The Château du Moisnil is a

château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Now ...

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

, located in the village of

Maizeret Maizeret ( wa, Måjhret) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Andenne, located in the province of Namur, Belgium. It was a municipality before the fusion of the Belgian municipalities in 1977. * Places : Bialy, Biche, ...

, municipality of Andenne, province of Namur, Belgium.

The Château today

The only remaining wing was built in addition to the previous constructions in 1902 by architect Octave Flanneau (1860-1937) in

Louis XV style The Louis XV style or ''Louis Quinze'' (, ) is a style of architecture and decorative arts which appeared during the reign of Louis XV. From 1710 until about 1730, a period known as the Régence, it was largely an extension of the Louis XIV style ...

with a mansard roof, for Jules van Dievoet, lawyer at the Belgian Supreme Court, and his wife Marguerite Anspach.

History

Ancien Régime

The whole

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

counted about 100 ha for Maizeret and about 160 ha for Moinil. The Moinil lot consisted in 1314, of a "tower" and a house, which would become the nucleus of the future castle. The "sub-fief" of Moinil frequently changed owners: in 1645 the seigniory and its castle are sold for 22,000

guilders Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Emp ...

, to be sold again in 1677 for 2,440 guilders, the castle and the buildings being in ruins. The fief became the property of Vincent de la Boverie, ''mayeur'' of the ferrons and master of the forges who rebuilt it and transformed it into a real "pleasure home". The de Baré family obtained the lands of Maizeret and Moisnil in 1753. The last lord of Maizeret in the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for ...

was Baron Jacques de Baré de Moisnil, lord of Houchenée.

20th century

In 1902, the extensions made by Jules van Dievoet after the plans of architect Octave Flanneau were made. In June 1922, the « Les Journaux Réunis de Lille à Roubaix » company bought the château including its grounds of 35 hectares from Marguerite Anspach, widow of Jules van Dievoet. As a result of this purchase, Mrs Duhamel, owner of this press company, occupied the property for nearly 17 years. Later, Marguerite de la Barre d'Erquelinnes, wife of Count Antoine d'Ursel, acquired the land of Moisnil on 21 March 1939. The family built a new porch in 1960. It was also around this time that the operations of the adjoining farm ceased. Since 1988, the Château has been inhabited by their son, Count Didier d'Ursel.

WWII

Shortly before the war, the castle was requisitioned to house the garrison of Fort Maizeret. Beginning from the general mobilization of September 1938, it served as cantonment to the soldiers in charge of the defense of the valley of the Meuse. On 12 May 1940 the castle was bombed by surprise by the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

, at the same time as the city of Namur. The oldest parts of the old Château were destroyed, and today only the cellars remain, hidden under a layer of gravel.

Anecdote

It is said that the old château had been inhabited in the 17th century by Henri de La Fontaine who happened to be related to Jean de La Fontaine, the famous

fabulist Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...

. It is said that Jean de La Fontaine, who followed

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

as a

historiographer Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians hav ...

during the siege of Namur, stayed there in 1692 with this distant cousin and composed "'' Les Animaux malades de la peste''" there. The stone bench from which he could admire the beauty of the Mosan landscape is still there.

Dendrology Dendrology ( grc, δένδρον, ''dendron'', "tree"; and grc, -λογία, ''-logia'', ''science of'' or ''study of'') or xylology ( grc, ξύλον, ''ksulon'', "wood") is the science and study of woody plants (trees, shrubs, and lianas), ...

There was in 1912, at the time of Jules van Dievoet, a very nice specimen of

Tsuga mertensiana ''Tsuga mertensiana'', known as mountain hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, found between Southcentral Alaska and south-central California. Description ''Tsuga mertensiana'' is a large evergreen conifer ...

in the grounds of the chateau''.Jean Chalon, "Les arbres remarquables de la Belgique", in ''Bulletin de la Société royale de Botanique'', Volume 49, 1912, p. 166.''

Armorial

File:Blason village be Maizeret.svg, Arms of the last lord of Maizeret in the

, Baron Jacques de Baré de Moisnil, lord of Houchenée. File:Van Dievoet arms.svg, Arms of Jules van Dievoet, owner of the Chateau of which he built the only remaining part in 1902. File:Blason famille Anspach (Belgique).svg, Arms of Marguerite Anspach, owner after the death of her husband Jules van Dievoet. File:Armes de la famille de la Barre d'Erquelinnes.svg, Arms of Marguerite de La Barre d’Erquelinnes, wife of Count Antoine d'Ursel, who acquired the land of Moisnil on 21 March 1939. File:Armoiries d'Ursel.svg, Arms of the Ursel family, current owners.

Bibliography

* Paul De Zuttere, "Contribution à l'œuvre des peintres Antoine et Ignace Brice (XVIIIe et XIXe siècles) et généalogie succincte de la famille alliée Flanneau", in ''l'Intermédiaire des Généalogistes'', Brussels, 2003, n°345, p. 113 à 133. * Jean Chalon, "Les arbres remarquables de la Belgique", dans ''Bulletin de la Société royale de Botanique'', Volume 49, 1912, p. 166, tells us that: « on the grounds of M. Jules van Dievoet (château du Moisnil, v. N°s 727 à 731), there is a nice ''

Tsuga Mertensiana ''Tsuga mertensiana'', known as mountain hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, found between Southcentral Alaska and south-central California. Description ''Tsuga mertensiana'' is a large evergreen conifer ...

specimen''. 1211. Maizeret, ''Tsuga''. »

Notes and references

{{reflist

External links

Le château du Moisnil à Maizeret, par l'architecte Octave Flanneau

Historique du château du Moisnil à Maizeret
Moisnil Moisnil Andenne Van Dievoet family Ursel