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Origin and history

The castle of Fressin was built at the beginning of the 15th century by Jean V de Créquy, advisor and chamberlain of Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy. The latter had made him one of the first knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The castle, conceived as a fortress adapted to the nascent artillery, reflects the geopolitical tensions of the time, between the kingdom of France, the Duchy of Burgundy and the crown of Spain. It had eight cylindrical towers connected by courtines, encircling a central rectangular courtyard.

Transferred to the family of Créquy until the Revolution, the castle suffered repeated conflicts between France and Spain for the control of the Artois. In 1658 Balthazar de Fargues, governor of Hesdin, had him partially destroyed for fear of Louis XIV's royal troops during the Flanders campaign. The ruins then passed into the hands of the Blanchefort-Créquy, then, by alliance, to the La Tremeille and La Tour d'Auvergne. Sold as national property, it was bought in 1811 by a descendant of the latter family.

In the 19th century, the castle changed owners several times, including Baron Seillère and Senator Jules Elby, who conducted archaeological excavations there between 1923 and 1924. The ruins, listed as historical monuments in 1996, now house an exhibition hall on medieval construction techniques and public access to underground. The site illustrates both the military history of the region and the social changes of the Old Regime in the contemporary period.

Architecturally, the castle of Fressin was distinguished by its defensive system adapted to artillery, with bastions and towers connected by thick walls. Its partial destruction in the 17th century and its gradual abandonment made it an emblematic vestige of the Franco-bourguignon conflicts, then Franco-Spanish, which marked the Artois until the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659). The excavations of the 20th century provided a better understanding of his internal organization and his role in the local seigneury.

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