Useldange Castle

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Useldange Castle Useldange castle.jpg
Useldange Castle

Useldange Castle (French : Château d'Useldange) is a medieval castle, now mainly in ruin, located in the village of Useldange in western Luxembourg. The site can be visited throughout the year with special arrangements for poorly sighted visitors.

French language Romance language

French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

Useldange Commune in Redange, Luxembourg

Useldange is a commune and small town in western Luxembourg, in the canton of Redange.

Luxembourg Grand duchy in western Europe

Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a small landlocked country in western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Its capital, Luxembourg City, is one of the three official capitals of the European Union and the seat of the European Court of Justice, the highest judicial authority in the EU. Its culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and German cultures, as evident by the nation's three official languages: French, German, and the national language, Luxembourgish. The repeated invasions by Germany, especially in World War II, resulted in the country's strong will for mediation between France and Germany and, among other things, led to the foundation of the European Union.

Contents

Location

The castle stands on a small hill in the centre of the village overlooking the River Attert. The ruins present a reasonable picture of the medieval castle, especially the outer wall and one of the round towers. A bridge over the former moat, 10 m (33 ft) wide, provides access to the castle. The keep, 25 m (82 ft) tall, stands at the centre of the site. [1]

Attert (river) river in Belgium and Luxembourg

The Attert is a river flowing through Belgium and Luxembourg, left tributary of the Alzette. Its length is 38 kilometres (24 mi), of which 32 kilometres (20 mi) are in Luxembourg and 6 kilometres (4 mi) in Belgium. Its source is in Nobressart, north-west of Arlon, in the Belgian province Luxembourg. It flows into the river Alzette at Colmar-Berg. It flows through the village of Attert in Belgium, and the towns of Redange, Useldange, Boevange-sur-Attert, and Bissen in Luxembourg.

History

The castle appears to date from the 12th century when the lordship of Useldange was created. One of the early lords was Théobald d'Useldange. After the dynasty died out in the middle of the 13th century, Jean de Rodemacher became the legitimate proprietor in 1415 by marriage with Irmgard de Boulay. In 1479, Maximilian I confiscated the property and charged Christopher of Baden with its upkeep. As a result of the war between France and Burgundy, the castle and its chapel were seriously damaged. William of Nassau-Vianden, who inherited the castle, sold it to François-Sébastien Baur of Everlange in 1674. The castle fell increasingly into disrepair and the chapel was destroyed in 1903. [2]

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death. He was never crowned by the Pope, as the journey to Rome was always too risky. He was instead proclaimed Emperor elect by Pope Julius II at Trent, thus breaking the long tradition of requiring a papal coronation for the adoption of the imperial title. Maximilian was the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Eleanor of Portugal. He ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of the latter's reign, from c. 1483 to his father's death in 1493.

In 1924, American immigrant Mrs. Emma (Wolff) Kuhn, originally from Useldange, returned to buy the ruined castle. After consolidating the walls in 1934, the family went on to build a modern property over the ruins of the castle's palace. It has now become the town hall. The castle is being restored by the State of Luxembourg. [2]

The castle today

The castle is open to visitors throughout the year. Special arrangements have been made to allow handicapped and weakly sighted visitors to experience the site. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Château fort d'Useldange", Service des Sites et Monuments Nationaux. (in French) Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Le Château de Useldange", Association des châteaux luxembourgeois. (in French) Retrieved 26 March 2011.

Coordinates: 49°46.095′N5°58.818′E / 49.768250°N 5.980300°E / 49.768250; 5.980300

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.


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