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Origin and history

The castle of Armentières, located in the Aisne, is an old strong house built between the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century, then profoundly transformed in the 16th century. Its ruins, classified as historical monuments in 1921, dominate a marshy valley of the Ourcq Valley, making its access historically difficult. The quadrangular enclosure, flanked by circular towers, houses 16th-century houses organized around an inner courtyard, accessible by an ogival gate framed by turrets.

Originally, the site is linked to the chivalrous lineage of the Armentières, attested from the twelfth century. Gui d'Armentières, the first known lord, founded a wine colony in the Haie in 1197. His successor, Guillaume, took part in the Fifth Crusade and was released after the sale of seigneurial rights by his family. In the 13th century, two houses coexist, owned by John and Nicolas d'Armentières, the latter being a relative of Cardinal Simon d'Armentières (1294). The seigneury then passed to the Conflans in the 14th century via the marriage of Peronne de Jouengues with John I of Conflans, then was divided between several fiefs before being unified in 1394 by John II of Conflans, probably killed at Azincourt (1415).

In the 15th century, the seigneury was sold to John II Jouvenel des Ursins, bishop of Laon and archbishop of Reims, before returning to his brother Michel. The Jovenel des Ursins family modernized the house in the 16th century, notably under Gilles (died 1586), gentleman of the king and captain of cavalry. The castle returned to the Conflans in 1588 through the marriage of Charlotte Jouvenel des Ursins with Eustache de Conflans. The seigneury, raised in marquisat in the 18th century for Louis de Conflans (Maréchal de France in 1768), was abandoned after the Revolution. Sold in 1794 to the Hutin family, a former farmer, the castle became stable in the 19th century before being ravaged by the First World War.

The remains, including a 14th century horse-drawn dungeon and Renaissance houses, have been restored since the 1980s with the support of the state and the Bern Mission. The site, now owned by the Kerekès family, illustrates the architectural evolution of houses in residential castles, as well as the upheavals related to conflicts (medieval wars, Revolution, 1914–18).

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