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Origin and history

The castle of Nanteuil-le-Haudouin, located in the Oise, was originally a medieval and Renaissance building. It was profoundly transformed in the 17th century, becoming a majestic aristocratic residence. The site, crossed by the main road from Paris to Soissons, attracted several royal figures, including Francis I and Henry II, who stayed there and signed charters. The castle was erected as a county in 1543 by Francis I for Henri II of Lenoncourt, marking the beginning of a fabled period for the estate.

In 1556 François de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, acquired the castle and its county by force for 260,000 pounds, a sum barely covering recent beautifications. The Duke regularly received Henry II and Francis II, organizing state councils and entertainment for the young king. After the failure of their political ambitions in 1560, the Guise made Nanteuil a centre of their opposition, before Henri de Guise, said the Balafré, restored the domain to the king in 1576. He then gave it to Gaspard de Schomberg, who made it his residence and enlarged the castle.

The Schomberg family owned Nanteuil until 1658, when Henri de Schomberg completed the pavilions and paving of the village. The castle then passed to the Dukes of Estrées, who enriched it with collections of art and books in the 18th century. Victor Marie d'Estrées, the last notable owner, accumulated maps and precious objects there, while a vegetable garden decorated with a cave was laid down. The decline began with the Revolution: the castle, owned by Prince Louis-Joseph de Bourbon-Condé (Royalist emigré), was confiscated and destroyed in 1794 by order of the Republic.

Today, there are only two 17th-century pavilions, listed as historic monuments in 1950, and common ones. A 3D restitution carried out in 2022 by a local association makes it possible to visualize the castle as it was at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The remains, located on Rue des Pavillons, recall the historical importance of this site, linked to the Guise political intrigues and Renaissance architecture.

Historical sources, including the works of Louis Graves (1829) and Ernest Legrand (1914), highlight Nanteuil's strategic role at the crossroads of royal roads and power struggles. The castle, a symbol of the aristocracy of Ancien Régime, was also a place of culture, sheltering remarkable libraries and gardens before its revolutionary destruction.

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