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Bouvigne Castle is a castle outside the Ginneken district in the Dutch province of North Brabant, near the Mastbos south of Breda. Behind it lies the Markdal.
It has been owned by the Brabantse Delta Water Board since 1972. After restoration between 1975 and 1977, it was reopened by Prince Claus on 13 September 1977.
It is unknown how old the castle is and what it originally looked like. From 1494 there was a walled stone house on the De Boeverie estate near the two farms, one small and one large, already located there. The small farm stood at the intersection of Duivelsbruglaan and Bouvignelaan but went up in flames during the siege of Breda by Spinola in 1624. The large farm had been owned by the Princes of Orange since 1614 and by the state since 1881. In 1941 the farm was destroyed by a V1 rocket but later rebuilt.
As far as is known, the stone house was first mentioned in 1554 in an official deed: the will of the former owner Jacob van Brecht. In this testament, the building was described as a stately stone house surrounded by canals. The mansion has been expanded over time. The first floor of the tower was built on the stone house between 1554 and 1611. In the following three years, several other renovations followed and the tower was increased by a second floor. On 8 October 1614, Prince Philip William of Orange bought the house 'Boeverijen' for 27,000 guilders from his agent and confidant Jean Baptiste Keeremans, who had given it the current Renaissance appearance with his renovations. Philip-Willem was the eldest son and heir of his murdered father William of Orange. He was Baron of Breda from 1609 to 1618. Keeremans expected an appointment as drossaard of Breda (representative of the prince, comparable to the position of mayor), but the States General rejected his appointment because of his Catholicism and alleged anti-Calvinism.
Bouvigne is a grand mansion and was never used as a hunting lodge. The hunting grounds of the House of Orange were north of the Prinsenhof ( Breda Castle ) and near the Liesbos. The Mastbos is a landscaped wood production forest. It is not clear what Philip-Willem used the castle for, he lived on the Prinsenhof. He may have made it available as a steward's residence.
A total of eight princes in succession owned the castle. In 1637 it was the headquarters when Prince Frederik Hendrik besieged the city of Breda to end Spanish rule. Hendrik Carel van Naerssen opposed plans to demolish the building due to neglect in 1774. The Nassau Domain Council conceded. The wealthy coffee planter George Ruysch renovated the castle and Francized the name after Bouvigne (as it was called in 1802 in a deed of sale). From 1930 the castle came into the hands of the government and was rented out for a long time to the Catechists of the Eucharistic Crusade ( Pius X foundation ).
In 2007 the castle was regularly in the local news for controversial building plans. Since 1 October 2010, Bouvigne Castle has been one of the official wedding locations within the municipality of Breda.
There are three different gardens, all with statues:
The gardens can be visited. The castle is only on special days, for example the Brabant Castle Day.
Castle Bouvigne bears a resemblance to the larger castle of Schoten in the Belgian municipality of Schoten. The Lordship of Breda was once (from 1167 to 1268) under the authority of the Lords of Schoten (the flags of Schoten and Breda are identical). Yet nothing is known of a relationship between the two castles. At the time of the Lords of Schoten, the estate De Boeverie (later Bouvigne) may already have been a medieval property. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a walled mansion was established there, which was owned by the Van Brecht family. After the construction of the current castle started in 1548, the final renovation began in 1611, giving the house its current form.
There are more cross-border monumental agreements between Breda and the province of Antwerp. There is a similarity between the tower of the Grote Kerk in Breda and the Sint-Katharinakerk in Hoogstraten (Noorderkempen).
Schoten is a municipality located in Antwerp Province, Belgium. The municipality only comprises the town of Schoten proper. As of 1 January 2020 Schoten has a total population of 34,311. The total area is 29.55 km2 (11.41 sq mi) which gives a population density of 1,122/km2 (2,910/sq mi). Schoten borders the Antwerp districts Merksem to the west and Deurne to the south west. Neighboring municipalities include Brasschaat to the north, Brecht to the north east, Schilde to the east, and Wijnegem to the south.
Philip William, Prince of Orange was the eldest son of William the Silent by his first wife Anna van Egmont. He became Prince of Orange in 1584 and Knight of the Golden Fleece in 1599.
Breda Castle is a castle in the city of Breda, in the Netherlands.
Jan Claudius de Cock was a Flemish painter, sculptor, print artist and writer. De Cock produced both religious and secular sculpture on a small as well as monumental scale. De Cock completed many commissions in the Dutch Republic. He worked on decorations for the courtyard of the Breda Palace for William III, King of England, Ireland, and Scotland and stadtholder. He is credited with introducing neoclassicism in Flemish sculpture. He was a prolific draughtsman and designed prints for the Antwerp publishers. As a writer, he wrote a poem about the 1718 fire in the Jesuit Church in Antwerp and a book of instructions on the art of sculpture.
The Orange Route is a holiday route, that runs from Amsterdam in the Netherlands through North and Central Germany and returns to Amsterdam. It is 2,400 kilometres long and crosses the Netherlands and nine of German federated states. The Orange Route runs through towns and regions that linked the House of Orange-Nassau for centuries.
The siege of Eindhoven, also known as the capture of Eindhoven of 1583, took place between 7 February and 23 April 1583 at Eindhoven, Duchy of Brabant, Spanish Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604). On 7 February 1583 a Spanish force sent by Don Alexander Farnese, Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands, commanded by Karl von Mansfeld and Claude de Berlaymont, laid siege to Eindhoven, an important and strategic city of Brabant held by Dutch, Scottish, and French soldiers under the States' commander Hendrik van Bonnivet. After three months of siege, and the failed attempts by the States-General to assist Bonnivet's forces, the defenders surrendered to the Spaniards on 23 April.
Van Polanen was a noble family that played an important role in the Netherlands during the Middle Ages. The impact of the family transcended it's dissolution in the 15th century as the House of Nassau gained the vast properties of the House of Polanen in 1403 through marriage. The titles such as baron of Breda and lord of Polanen remain amongst the titles of the monarch of the Netherlands until today.
The Lords of Westerlo were the feudal lords of the fiefdom of Westerlo until the abolition of feudalism in 1795. The first known Lord of Westerlo was the Frankish nobleman Ansfried of Utrecht who gave this domain as allodial title to the chapters of Saint-Martin and Saint-Salvator in Utrecht after he became Bishop of Utrecht in 995. Since the late 15th century the Lords of Westerlo have been members of the House of Merode. In 1626 Westerlo was elevated to the rank of marquessate by King Philip IV of Spain in favor of Philippe I de Merode who became the first Marquess of Westerlo. The chief of the House of Merode stil bears the title of Marquess of Westerlo although the feudal rights attached to this title have been abolished since 1795. In the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century the 10th, 11th and 12th Marquess have been elected Burgomaster of Westerlo.
Oud Herlaer was a castle on the Dommel just east of Vught. All that remains is a farm which incorporates parts of the old castle. While not that much remains of the castle, there are a lot of recent studies about Oud Herlaer and its owners. The farm is planned to be opened as an art center in 2021. The name Oud Herlaer,, signifies that later on Nieuw-Herlaer Castle was built about 1 kilometer upstream.
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Beverweerd Castle is a 13th century castle and former knight's court town, which is located on an island along the Kromme Rijn near the village of Werkhoven in the Dutch province of Utrecht. The castle is surrounded by landscaped gardens, in which the Kromme Rijn itself plays an important role in the landscape. The castle was empty for a long time and was not open to the public. Since 2006, painter and art forger Geert Jan Jansen has lived and worked at Beverweerd Castle. The surrounding gardens are ideal for walking, which offers a good view of the castle and the Kromme Rijn.
Hillenraad Castle is a 14th century square water castle located on the south side of Swalmen in the municipality of Roermond in the province of Limburg. The castle is located in the middle of an estate near the village of Boukoul. It consists of a moated main building with four corner towers, an outer castle, several outbuildings and a castle park. Hillenraad Castle has been a protected national monument since 1970. The entire complex consists of twenty separate entries in the national monument register, including the main building, the outbuildings and a number of elements in the park. The castle is not open to the public.
Stapelen Castle is a castle in Boxtel in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is known as monastery and headquarters of the Dutch Assumptionists.
Empel en Meerwijk Castle was a medieval castle just north of 's-Hertogenbosch. All that's left is a terrain where the castle outlines have been visualized.
Geldrop Castle is a castle with park near the center of Geldrop, North-Brabant, the Netherlands. It is on the edge of the valley of the Kleine Dommel.
Dussen Castle is a water castle that got its peculiar form after being destroyed by the St. Elizabeth's flood of 1421.
Polanen Castle was a castle located in today's Monster, South Holland in the Netherlands. The ancestral home of the Polanen family, it suffered a siege in 1351 and was demolished in 1394. It was replaced by a small manor somewhat to the south.
Castle Buren or Buren Castle was a princely residence in Buren in the Dutch province of Gelderland. The castle was one of the largest castles in the Netherlands. It was the seat of the Buren branch of the Egmond family, as well as of the House of Orange. It has been demolished in the 19th century. Today, not much remains except a monument in the former bailey of the castle as well as model in the local museum.
Castle of Ronse is a former palace in Ronse, Belgium. It was built in 1630 by count John VIII of Nassau-Siegen to serve as the ‘ancestral castle’ of the catholic branch of the House of Nassau. It was designed in renaissance style and modelled after the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. It was demolished due to political unwillingness in 1823. Except for some foundations below a 19th-century villa, nothing remains anymore of what was once considered one of the most beautiful castle of the Southern Netherlands.