Wijnendale Castle

Wijnendale Castle, locally known as Kasteel Wijnendale, lies northwest of the city of Torhout, in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish region in Belgium.

The first castle at this site was built by Robert I, Count of Flanders, at the end of the 11th century and served as a base for military operations.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Wijnendale Castle became the regular residence of the Counts of Flanders, especially Philip I. In 1297, Guy, Count of Flanders, signed a treaty here with King Edward I of England.

In 1298, the castle was inherited by the Counts of Namur and was besieged and damaged in 1302 and 1325.

After a period of neglect, Count John III of Namur sold the fief and castle in 1407 to John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. John later presented it to his son-in-law, Adolph I, Duke of Cleves, as part of his dowry when marrying Marie of Burgundy, Duchess of Cleves.

In 1463, the castle passed to the Lords of Ravenstein. Adolph of Cleves and his son Philip transformed the castle into a beautiful mansion. Marie of Burgundy and her son Philip the Handsome stayed several times at Wijnendale Castle. In 1482, Marie died from a fall from her horse while riding in the castle's forest.

In 1528, Wijnendale Castle returned to the Dukes of Cleves, and their relatives, Emperor Charles V and Mary of Hungary, who was the Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, stayed there several times. In the second half of the 16th century, the Dukes lost interest in their Flemish possessions, and in 1578, Protestants burned part of the castle down.

Duke John William of Cleves died in 1609 without an heir, igniting the War of the Jülich Succession. In 1614, Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, was granted Wijnendale Castle. Later, during the 17th century, the castle was attacked, damaged, and taken by troops of Louis XIV of France multiple times. In 1690, they even blew up parts of the castle. Around 1700, Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, rebuilt Wijnendale Castle. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the castle housed a governor, as the Dukes of Pfalz-Neuburg resided in Germany.

In 1792, French Revolutionary troops invaded the region, and Wijnendale Castle was confiscated. By 1811, French troops had caused so much damage that only ruins remained. In 1825, the castle ruins and its domain were sold to a Walloon mining company, which cut down large parts of the castle's forest to obtain wood for their mines.

In 1833, a banker from Brussels, Josse-Pierre Matthieu, purchased the castle and domain. He rebuilt it between 1837 and 1852. His son, Joseph Louis Matthieu, modified it in 1877, giving it its current romanticized, faux-medieval look. The oldest part of the current castle is built from gray stones.

In 1940, Belgian King Leopold III stayed at Wijnendale Castle. He held his final meeting there with his cabinet ministers before Belgium capitulated to German forces. He then refused to follow them to Britain, choosing to stay in his occupied country and attempt to govern under German rule. This decision led to his forced abdication after the war.

Today, Wijnendale remains private property. One part of the castle, the section made of gray stones, is still the private residence of the Matthieu family. The other part is partly used as a museum, open for a fee during the summer months. A magnificent castle!

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