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Origin and history

The castle of Vaudémont, now in ruins, was probably built in the early 11th century on a rocky spur overlooking the plain of Saintois. Its primitive dungeon, the Tower of Brunehaut, dates from the Xth to the Xth centuries and incorporates jobs of Gallo-Roman steles. This strategic site became the residence of the Counts of Vaudémont, with Gérard I as first occupant attested at the end of the 11th century. The walls and towers were strengthened over the centuries to protect the expanding village.

In the 17th century, during the Thirty Years' War, the castle was besieged in 1635 and dismantled in 1639 by order of Richelieu, during the French occupation of the Duchy of Lorraine. The current remains include the Tower of Brunehaut, partially abrased in 1497, and fragments of courtines. The tower, classified as a historic monument in 1840, was restored in 1930. Its state of degradation has been documented since 1493, with successive collapses.

The archeo-historic site reveals three phases of extension: the primitive castle barring the eperon, the medieval city, and then the suburbs. The Tower of the Guet, 100 metres away from the ditch, and the remains of the collegiate Saint-Jean-Baptiste (founded in 1326) testify to the religious and defensive importance of the place. The stones of the castle would come from quarries on Sion Hill, where extraction areas were identified.

Vaudémont, a rural village in Lorraine, also preserves civilian elements such as the poterne of treason or the communal well. The destruction of the walls in the 17th century marked a turning point, with the reconstruction of the houses in the 17th–15th centuries reusing ancient materials. The Barrès monument (1928) and the Virgin of the hospital recall the local cultural heritage, linked to figures such as Maurice Barrès or the Blessed Marguerite of Lorraine-Vaudémont (1463–1521).

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