Origin and history
The castle of Guise, attested from the end of the 10th century, dominates the Oise valley on a rocky spur. Originally owned by the Counts of Vermandois, he became royal fortress in 1185 under Philippe Auguste, who rebuilt it after its partial destruction during the conflicts between Flanders and Hainaut. The dungeon, probably erected at that time, symbolizes the seigneurial power, while a collegiate dedicated to Saints Gervais and Protais, founded in 1052, houses the burials of the local lords and serves as a parish church until the 16th century.
In the 15th century, the castle was restored by Jean de Luxembourg, then by Charles d'Anjou, who strengthened his defences after the damage suffered during the Hundred Years' War. In 1424 he welcomed the companions of Jeanne d'Arc, including Xaintrailles and Lahire, fleeing the English. Jeanne's ransom, paid in 1431, partially financed this work. The fortress then resists the imperial assaults (1486) and hedgeuyers (1487), thanks to arrangements such as the barbacan of the entrance castle, equipped with archeries suitable for light artillery.
The major transformation took place in the 16th century under Claude de Lorraine, the first Duke of Guise, who modernized the fortress according to the Italian bastioned system, a first in France. Engineers Antonio Castello and François Mandon design a triangular enclosure punctuated with four bastions (Charbonnière, Moineau, Haute-Ville, Alouette), a half-moon of rescue, and counter-mine galleries. The collegiate church, burned in 1545, was rebuilt, while the dungeon, raised from a pepper roof, reached 32 metres. This work makes Guise a key citadel of the Wars of Religion, where the Duke of Guise, opponents of the Reformation, plays a central role.
In the 17th century, Vauban, although considering the fortress "exceptional", was limited to minor adjustments: clearance of entrances, emplacement of the body of place, and reinforcement of half moons. The castle, confiscated by Henry II of Lorraine in 1641, became royal property and resisted Spanish sieges (1650) during the Fronde. The buildings, buried at a level to limit their vulnerability, then house a permanent garrison. In 1767 the dungeon was returned to the prince of Condé, marking the decline of his military role.
The First World War caused massive destruction: used as an observation post by the Germans (1914–18), the castle was shelled by French artillery when it was released in 1917. Only the dungeon and the enclosure remain. Sold as a career in the 1920s, the site was saved in extremis in 1952 by the Club du Vieux Manoir, which undertook its restoration through youth construction sites. Ranked Historic Monument (1924 for the dungeon, 2008 for the ensemble), it is today open to the public and animated by the association, which exhumed the foundations of the collegiate and consolidated the undergrounds.
The architecture of the castle illustrates the evolution of military techniques over a millennium: from the medieval dungeon (walls of 5.75 m thick, ogival chimneys) to the Renaissance bastions (casemates of 40 men, listening galleries of 110 m), to the adaptations of Vauban. The excavations revealed missing elements, such as the Saint-Nicolas chapel of the dungeon or the six circular towers of the early enclosure. The site, owned by the city of Guise, remains a rare example of a fortress surviving repeated sieges, royal reconstructions, and the two world conflicts.
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