The castle’s history
Ligny’s Castle (built from the 13th Century and up to the 17th Century), situated at the heart of the village of Ligny-en-Cambrésis, will offer you tranquillity and romanticism.
It was wrecked during the wars of Religion, was restored and rearranged during the 17th Century and has kept an angle tower and a marvellous bell tower from the medieval era.
As it has now become a four-star hotel, you will appreciate its interior baroque decoration, its comfortable bedrooms and the high quality of its “cuisine”. In the surroundings, you can visit the treasures of Cambrai’s Art gallery or the Vaucelles’ abbey which was once one of the largest Cistercianabbeys in Europe.
Very near as well, you have the Matisse Museum of lace in Caudry which will invite you to attractive discoveries.
The seigniors of Ligny
Its origins
Licinius’ Roman tenanted farm may have been at the origin of the name ‘Ligny’ and the actual castle may be standing on the grounds of the tenanted farm. About sixty years ago, a wall found while digging for a watering place may have been a Roman wall and would indicate that the building was larger than nowadays. However, the building’s story remains quite obscure from its origins up to the 16th Century, although there are serious reasons to think that it was built about the 9th Century, right in the middle of the feodal time.
Ligny’s castle possessed most of the grounds in the Cambrésis region, in view of the fact that the Seigniors stroke coins in its surrounding wall. Wallerand from Luxembourg was called ‘Lord of Ligny’ in 1353. But we are going a little too fast. Ligny, with its rich but not well known past, was hold as the fief of the archdiocese of Cambrai in 1130, by a family named Ligny. The Seigniory may have come as well from the archdiocese. In 1286, Mathieu de Ligny grants a law to the inhabitants of Ligny, which law we haven’t been able to find out. In 1293, Ligny is written about in a transaction passed between Honnechy’s Lord, Robert Lemire and Jean Duvivier, Quiévy’s Lord. During our research, we have learned that on February, 12th 1581, the French from Cambrai’s garrison took over the castle belonging to the De Villers au Tertres, for this family was for the opposition party, that is to say the one of Spain. It must be also noted that on August, 7th 1583, Balagny seized Ligny’s fortified castle and took about 120 prisoners.Balagny may have kept the castle during several years.
Its face
The tower we can date back to the 12th Century has been modified from the outside by suppressing the wooden galleries and by covering it with a quite gracious bell tower. A hammer-shaped building in the pure “Flamish Renaissance” style was added to this angle tower about the 15th Century, (for the side that looks on the moat). About the 18th Century, the castle was restored with locally-produced bricks.
In 1830, the part of the building that was used as a jail was demolished. At the beginning of the 19th Century, the owner had modifications made but in a rather inappropriate way as he had the vaults which separated each floor of the tower removed, to replace them by mere ceilings, in order to make the rooms more habitable. Fortunetaly, the underground room, in which the shooting wall seat was discovered, has kept its vault with its crossed and fortified ribs. Those ribs are similar to the ones in the Château de Selle in Cambrai. In the walls of this cave, the holes where the soldiers put the sheep’s bones that sirved to hang their arms can still be seen. Other marks let by the soldiers during the endless hours of guard represent awl writings; between others, a signature and two quite neat arms drawingsundoubtedly those of the Seigniors of the Castle. By the form of the letters, we can say that those writings do not date from after the 15th Century.
A little sooner, you read that our castle possesses a shooting wall seat. The latter was used by the archers; they took position on this wall seat to defend the moats. The wall seat was then bricked up and that allowed us to keep writing marks; it was discovered by the Germans in 1917.
The moats surrounding the castle were filled in of course by bad weather but also by human hands. Only few relics of the drawbridge remain. The bridge is fitted with stone parapets, and its roadway is made of sandstone. Ligny’s castle is a hammer-shaped building in a pure Flamish-Renaissance style and it makes one dream of one of “these delicious Châteaux de la Loire on the Warnelle’s banks”, as Canon Thelliez said once.
Ligny’s Castle is an elegant, pure and harmonious building. Numerous historical memories are attached to it, but they are scattered and many archives were burnt after the death of Marguerite-Antoinette Déchaud in 1848.
In 1926-1927, the owner of the Castle discovered an angle stake from the watering place which was filled in. It is most likely that the watering place situated opposite the church, at the actual entrance of the Castle, came from a first-line ditch of defense.
Its arms and its families
On Ligny’s arms, we can only retain the last one, the de Villers-au Tertre’s. It appears as follows:
- azure, with silvery coat of arms, accompanied by eleven golden decorative patterns.
Two other arms are known:
- golden faces with the head wearing chequered patterns of three silvery
and azure lines.
- silvery with one double-faced lion and a double tail plaited and crowned with gold.
Those different coats of arms are represented on the stained glass windows of the village hall.
The Seignior of Ligny possessed his hotel in Cambrai, about the end of the 16th Century. Moreover, the bourgeois of this town gathered at his place to hatch the conspiracy which will open the doors of the town to Marquis de Fuentés in 1595. At the same time, this conspiracy will get them rid of Cambrai’s governor, Balagny, who had taken over Ligny’s fortified castle in 1583. Antoine de Villers-au-Tertre, Leehove’s and Ligny’s Seignior, with his brother, Fagnollet’s Seignior, will be chosen by the Bourgeois to be at the head of the plot, because they are experienced warriors. The cousin of Ligny’s Seignior takes part in the plot as well. He, Quelleries’ Seignior led the too shy Bourgeois where the de Villers-au-Tertres had had the opportunity to play a considerable part.
The Seignior is related to the best families in the country, families who were on the side of Spain. His aunt, Marie de Villers-au-Tertre, Madame de Clermont is Georges d’Esclaibes’ wife, who himself is the general who was in command of Philippe II’s cavalry at Saint-Quentin’s battle. Marie de Villers-au-Tertre also negociated for Spain the truce of 1581, between the Spanish on one hand, and the Duke of Alençon on the other hand. Her cousin, Robert d’Esclaibes left Cambrai to go and join Fuentés’army, at his father’s bidding, Monsieur de Clermont. Another of her cousins, Luis de Stavel, count of the Hardi, Seignior of the Glacon, who holds a high rank near Fuentés, will make it easy for him as far as the peace talks are concerned. He commands a company of the middle class militia, he may have commanded Balagny’s cavalry, but the latter’s favour doesnot last long, and as he was almost beheaded by the horrible governor, Cambrai’s Bourgeois think he is trustworthy.
That was normal that the de Villers-au-Tertres took part in the plot if one thinks that the French from Cambrai’s garrison, like Balagny, attacked our village in 1581 and 1583; here are so many reasons for Ligny’s Seignior to justify his trust in the Bourgeois, for without him, a columnist says, without the composure he showed in appeasing Balagny’s suspicions, asking him to lead an investigation about his behaviour, at the moment when he was about to give the town over to the Spanish ,the Cambrai’s conspiracy would have failed.
Charles-Albert-Alphonse de Villers-au-Tertre, the father of the last Ligny’s Seignior, married on February 9th 1766, Jeanne-Ernestine de Villers-au-Tertre, his third cousin, in the church Saint-Waast in Cambrai.
His witnesses were his brothers:
- Joseph de Villers-au-Tertre, Serain’s and Fagnollet’s Seignior.
- André-Louis-Joseph de Villers-au-Tertre.
- Adrien-Raphael Chapelle, his brother-in-law, former captain in the Royal Wallon de Marcoing regiment.
At the time of the Revolution, his son is Seignior of Ligny, Montrécourt,Serain and Fagnollet. He gathers all the titles and seigniories the members of his family had possessed. As he undoubtedly continued to sirve the army, he is cavalry officer in 1800, when he is in charge of pursuing the recalcitrant conscripts in Cambrai’s district. But then he is called citizen Devillers or simply Villers. The Revolution was fatal to the de Villers-au-Tertres. The family in Ligny is slowly fading away; nowadays, the name must only be borne by women. However, the families who are said to be relatives or friends to the de Villers-au-Tertres continue to maintain their ranks.
In a well ignored corner of the churchyard, one can read this inscription on a cast-iron cross:
Sir the Count,
Albert-Alphonse-Jean-Baptiste-Joseph
de Villers-au-Tertre
Ligny’s Seignior
cavalry officer
chevalier of the Legion of Honour
born in Cambrai in 1767, dead in Ligny in 1811, in his 44th year.
His widow, Marguerite-Antoinette Déchaud, born in Chivry in the Saône and Loire department, will marry her second husband on July 20th 1814 Jean-Baptiste Maroy, former officer of the Empire. She died in 1848, leaving the castle to Mr de Pancy. It is at that time that we have to deplore the loss of the de Villers- au Tertre’s archives, so precious in those troubled times of the end of the 19th Century. Albert de Villers-au-Tertre had known his wife during his numerous travels as cavalry officer for the king. Marguerite-Antoinette Déchaud was born on August 12th 1772. Her second husband, Jean-Baptiste Maroy was born in Chemois les Rivières in the Ardennes in 1774. She had a son from the latter, Victor-Paul- François, born on September 9th 1816 and died on September 7th 1818. Mr Maroy died on April 22nd 1845; he was district advisor and member of the superior committee of state education. He rests in the local churchyard. His gravestone was surmounted by a wrought-iron cross and by a brass plate upon which we could read his titles. In 1938,the plate disappeared; although the district lodged a complaint, the plate was never found again.
Jean-Baptiste Maroy’s sister, Catherine, living in the castle, married on December 6th 1837 Alphonse Combier, chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and veterinary in the first regiment of Belgian light cavalrymen. The marriage certificate reads on three pages and is quite curious to read as it includes insignificant details.
The titles of Seignior of Ligny and other places appear for the last time on February 24th 1789. During the Revolution, the de Villers-au-Tertres still sign their full name;
on the other hand, there exists some acts signed “Devillers” or “Villers”. It is only in 1810 that we can read again: de Villers-au-Tertre.
Nevertheless, one has to note that on a marriage certificate from 1793, the nobiliary title still appears.
We have learned to our great suprise that the De Villers-au Tertres would be descendants of the de Lignys, who would have taken over the name of de Villers-au-Tertre for they also were Seigniors of this village.
If in 890, Zwentibold, king of Lotharingie, gives up his villa in Ligny to bishop Dodilon, nobody can assert that this king has actually lived in Ligny. No written mark prior to this date has been found out, so we have no idea of who the occupants may have been at this period of history.
In 1130, Ligny was still the possession of the clergy since it was hold as a fief to the archdiocese of Cambrai by a family named Ligny. It is most likely that this family has had its name from the place’s name over which they exercised their power. It is indeed about this period that the family names have been formed in France. In 1286, Ligny’s territory is still under the protection of this family since, on that year, Mathieu de Ligny granted a law to the inhabitants of Ligny.
Ligny certainly remained fief of Cambrai’s archdiocese up to about the middle of the 14th Century. It is indeed in 1353 that Wallerand de Luxembourg is called “Seignior of Ligny”. The family “de Luxembourg-Ligny” and the cousin branch “de Luxembourg-Saint-Pol” was a younger branch of the House of Luxembourg which acceded to the throne of Bohême.
Wallerand de Luxembourg is called “Seignior of Ligny” in 1353 and we have also noted someone called Valleran III de Luxembourg-Ligny, count of Saint-Pol, who was governor of Paris in 1410.
In 1463, Jacques de Luxembourg, Fiennes’ Seignior, is called Ligny’s Seignior. Jean de Luxembourg-Ligny, Count of Saint-Pol, governed Paris for the English from 1418 to 1420 during the Hundred Years’ War. The same Jean, Valleran III’s nephew, captured Joan of Arc and sold her to the English in 1430 for the count of the Burgundians. The oral tradition tells that Joan of Arc, as a prisoner, passed through Ligny. This may be possible since the “de Luxembourg-Ligny” family had strong links with the English. Nothing surprising then that the Armagnacs put on fire the village in 1434, a fire which must have been an expedition of reprisals against the family. We don’t know when Count Lamoral d’Egmont, a brilliant warrior (battle of St Quentin in 1557, and of Gravelines in 1558) was called Seignior of Ligny. On the other hand, during the wars of Religion, we know that this tolerant Catholic had, for several months, refused to lay waste to the Calvinists’town of refuge Valenciennes was.
We also know his titles:
- Advisor to the Regent.
- General Captain of Flandre.
- Prince of Grave.
- Head of the House of Luxembourg.
He was above all known by the inhabitants of the Cambrésis region as the chivalrous Seignior of Cantaing, Marcoing and Ligny. The Duke of Albe will have him beheaded on Bruxelles’place in 1568. His wife, Sabine, Palatine Princess of the Rhine, Duchess of Bavaria, still possessed Ligny in 1574 since she took part, on that year, in the updating of the “Book of Customs of Cambrai” and that she presented herself ”because of Ligny, Cantaing and Marcoing”.
They must have been the last inhabitants of the castle to be linked to the “de Luxembourg” family since in 1581, the castle belongs to the de Villers-au-Tertres.
The Seignior of Ligny, Antoine de Villers-au-Tertre is related to many families in the country, who were on the side of Spain. This can explain the attack of the French from Cambrai’s garrison in 1581 and Balagny’s storming of the castle when he was Cambrai’s governor, in 1583.
Marie-Caroline de Villers-au-Tertre is known as living in the castle in 1677. About 1700, the owner is Ferdinand Théodore François de Villers-au-Tertre. In 1734, Noel-Robert-Alphonse de Villers-au-Tertre is cited as Seignior of Ligny in the burial act of his wife Anne-Michèle d’Esclèbes.
In 1738, we find Marie-Robertine-Françoise de Villers-au-Tertre.
In 1776, we find Louis-Alphonse de Villers-au-Tertre who will be buried in the church on June 23rd 1777.
In 1779, the castle is surely inhabited by Marie-Joseph-Cécile de Villers-au-Tertre since her husband, Adrien-Marie-Raphael-Joseph Chapel is buried in the church at this period. In 1766, Charles-Albert-Alphonse de Villers-au-Tertre marries on February 9th in Cambrai, church Saint-Waast, his third cousin, Jeanne-Ernestine de Villers-au-Tertre. In 1767, the last Seignior of Ligny will be born from their union, Albert Alphonse Jean-Baptiste Joseph de Villers-au-Tertre who, at the Revolution, will also have the titles of Seignior of Montrecourt, Serain and Fagnollet.
Following their numerous alliances with the family “d’Esclaibes” (d’Esclèbes), the “de Villers-au-Tertre” were “Counts of Hust and of the Saint Empire”. This title was still written on the gravestone of the last Seignior of Ligny, Albert de Villers-au-Tertre, and had been granted in 1605 to a grandfather of the d’Esclaibes family, “for him and all his heirs, and this in perpetuity”.
Sooner, we saw that Albert de Villers-au-Tertre signed Devillers or Villers, under the first Consul. It is indeed on February 24th 1789 that we can read for the last time the title “Seignior of Ligny”. Yet, during the Revolution, the family will continue to sign “de Villers-au-Tertre”, even if one finds some acts with the names “Devillers” or “Villers”. In 1793, we find the full name on a marriage certificate but it will only reappear definitively in its whole form in 1810, under the first Empire.
Space Relaxation
Access from 9.30 am until 19.00 pm
(on booking)
Swim Spa 20€
Hydromassage bath 30€
Steam Bath or Sauna 20€
Swim Spa + Bath
Hydromassage bath + 60€
Sauna or Steam Bath
Aesthetic Care
Body Scrub 25€
Modelings :
- Traditionnal (30min) 30€
- Californian (1h00) 60€
- Modeling face/back/hands or feats (15-20min) 15€
- Eastern modeling (1h15) 60€
- Circulatory modeling of the legs 40€
* Lymphatic drainage (1h00) 40€
* The relax traditional care : (2h00) 95€
- Body scrub
- + smooth envelopment
- + eastern modeling
The traditional care : (1h25) 50€
- body scrub
- + traditionnal modelling
The circulatory care : (1h30) 70€
- Hydromassage bath
- + modelling of the legs
The hot stone massage (1h20) 80€
Our Differents Menu
The Menu Prestige at110 €
(Drinks not included)
To discover the refined food of our Chief.
It is composed of 7 services
The Menu at 65 €
(Drinks not included)
Mise en bouche, starter, fish, meat, cheeses and dessert
TheMenu at 48 €
(Drinks not included)
Mise en bouche, starter, fish or meat, cheeses and dessert
These menu change every week
Le Château de Ligny
2 Rue Pierre Curie
59 191 Ligny-en-Cambrésis
Tél : 03.27.85.25.84 Fax : 03.27.85.79.79
Email : contact@chateau-de-ligny.fr
Web : www.chateau-de-ligny.fr
Access
How come at the Château
Prendre direction Cambrai
Follow direction Cambrai by the A26
A Cambrai, suivre la direction « Charleville-Mézières »
In Cambrai, follow « Le Cateau-Cambrésis »
Vous êtes sur la RN 43
You are on the RN 43
Continuer jusqu’à « Beauvois-en-Cambrésis »
(radar à l’entrée de la ville)
Take the road until « Beauvois en Cambrésis
(radar system, be careful)
Tournez au 1er feu à droite direction « Fontaine-au-Pire »
Turn at the first red light follow « Ligny-en-Cambrésis »
A Ligny-en-Cambrésis suivre « Château »
In Ligny, follow « Château »
Le Château se situe au cœur du village, en face de l’église .
The Château is in the heart of the village,front of the church.
Conditions générales de vente
La réservation
Une réservation ne peut être prise par le Château de Ligny que si elle fait l’objet d’un versement d’arrhes dont le montant est égal à 50 % de la commande.
Pour la restauration, ce versement doit être accompagné du double de la commande, signé et approuvé , pour l’hôtellerie d’un courrier ou fax.
La modification
Le client peut modifier jusqu’au :
1 Mardi avant la manifestation si elle concerne la restauration mais jusqu’à concurrence de 5 % du nombre commandé.
2 1 mois avant la manifestation si la modification affecte de plus de 10 % le nombre initialement commandé en restauration ; charge au Château de Ligny de retarifer l’offre en fonction des nouvelles données.
3 48h avant l’arrivée en chambre.
L’annulation
Le client peut annuler sa réservation jusqu’à :
1 1 mois de la manifestation si elle concerne la restauration pour un nombre commandé inférieur à 25.
2 4 mois de la manifestation si la réservation est faite en restauration pour un nombre commandé supérieur à 25.
3 48h avant l’arrivée en chambre.
La facturation
Il est expressément convenu que le Château de Ligny :
1 facture le nombre commandé et/ou ajusté dans les délais définis au paragraphe « Modification »
2 conserve les arrhes pour toute annulation faite hors délais définis au paragraphe « Annulation »
Le règlement
Nos factures sont payables à réception. Conformément à l’article 33 de l’ordonnance du 1 Décembre 1986, des pénalités de retard sont appliquées dans le cas où les sommes dues sont versées au delà du délai fixé ci dessus. Ces pénalités sont d’un taux égal à une fois et demie le taux de l’intérêt légal.
Les tarifs
Les tarifs présentés sur une offre sont valides un mois à compter de la date de l’offre. Passé ce délai, ils sont susceptibles d’être modifiés sans préavis à tout moment et, notamment en cas de changement des données fiscales ou économiques.
L’animation
Le client s’engage formellement à ce que le professionnel choisi dans la liste référencée par le Château (orchestre, spectacles, DJ…) se présente au minimum 8 jours avant la manifestation, au Château de Ligny pour que soient réglés les détails techniques. Enfin, le client et le professionnel choisi s’engagent conjointement et formellement à respecter un niveau sonore conforme aux bonnes relations de voisinage et en cas de manquement, en assureraient toutes conséquences pénales ou financières. Le Château de Ligny ne pouvant être inquiété ou recherché à ces sujets. Le contrat devra être signé des 2 parties.
La Sacem
Le client doit impérativement faire une déclaration concernant les droits d’auteur, pour toute musique (orchestre, disques, spectacles) à la SACEM, 225 Avenue Charles de Gaulle 92521 Neuilly sur Seine Tél : 01.47.47.56.50
La décoration
Il est strictement interdit d’accrocher par quelque moyen que ce soit (clous, punaises, adhésifs…) des éléments de décoration ou autre sur les portes, murs, fenêtres… sans accord express de la direction.
De même, il est strictement interdit d’encombrer même temporairement les issues de secours et les allées nécessaires à un passage de secours d’urgence, de masquer les blocs de sécurité…
D’une façon générale, le Château de Ligny ne peut être inquiété, recherché ou tenu pour responsable de dommages, de quelque nature qu’ils soient, affectant les objets, marchandises, effets, matériels…appartenant au client, à ses invités ou préposés.
La force majeure
Ont pour effet de suspendre ou différer ou modifier nos obligations contractuelles les cas fortuits ou de force majeure tels que : les grèves totales ou partielles entravant la bonne marche de notre entreprise ou celle d’un de nos fournisseurs ou transporteurs, ainsi que l’interruption des transports de nos matières premières ou de la fourniture d’énergie.
Attribution de compétence
Pour toute contestation relative aux ventes réalisées par Le Château de Ligny, et à l’application ou à l’interprétation des présentes conditions générales de vente, seul sera compétent le tribunal de commerce de Cambrai
