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Origin and history

The castle of Pierre-Percée, also called Langenstein Castle ("long stone" in German), is an ancient castle of the first quarter of the 12th century, now in ruins. Located at 495 meters above sea level on a rock bar of friable sandstone, it overlooks Lake Pierre-Percée, created in the 20th century. Its lower courtyard extended to the northwest, while a village was built below with its stones. The site, classified as a historical monument in 1981, preserves a square tower-donjon of 8 meters side, a 12th century Romanesque vestige.

The first mention of the castle dates back to a chronicle around 1140, evoking Albertum de Longuicastro (Adalbert), youngest of the Counts of Alsace and Duke of Lorraine in the 11th century. Named by Emperor Henry III, he would have built the fortress before being killed in 1048 at the Battle of Thuin. His brother, Gérard I, succeeds him. The daughter of Adalbert, Mathilde, married Folmar IV de Metz, including the son Godefroy, Count of Langenstein, married Agnes de Bar before 1110. It is the latter which, around 1138, dug a well of 33 meters deep, giving the castle its name Petrae Perforatae ("drilled stone").

The castle passes to the Counts of Salm through the remarriage of Agnes with Hermann II, son of King Hermann I of Germany. In 1134 Hermann II, allied with the Duke of Lorraine, faced the bishop of Metz and the Count of Bar. He died in the siege of Frouard, and Pierre-Percée fell to the bishop. His son Henry I inherited, but the decline began: in the 13th century, Henry IV, in debt, sold the castle to Bishop Jacques de Metz before 1258. The Counts, residing mainly in the city, use as collateral for borrowing.

Between 1564 and 1634, repairs (carpents, roofs, masonry) were attested, but the castle deteriorated. In 1587, in the face of the Protestant threat, his garrison was strengthened: low court, drawbridge, watchtower and gunboat were restored. The Thirty Years' War (1618–48) sealed its destruction: in 1636 Bernard de Saxony-Weimar's troops laid siege and ravaged the castle and its hamlet. The stones are then used to build the village below.

Today, only modest walls remain to the west, including the 13-metre high dungeon tower, in beautiful Romanesque apparatus. Owned by the National Forestry Board, the site is maintained for its historical and landscape value, dominated by Lake Pierre-Percée, which reinforces its romantic character. The remains recall feudal struggles and medieval military architecture in Lorraine.

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