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Origin and history

Vic-sur-Aisne Castle, also called Castrum Vici super Axonum, was built in the 12th century on a height overlooking the right bank of Aisne, controlling a strategic axis between Amiens and Soissons. According to the chronicles of Saint-Médard de Soissons Abbey, it was ceded to the latter by Princess Berthe, sister of Louis le Pieux, before being fortified in 893 under the impulse of King Eudes, Count of Paris. This site became an issue of power between the lords of Coucy, the monks of Saint-Médard and the kings of France during the 10th and 11th centuries, changing hands several times.

In the 13th century, the monks of Saint-Médard placed Vic under the protection of the lords of Pierrefonds, who held a garrison there until the end of the 13th century. The village then became the seat of a chestnut, then a vassal viscount of the Counts of Soissons. The present 25-metre-high dungeon dates from the 13th century but was redesigned in the 15th and 18th centuries. The house body, rebuilt in the 16th and 17th centuries by Saint-Médard's trading abbots, completes a set including moat, medieval enclosures and a park mixing French and English styles.

The castle suffered heavy damage during the First World War. Several of its elements are protected as historical monuments: the dungeon (classified in 1919), the facades on the park (registered in 1927), and the medieval enclosure with its outbuildings (registered in 1992). The park houses a 17th century terracotta statuary, now very degraded, as well as 19th century factories. The ensemble illustrates the architectural and political evolution of the region, from medieval conflicts to its role of abbatial residence.

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