Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Cocove, also called Cucehove, was mentioned in 1084 as a fief dependent on the castle of Tournehem. At that time Fulbert and Frumold de Cukhove were the lords, followed by Raoul de Cochove in the 13th century (1240-1243). Wistace de Cochove, knight, participated in the expedition of Oisy in 1254, while Eustache de Cochove was doubled in 1303. These early records reveal a noble lineage attached to this domain over several generations.

In 1380, the territory of Recques-sur-Hem had two distinct domains: Vrolant and Cocove. The present castle was built by Jacques-André-Joseph Becquet, lord of Cocove and adviser to the King, who died in 1772 leaving the estate in debt. The castle then passed to the Coëtlogon family, which kept it until the 20th century, through troubled periods such as occupation by English or German soldiers during the Second World War.

A tragic event marks the history of the castle: the writer Paul Nizan was killed there on 23 May 1940 by a German bullet. This fact, reported by Pascal Ory in Nizan, the fate of a revolted (1980), binds the monument to a painful episode of World War II and to French literary memory.

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