Chimay Tower

Chimay Tower, locally known as Tour de Chimay, stands in the village of Aubenton, in the Aisne department in France.

During the Hundred Years' War, English armies made regular bloody incursions into the Picardy region. In 1339, troops of the King of France, Philip VI, advanced to meet the army of the English king, Edward III, but the two rulers feared to engage in battle and retreated. A French company of 300 men was ordered to stay behind in the County of Hainaut, after which they started looting the area around the town of Chimay.

The following year, in retaliation, the princes of Hainaut raised troops and besieged the town of Aubenton. At that time the town's defenses consisted of Gallo-Roman fortifications; earthen embankments topped with pallisades. These could not protect the town and it was plundered and set on fire.

Later that century, the town was rebuilt and new defenses were built; city walls out of stone and brick with six towers and three gates. Of these fortifications only Chimay Tower and another, called Daniel's Tower, remain.

At present Chimay Tower is used as a 'gîte rural'; a holiday home in a rural region. It can be rented. Looks like a very romantic holiday home to me. I did not see Daniel's Tower.

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