Photo : richardmichaelshaw / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Château de Grand-Rullecourt
The Flemish fortified castle of Grand-Rullecourt, in the Pas-de-Calais, with its towers and crow-stepped gables, watches over the road from Avesnes-le-Comte to Lucheux. It was the fief of the lords of Rullecourt, who made generous gifts of land to the abbey of Mont-Saint-Éloi. Joan of Arc passed at the foot of its walls as a prisoner in November 1430.
On 14 June 1464, King Louis XI, staying at Lucheux after a hunt in the forest, gave force of law to the council decree establishing the royal post. In 1537 Marie d'Olhain, lady of Grand-Rullecourt, married Jacques de Hamel Bellenglise; their daughter Nicole was lady-in-waiting to Mary Queen of Scots, followed her into captivity and received her diamond cross on the day of her execution.
Ten generations of the family lived at Grand-Rullecourt. During the Wars of Religion, Antoine de Hamel, lord of Rullecourt, was one of the leaders of the Catholic League; nicknamed the 'marshal of the faith', he fought relentlessly against the Protestants.
