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Founded: 12th centuryCategory: Castles and fortifications in France
Historical period: Birth of Capetian dynasty (France)
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The Château de Pierre-Percée ('pierced rock castle') in the commune of Pierre-Percée. The site in the early 12th century was in possession of Agnès, countess of Bar and widow of the count of Langenstein. She married Hermann II, Count of Salm and son of Hermann I, King of Germania (Eastern Francia). A well dug (~30 m) into the rock gives the village and the castle their name. The territory, which included the towns of Badonviller (which became the capital of the county) and Blâmont, became for several hundred years part of the hereditary property of the Counts of Salm. Around 1134, Hermann II went to war allied to the Duke of Lorraine against the Count of Bar and Stephan of Bar, the Bishop of Metz, himself a member of the Bar family. Hermann was killed on the battlefield outside the Château de Frouard. The castle at Pierre-Percée was besieged for a year and fell into the hands of the bishop of Metz with the death of Hermann's eldest son.
The castle was not besieged again until the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) when, being deserted, it was destroyed by Franco-Swedish troops.
References:The Gravensteen is a castle in Ghent originating from the Middle Ages. The name means 'castle of the counts' in Dutch. Arnulf I (918–965), Count of Flanders, was the first to fortify this place, building a medieval bastion on this high sand dune, naturally protected by the river Leie and its marshy banks. This bastion consisted of a central wooden building and several surrounding buildings, also in wood.
In the early 11th century, the wooden building was replaced by a stone residence, consisting of three large halls that made up three storeys, connected by a stone stairwell. The monumental stone staircase, the light openings, the fireplaces built into the walls and the latrines were signs of considerable luxury and comfort in those days. There was probably also a tower.