Château de Wynendaele Kasteel van Wijnendale | |
 Wijnendale Castle (21 July 2021) | |
  Location within Belgium | |
| Established | 15th century |
|---|---|
| Location | Torhout, West Flanders, Belgium |
| Coordinates | 51°04′44″N3°03′34″E / 51.078925°N 3.059483°E /51.078925; 3.059483 |
| Type | Castle |
| Owner | Jean-Jacques Matthieu de Wynendaele |
| Nearest car park | On site |
| Website | City of Torhout official website |
Wijnendale Castle (Dutch:Kasteel van Wijnendale,French:Château de Wynendaele) is a historic residence inWijnendale, West Flanders inBelgium which was once amedieval castle. The present buildings largely date to a nineteenth century restoration, though parts of the north wing still date to the fifteenth century. One wing is currently inhabited by the present owners of the castle, while another is open to the public as a museum.
The first castle was built byRobert I, Count of Flanders, at the end of the 11th century and used as a base for military operations.
In the 12th and 13th century, Wijnendale became a regular place of residence for the Counts of Flanders and forPhilip, Count of Flanders, in particular. In 1297Guy of Dampierre signed a treaty here with the English KingEdward I.
In 1298 Wijnendale was inherited by theCounts of Namur, and besieged and damaged in 1302 and 1325. It is probable thatBlanche of Namur grew up here and that it was here that she met her future husbandMagnus IV of Sweden in 1334.
After a period of neglect, Count John III of Namur sold the fiefdom and castle in 1407 toJohn the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, who gave it 3 years later to his son-in-lawAdolph I, Duke of Cleves, as part of the dowry on his marriage to John's daughterMary of Burgundy, the elder.
In 1463 the castle passed to the Lords of Ravenstein, a junior branch of theHouse of Cleves.Adolph of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein, and his son Philip of Cleves-Ravenstein transformed the castle into a beautiful mansion.
Adolf had married, as his second wife, Anne, an illegitimate aunt and governess ofMary of Burgundy, who stayed from time to time at Wijnendale, as did her sonPhilip the Handsome. In 1482 Mary died of a fall from her horse here, an accident which changed the history of the Low Countries: under her authoritarian husbandMaximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, a period of more than 300 years ofHabsburg rule began.
In 1528, after the death ofPhilip of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein, Wijnendale returned to the main branch of theDukes of Cleves. Their relativesCharles V andMary of Habsburg stayed more than once at the castle.
In the second half of the 16th century, the Dukes lost interest in their Flemish possessions and in 1578 part of the castle was burned down by Protestants.
In 1609 DukeJohn William of Cleves died without children and after theWar of the Jülich succession in theTreaty of Xanten, the Fiefdom of Wijnendale passed to one of the victors,Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, as confirmed in 1634 by thePrivy Council of the Habsburg Netherlands and in 1666 by the Treaty of Cleves.
During the many attacks byLouis XIV on Flanders, Wijnendale was occupied many times by passing troops and severely damaged in 1690, when French troops blew up part of the castle. In 1699–1700 DukeJohann Wilhelm had the castle rebuilt.
On 28 September 1708, during theWar of Spanish Succession, abattle took place between French and allied troops at Wijnendale which ended in an allied victory. The castle was not damaged.
In the 17th and 18th century it was inhabited by a governor, as the Dukes of Pfalz-Neuburg resided in Germany. In the middle of the 18th century, DukeCharles Theodore constructed roads in West Flanders to improve trade, with Wijnendale in the center.
In 1792 theFrench Revolutionary armies invaded theAustrian Netherlands and ended the feudal system. Charles Theodore moved the contents of the castle to his residences inDüsseldorf,Mannheim andMunich. The castle became the property of the French state. In 1811 the French troops damaged it so badly that only ruins remained.
In 1825, during the Dutch period the estate was sold to a Walloon industrial group, which had all the trees cut down, before going bankrupt.
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In 1833 the domain was bought by a banker from Brussels, Josse-Pierre Matthieu, who had the castle rebuilt between 1837 and 1852. His son Joseph Louis Matthieu modified it in 1877 and gave it its present romanticized, mediaeval form.
In May 1940 Wijnendale made history again. On 25 May, just before theBattle of Dunkirk, there was a last meeting between KingLeopold III of Belgium and four cabinet ministers (Prime MinisterHubert Pierlot, Minister of Foreign AffairsPaul-Henri Spaak, Minister of Internal AffairsArthur Vanderpoorten and Minister of Defence Denis). With the country surrounded byGerman troops, capitulation was inevitable. The King however refused to follow his ministers to Britain to continue the struggle from there. He chose as commander-in-chief to remain with his troops and follow them into captivity. This decision led to strong controversy after the war, and to Leopold's abdication in 1951.
The Matthieu family (known since 1953 as "Matthieu de Wynendaele") still owns the castle today. The present owner is Jean-Jacques Matthieu de Wynendaele.
51°04′44″N3°03′34″E / 51.078925°N 3.059483°E /51.078925; 3.059483
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