Castle-firm of Rampemont

The castle-firm of Rampemont , located in Wallonia in the village of Fayt-the-Franc, section of the commune of Honnelles, Province of Hainaut, is an old strengthened residence of Belgium whose origin goes back to the 13th century. Indeed, it is known that with the Moyen-âge, the building was already the seat of the seigniory of Rampemont and that it probably concerned the Commanderie of the Templier S of Piéton.

However thefirm one such as one can see it today consists of two dwellings of the 17th century (of which one was strongly refitted during last century), of a handing-over with cars of 1619, of a barn, cattle sheds and various appendices surrounding a large square court closed and defended by a powerful flanked porch of entry of two square towers (18th century).

The first Lords were Rampemont which one finds trace with 13th S. In 1253, the knight Alexandre de Rampemont is quoted in the first document arrived to us like referee, with Alexandre of Cross, in different between the Order from the Temple and the Abbey from Good Hope (close to Binche). Alexandre of Cross was downward of the laic founder of the abbey. Alexandre de Rampemont was to take care of the interests about the Temple. Rampemont was not a commandery, is not included in the inventories of the possessions of this kind. It is found that Rampemont was a concerning stronghold the Counts de Hainaut and Temple. Of Rampemont were buried in the vault of Hospital of Marly (successors of Templiers), suburbs of Valencians, at present, the vault disappeared. One does not know the exact relationship with the Order of the Temple.

In 1260, Alexandre de Rampemont still appears on the list of the vassal knights of the Countess of Hainaut, Marguerite, in an act concerning the end of different between the Benedictine abbey from Crespin (district of Valencians) and Isabelle, lady of Angre and Sebourg, in connection with rights on the inhabitants of Montignies-on-Rock. In 1261, Alexandre de Rampemont is selected like referee with Raoul, prior of Saint-Saulve in different opposing the abbey from Crespin and Gilles de Bellignies relating to their respective jurisdiction to Bellignies. The sentence was marked on July 31st, 1261.

In 1282, trace of Nicolas de Rampemont, during an exchange of royalties with the abbey of Vicoigne. It is vassal of Templiers husband of a Post hole, his bond of descent with Alexandre is not established. (one can suppose that he is the son of Alexandre I and the father of Alexandre II, by tradition of the attribution of the first names, although he can be grandson, brother or nephew, he could also be the brother of Guillaume listed in 1320-1340, that is to say 40 years later.)

In 1312, dissolution about the Temple, the goods and the possessions pass to the Order of St-Jean of Jerusalem which will become the Order of the Knights of Rhodos then Ordre of Malta which always exists.

In 1317, trace of Alexandre II of Rampemont which can-being the grandson of the other of the same first name, he is knight and wife Mahaut d' Yssche, he is vassal of the Count de Hainaut, the lords of Jenlain and Montignies-St-Christophe and Tupigny as of Templiers (what is curious in 1317, to see the remark of 1312.)

In 1320, trace of Guillaume de Rampemont, not in Rampemont but like provost of prévôté of Notre-Dame of the Vault to Brussels, dependence of the Benedictine abbey of the Holy Sepulchre de Cambrai. It could be the brother of Alexandre II. One knows his seal and his blazon. The seal in the shape of shuttle has the armorial bearings placed in lower part of the effigy of the sitted Virgin holding of her left arm the child Jesus on his seat, the left ecu: with dextral one billeté with the crescent, sinistral a lion.

In 1330, end of the traces of Guillaume de Rampemont.

In 1336, opinion of father and mother of Alexandre II of Rampemont and its wife Mahaut d' Yssche, left will defining the division between the children which gives information on their children: - Arnould says Maillefiers - Jean says Berruyer, noble, rider then vassal knight of the Count de Hainaut and Templiers. (problem of date???) - Guillaume says Broyefors - Gerard says Ysorès, rider, author of the Slope (L) mount of the Brabant - Isabelle - Jeanne - Mahaut - Marguerite.

In 1337, on June 16th Bernier-Bernard assists with funerals of Guillaume I°, known as the Good, count de Hainaut, of Holland, of Zealand and lord of Plank and which took place with Valencians in the church of Cordeliers. In 1340, " Li will sirez of Rampemont " is quoted in the first book of the Chronicles of Froissart, among the lords hainuyer of the army of Guillaume II, count de Hainaut, gathered in Naves (Cambric area), at the edge of the Scheldt, to be opposed to the Duke of Normandy, Jean de Valois, oldest son and future successor of king de France Philippe VI. He took share near his suzerain thus, with one of the many adventures of the One hundred year old war.

In 1341, trace of Arnould says Maillefiers, which sells to Jean of Laval, rider, the town hall of Lesquielles-Saint-Germain in Aisne. He undoubtedly died before his father (1354), since although elder, he does not succeed to him.

In 1342, trace of Alexandre II of Rampemont, on July 22nd it sits at the court of Mons, chaired by the baillif of Hainaut, Jean d' Harchies, to regulate the problem of the jurisdiction of the chapter of Saint-Heart of Douai to Wavrechain-under-False (district of Valencians).

In 1344, trace of Alexandre II of Rampemont on October 26th when he pleads in a disagreement which opposes Etienne, abbot of Saint-Ghislain and Jean de Hennin, lord of Boussu, in connection with certain grounds located opposite the hospital of Cockchafer at Boussu. November 8th, to the reprimand of Baudouin de Roisin, baillif de Hainaut, advised by his pars, it gave his judgment in the lawsuit which opposed the chanoinesses of Holy-Waudru of Mons to the aldermen and to the community of Nimy and Maisières concerning the rights of justice on the wood of these localities.

In 1349, last trace of Alexandre II of Rampemont in a real transaction.

In 1356-57, trace of Gerard says Ysorès, interfered with the events with the war of succession the Brabant. Its presence among the lords and vassal brabançon having made allegiance with the count de Flandre proves that he had become the heir to the ground of Faintness coming from his mother.

In 1381, Bernard de Rampemont sells part of his seigniory located on Onnezies on the left of the Roman way towards Bavay (seigniory which will become that of Favrel and van der Laen. Was can be the son of Jean de Rampemont. In 1399, Bernard de Rampemont sells the property in Wuillaume de Sars (Sars-the-Heather), one does not find more trace of Rampemont thereafter.

In 1450: towards this date Rampemont is in Guillaume de Sars, knight who assigns it like douaire with Anne de Lausnoy his wife. Baudry XIII of Roisin, Seigneur of Rongies, deceased in 1440 had married Jeanne de Sars, rams of Angre, girl of Wuillaume de Sars and Marie de Jauche with 5 children of which the following. It had been made knight of St-Georges in 1390 -1473: Lion of Proisy, second husband of Anne de Lausnoy is titular usufructuary of the seigniory but the owner is Georges de Sars, lord of Angre and Audignies, brother of Guillaume. Baudry XIV of Roisin, lord of Angre and Roisin, its nephew will succeed to him.

In 1483, Baudry de Roisin sells the castle to Mathieu Ghoret, member of the ordinary council of the Hainaut.

The castle successively passes by marriage to the family of the burgomaster of Mons Jean de Fives in 1515 and then to that of Thierry Ier of the Mount in 1537. This family transmits the field by heritage to Anne-Philippe Dumont in 1677.

In 1743, the baron Del Nero inherits the field and it resells it in Charles Louis Ghislain de Waziers in 1780.

Today, it belongs to a family which repurchased it to save it of an unquestionable ruin and which puts all its heart to make revive this interesting building and to make it available to the public. Contrary to certain erroneous information which circulates in various media, (the eternal problem of the checking of the sources), it is not intended any more for a use of farm, even if many animals are present there, which constitute a " museum living of the ferme". Various animations there are organized, especially centered on the contact with nature and to feel it: to plunge themselves in an original communication with the animals of the farm, nature present, to visit the medieval medicinal garden. " The monumental and natural inheritance autrement".

Gardens:

A medicinal garden is by definition a collection of plants to the therapeutic virtues, used in medicines known as " traditionnelle" or " moderne" , virtues confirmed or not by science in the actual position of its knowledge. It makes it possible to gather beside the purely local species of the plants which do not push spontaneously on our premises or which one finds in different biotopes. It has its limits: inter alia, impossibility of showing species " exotiques" , difficulties in presenting certain varieties according to the years, or the seasons. But it has its advantages: the plants present, aromatic or with perfume, are physically coloured or dull; the garden makes it possible to discover with the directions, to recognize, and also to simply show those which are useful or toxic, the books being intended for precise descriptions. The medieval medicinal garden, it is also to preserve an inheritance, certain plants do not meet more in a wild state, like the livèche, others are sterile like certain mints, but they are there…

The medieval topic makes it possible to discover the plants which were known and used and for which use, lasting these Middle Ages which cover thousand years of our history, without forgetting the knowledge which reached us of the ancient world, tinted sometimes other cultures, and to locate them in the current context.

To approach the Middle Ages or the past in general, it is to wonder on the origin of the knowledge, the report/ratio of the man to nature and the company, the manner of living and of conceiving its environment, of what one is sick and how one interprets and looks after oneself, so much whereas today. It is to discover how the tastes the uses and the habits evolved/moved.

The goal of such a garden is to be didactic, this one has more than one direction, one will speak about the vegetable world, but also about the world of living in general, the communication and the relationship inside but also between the various reigns and species.

Our first garden is known as " Capitulary of Charlemagne " Charlemagne did not only invent the school, it is all a new system. On this subject one finds according to the authors, some divergences which we underline at the time of the visits to the garden, just as the possible variations during the administrative temps.e which was developed at that time. The capitulary ones, are written acts, divided into chapters (of Latin capitulated) intended to diffuse the payments with the whole of the territory. The “Capitulare of villis vel curtis imperii”, is more particularly devoted to the management of the fields, one milked there agriculture, of hunting, clothing, trades… and chapter 70 is devoted to the plants and trees. We thus have a precise list of 94 plants including 73 grass, 5 tinctorial and textile plants and 16 trees.

As regards the identification, according to their name, of the quoted plants, it is necessary to make coincide the Carolingian medieval Latin name with that which we use, according to an international nomenclature established with the XVIII° S (initiated by Linné). It is far from being obvious for certain names; one finds according to the authors, some divergences of translation which we underline at the time of the visits to the garden, in the majority of the cases we try to cultivate the various versions. As regards the aspect of the plants presented, for the relatively wild species, there undoubtedly was little natural evolution, but for cultivated, the selections and hybridizations certainly strongly changed the visual and gustatory aspect. If a cabbage remains a cabbage, what did resemble those of Charlemagne compared to our current species? The treaties of the Middle Ages are seldom illustrated, or then, single part intended for a noble reader they are richly enluminés but with an aim of esthetic research, more illustrated copies of these texts appear later during the generalization of printing works, but there too one can put the question of the agreement of the described variety. The ordinance of Capitulary does not specify the manner nor the quantities to cultivate: there are in the text separate grasses of the garden of the fruit trees of the orchard, and the joubarbe which was to be cultivated on the roofs because it had the reputation to move away the lightning. In the history of the medieval gardens, but let us not forget that the Middle Ages cover thousand years of our history, that there were gardens in the monasteries, the castles, the cities and the campaigns, in north as in the south, of the rich person and the modest ones. The common point seems to be the fact that they were in an enclosure, of wood, stones… to protect them from the petty thieves, wild animals or servants who grazed in freedom at the time. In periods of war or invasions one can imagine that they were reduced to essence. One thus finds classically: the hortus (conclusus): the kitchen garden, the closed place. the herbularius: the garden of simple. viridarium: the orchard (sometimes called pomarium). But the incultum should not be forgotten: representing not cleared wild spaces, rich in various resources. It has a paramount importance at that time, because it would have been stupid to cultivate what one found in abundance in nature, which brings us has to stress that species of everyday usage at that time can not be present in the Capitulary one. It is only with the XI° S. under the push of the clearings which accompany the growth by the population that the incultum regresses, to the profit of the cultures.

If the orchard forms a quite distinct unit, arises the question of separation between the plants of the kitchen garden and those of the garden of simple (majority medicinal), that the Capitulary one does not make and that we could consider but with the limits of all classifications, because which use dominated at the time, a plant which was at the same time pot and medicinal had more chance to find itself in the garden. Let us be also wary of the hasty conclusions if one learns in the old texts that the parsley, the asparagus were used like medicinal before being cultivated like vegetables. We thus did not classify grasses, at most not made certain groupings for the didactic visits. It as should be known as since Antiquity, dietetics occupies an important place, that one classifies food and the remedies according to the theories of the temperaments, the characters, the elements what currently moves away us from classifications of use.

We chose to present the plants in squares, such as it was of use to the Middle Ages. These squares were often elevated, for a more comfortable position of work, surely to undoubtedly as prevent as the most daring species do not conquer the whole of the garden by their traçantes roots, without forgetting a protection against the moles and especially the mulots, large amateurs of roots. The provision could also take part in the symbolic system: a central fountain, from which four channels in cross left pointing out the garden Eden.

The second garden takes again plants of importance quoted by various authors of the Middle Ages, Our selection is subjective, but we could not solve the richnesses of this time on only one date nor with only one text (administrative in addition). That will thus enable us to consider the designs, the manner of living and of feeling, of the time.

The garden known as " sorcière" , which is the point of reception is laid out in rounds (of witch) and takes again plants with the magic, beneficial or malefic, supposed or checked powers, some also finding itself in the following gardens. It is of these common species and poisons which it is preferable to know to recognize.

The access is not possible that on certain occasions. Information: Irka Schneider: rampemont.schneider@swing.be

See too

List of Belgian castles

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