Modave Castle
The Modave Castle ( French Château de Modave ) is located on a tributary of the Meuse near the municipality of Modave in the province of Liège , in the Walloon part of Belgium. The beginnings of the castle go back to the 13th century. The oldest traces, presumably a tower fortress on a rock above the valley des Hoyoux, presumably come from the time of Walther von Modave (Walterus de Modalle), who is the first lord of Modave to be mentioned in a document from Saint-Denis in Liège in 1233 . His son Heinrich is mentioned on November 12, 1263 as a witness in the chapter of the monastery of Val-Saint-Lambert: "In presentia ... aliorum plurimorum, videlicet Henrici filii quondam domini Walteri de Modale militis". As much is known, Heinrich serves as Marshall to the Prince-Bishop of Liège, Jean d'Enghien, and was involved in the so-called cow war that devastated the Condroz , a natural landscape near Liège.
The last owner of the Modave family was Jean von Modave, Vogt des Condroz, first married to Anne Auxbrebis. His second wife was Jeanne de Spontin (1506–1558), heir to Sorinne and Freyr, daughter of Jacques de Spontin and Marie de Salmier. This second marriage also remained childless. When Jean died on July 2, 1533, he bequeathed the Modave estate and castle to his nephew Jean de Haultepenne, known as "de Barvaux" (-1570). His daughter Catherine de Haultepenne brought title and castle to the marriage with Nicolas de Saint-Fontaine (1570-1607), known as "de Haultepenne". Six children emerged from the union, including heir Nicolas de Saint-Fontaine.
Nicolas de Saint-Fontaine, master of Modave, Pailhe also became master of Saint-Fontaine after the death of his brother Olivier. With the contract of February 19, 1618 he married his cousin Charlotte-Françoise de Haultepenne. On January 23, 1642, a few months before his death, he sold the castle and rule over Modave to Jean de Marchin. Jean de Marchin (1601–1673), long-serving general of the Spanish Netherlands, who had also served under Tilly in the Thirty Years War, bought the property for one hundred and ten thousand Brabant guilders plus one thousand guilders for the Charlotte-Francoise de Hautpenne and left the property for fifteen years long remodel. But the property changed hands in the next generation. Because his only son Ferdinand de Marsin (1651–1706), Marshall of France, dies in the Battle of Turin.
The castle was only briefly owned (1682–1684) by Maximilian Heinrich von Bayern , Prince-Bishop of Liège (1682–1684). Then Cardinal Wilhelm Egon von Fürstenberg and his descendants took over the property. Baron Arnod von Ville (1706–1772) and finally Anne-Leon Duke of Montmorency (1772–1817) are the last noble owners.
In the 19th century the castle was owned by the non-noble families Lamarche, Braconier and van Hoegaerden. Finally, the Brussels municipal water company "Compagnie Intercommunale Bruxelloise des Eaux" bought the property in March 1941. The company still owns the castle and has restored it at great expense.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 26 '26.9 " N , 5 ° 17' 14.3" E