Beauraing Castle

Beauraing Castle, locally known as Château de Beauraing or Castel Sainte Marie, lies above the town of Beauraing, in the province of Namur in the Wallonia region in Belgium.

The founding date of Beauraing Castle is unknown. A 12th-century Gerard of Beauraing was the first known lord of Beauraing.

In the early 1430s, Jehan II Herbigny was Lord of Beauraing. Resisting more and more against the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, he was ravaging the countryside. This led to a siege of the castle in 1436, after which the Prince-bishop of Liège destroyed it at the request of the Duke. Afterward, Jehan rebuilt the castle into a strong fortress with 4 round corner towers, each about 45 meters in circumference, which he named Brabant, Namur, Rethel, and Hainaut. Jehan also fell back into his old habits, prompting the Prince-bishop to intervene again and dismantle the castle.

In 1554, Charles de Berlaymont, a leading noble and important counselor of the Spanish Governor of the Netherlands, Margaret of Parma, took control of the Lordship of Beauraing. He restored the castle and added a fifth tower in honor of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, which then served as a chapel.

In 1740, Beauraing Castle came into the possession of a branch of the Dukes of Beaufort-Spontin from Huy. Partly burned down by lightning, the castle was rebuilt in 1785 by the Duke of Beaufort-Spontin, giving it a regal appearance. During the French Revolution, the castle was first besieged and dismantled by French revolutionaries in 1790, then looted and burned by the Sans-culottes in 1793. Beauraing Castle was reduced to ruins.

Through marriage, the castle came into the hands of the Dukes of Osuna in 1817. The 12th Duke of Osuna, Mariano Téllez-Girón y Beaufort Spontin, had Beauraing Castle entirely rebuilt by French architect Auguste Mestral between 1855 and 1857. The Duke hosted grand festivals in his new castle, and in 1880, the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, attended one such event.

In 1889, disaster struck, and Beauraing Castle was completely destroyed by fire. It was never rebuilt. The remaining outbuildings that survived were used as residences during the 20th century. In 2022, the castle and the surrounding grounds were acquired by the municipality.

When I visited, one tower of the former castle had been restored and is used as a guest house, although it appears to be rarely used. The rest of the castle ruins are fenced off and can only be viewed from outside. A beautiful castle.

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