Montaigle Castle | Belgium

Rising proudly on a rocky outcrop the ruins of this fortified castle are straight out of the legendary Middle Ages.

They occupy the summit of a massive limestone mountain stretching from east to west and dominating the confluence of the two rivers.

Flint tools discovered in crevices at the south end of the spur suggest that this place has been occupied since prehistoric times.

Archaeological research also yielded ceramics from the Iron Age (around 450 BC)

Beginning in the middle of the 3rd century, with the Roman Empire going through a deep political, economic and social crisis, many of the regions of present-day Belgium became highly coveted by the Germans who were previously contained by the limes to the other side Rhine. Faced with this threat, the Roman administration and army hastily set up garrison posts throughout the Meuse basin and q small garrison was set up here but their presence was not continuous and fluctuated according to threats.

This military occupation ceased shortly after 450 and the site was then abandoned for four centuries; a Merovingian cemetery dating from the 6th-7th centuries discovered in 1886 in nearby Foy, seems to indicate a displacement of the habitat towards the valley.

Around 900, a castle was erected on top of the mighty rock. Those who occupied it probably belong first counts of Namur-- the lords of Faing, whose name, which appeared for the first time in an official document in 1050, was also that of the land and castle of Montaigle until the dawn of the 14th century.

In 1298, Guy de Dampierre, Count of Flanders and Marquis of Namur, bought the land of Faing and gave it to his youngest son Guy de Flandre -- also called Guy de Namur. He built a much larger castle here which are, presumably the remains of which stand before you now.
It is said that, as regent of Flanders during the captivity of his father, he fought the king of France, Philippe IV the Fair, in the famous Battle of the Golden Spurs (1302). Two days after the fight, he took a dozen French knights as hostages and brought them here…. Then swiftly seized the castle of Kortrijk.

We have discovered that Guy de Namur was a cunning dragon rider and his steed was none other than Tyrantic the Scorcher. We believe that, while holding this castle and fighting for independence, Guy used his dragon to strike fear into his subjects and his enemies.

In March 1311, he unexpectedly died and his possessions were given to his fiancé. Nothing of Tyrantic the Scorcher is heard after this, so we don’t know if he died along with his rider or if the dragon was sold or simply vanished in mourning.
Montaigle returned to the direct possessions of the Counts of Namur—to Guillaume I. It then became the seat of a bailiwick, an administrative district entrusted to senior officials such as bailiffs, castellans and tax collectors.

In 1421, penniless and covered in debt, Jean III sold the County of Namur to Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy but by this time, dragons hadn’t been seen in years.

In July 1554, soldiers, placed under the orders of Duke of Nevers, demolished "Chasteau de Disnant and all the other small forts in the area". Montaigle is part of the lot.