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Origin and history

The castle of Aulnois-sous-Laon is an old fortified house built between the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century. Located in the department of Aisne, on the eponymous commune, it illustrates the late medieval military architecture with its fossilized enclosure and its 20-metre dungeon, equipped with vaulted floors on dogive crosses. The access, protected by a harrow and mâchicoulis, reflects the defensive concerns of the time. The materials, granite stones arranged in regular beds, and elements such as foothills or scallops testify to a careful construction, adapted to local conflicts.

The Aulno family, attested from the end of the 12th century, gradually ceded the fief to a younger branch of the Coucy, then to the Sarrebruck in the 15th century. The castle, occupied by the Bourguignons between 1430 and 1440, suffered major damage during the Wars of Religion: it was partially ruined in 1589 by the troops of Balagny, then in 1591 by those of Laon. François de Bourbon-Conti, lord of the place, sees his estate devastated by these successive conflicts. These events mark a gradual decline of the fortress, whose current remains recall the past strategic importance.

Ranked a historic monument in 1927, the site preserves traces of its medieval organization, such as the large south-east building at the foothills carrying turrets, or the round road now gone. Construction techniques, such as the use of thick mortar to bind stones, and defensive developments (mâchicoulis, herse) underline its protective role in an area marked by feudal and then religious tensions. The sources, including the Dictionnaire des châteaux de Charles-Laurent Salch, confirm his status as architectural witness of Hauts-de-France.

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