows a U-shaped, crescent-like course and occupies the southern part of the fortress site.
The Spinner’s Bench legend
A local legend associates the Spinner’s Bench with the ghost of Linchamps’ last chatelaine, meaning the female holder or occupant of a castle. Dressed in white, she is said to sit at night in a turret resembling a natural seat and silently spin thread on a spinning wheel. The story also says that she sometimes pushes stones from the castle into the Semoy, either to erase the remains of her former home or to crush people who enter the area.
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