Clovis gave Coucy and its surroundings to
Saint-Remi, bishop of Rheims after the battle of
Soissons in 486.
A first castle, probably a wooden tower with a
stone base, was built towards 920 by Herve,
archbishop of Rheims, eager to protect his
territory of Coucy against the invasions.
In 1059 the territory
belongs to Albéric or Aubry, who founded the
Benedictine Abbey of Nogent; he is known to have
followed William the Conqueror in England.
The dynasty of the Lords of Coucy starts in 1079
with Enguerrand de Boves, hero of the first
crusade, whose descendants, during three centuries,
were to make the mightiest men tremble. His son
Thomas de Marle, famous for his armed robberies,
supported the free town of Laon at the time of the
insurrection against his bishop. Enguerrand II
righted the wrongs of his father; he had the
courtyard (or Bailey) chapel erected and died
during the second crusade. Raoul died in the seat
of Saint-Jean-d'Acre in 1191 letting his three sons
share his property.
It is with the elder, Enguerrand III called "
the Big " or " the Great " (in french "le grand"),
that one allots the current castle. Untiring
warrior, he distinguishes himself in the battle of
Bouvines and during expeditions against Cathares
(heretics). In 1216 he lands
in England with the french prince Louis, who tried
to keep the crown after the death of the king
John. From 1226 he takes part in the
conspiracy of the higher ranking French lords
against the regency of the Queen Blanche of
Castille (a Spanish woman!), mother of the young
Saint-Louis. The legend claims that he wanted to
take the crown and his disappointed hope would be
the origin of the famous motto:
King am not, nor prince, nor duke, nor count
either; I am the lord of Coucy.
This is probably when he fortified the town, the
courtyard (or Bailey) and the castle. Exceptional
builder, one owes him the disappeared castles from
Saint-Gobain, Marle, La Fère, Folembray as
well as a private mansion in Paris. After having
returned in the good graces of the king, he died in
1242. Crossing a river near Vervins, he fell from
his horse and was impaled on his sword.The lives of
his descendants were marked by a number of
exceptional events. His
daughter, Marie, was married to Alexander II of
Scotland. His son, Enguerrand IV, having
hung three young noblemen for hunting on the
grounds of Coucy without the benefit of a trial,
was judged to have acted wrongly by Saint-Louis and
was forced to pay a very large fine. But it is
necessary to await the last character of this
famous line to see further work on the castle.
This one, Enguerrand VII, had an exceptional
life, grandson of the archduke of Austria, son-in-law of king Edward III of
England (he married Isabel and became Earl of
Bedford), and faithful vassal of the king of
France. His life was characterized by military and
diplomatic expeditions throughout the whole of
Europe, and he transformed the old fortress into a
sumptuous palace. The ground floors were rebuilt to
support the new residential buildings: the room of
honor, decorated by the statues of the Valiant
knights, as well as the dwelling rooms. Such
embellishments are typical of the period, also
notable for King Charles V completing work on the
Louvre and Vincennes. Enguerrand VII died in
Turkey, after the battle of Nicopolis, without
leaving a male heir. His life
is related in a well known history book " A Distant
Mirror , The calamitous 14th Century" by Barbara W.
Tuchman, 1978.
In 1400 Louis of Orleans, brother of Charles VI
and builder of the castles of Pierrefonds and
Ferté-Milon, bought the land of Coucy to
supplement the defense of his duchy of Valois. He
completed the work begun by Enguerrand VII. These
enhancements brought the period of medieval
construction to a close. War in the 15th century
made further construction impratical. After the
assassination of the Duke of Orleans in 1407, the
castle becomes a stake in the fight between
Armagnacs and Burgundian. It is besieged and taken
several times. Its first siege occured in 1411, its
guardians surrendering after having nobly defended
the castle for three months. In 1415, after the battle of
Azincourt, Charles of Orleans was held prisoner for
25 years in England. And between 1423 and 1430
(Hundred Years War) the place is occupied by the
English. In 1498, becoming king of France
under the name of Louis XII, the grandson of Louis
of Orleans makes Coucy a Crown property, thereby
permitting eight kings of France to inherit the
title of "Lord of Coucy" at their coronation, thus
making lie their famous motto.
Towards 1540, new period of construction, the
fortifications are modernized to adapt them to
artillery and a new Renaissance dwelling is built
in the castle by the king François 1rst.
In 1652 during the Fronde (political trouble
during the youth of Louis 14th) the governor of the
Duke of Orleans refused to give the castle to the
royal troops. The place surrendered after a three
months siege. At this point Mazarin decided to
dismantle the fortress since it had become too much
of a threat to the king's power. Engineer
Métezeau destroyed the gates, the big round
curtain of the keep, as well as the vaults of both
the towers and the keep, making the castle
militarily unusable.
Given up, plundered by the population,
transformed into a prison during the French
Revolution, then into a stone quarry until 1829
when Louis-Philippe buys it for 6000 Francs, thus
saving it from total destruction.
Until 1914 several architects intervened to
restore the ruins. In 1856 the castle becomes
definitively property of the governement and the
keep, shaken by an earthquake, is strengthened by
the architect Viollet-le-Duc.
Unlike the city of Carcassonne or the castle of
Pierrefonds, there was here no project to rebuild
Coucy. However the ruins of Coucy and especially
its keep became a very popular tourist site at the
end of 19th century, being a mere two hours and
thirty minutes from Paris by rail.
The First World War occurs then. The area is
occupied since September 1914 by German troops,
Coucy is 12 km away from the front and becomes a
military headquarter and is also frequented by
German dignitaries. Kaiser Wilhelm II (William II)
even comes there twice! In 1915 the only notable
modification is the instalation of a 380mm gun in
the forest of Coucy-basse, placed there to bombard
Compiegne. After the war this concreted slab
becomes wrongly known as " Big Bertha ". Alas, in
March 1917, at the time of its strategic come-back
intended to obstruct the French offensive of the
Chemin-des-dames and the British offensive on the
Somme, the German army dynamites the keep and the 4
towers using 28 tons of explosives. It will never
be known whether this act had some strategic
military purpose (such as destroying a potential
lookout post) or whether it was merely an act of
barbaric mutilation. This destruction so outraged
the public that in April 1917 politicians decided
to preserve the ruins " as a memorial to barbarity
". Rebuilding of the city began in 1923; war
reparations were used to clear the towers and to
consolidate the walls. However the ruins of the
keep were left in place.
Today, the Ministry for the Culture and
the Centre of National Monuments
continues the delicate mission of opening to
the public an ancient monument in ruin, by regular
work of maintenance and security, parallel with
studies of development and conservation of the
vestiges.
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