Guise

Guise stands on the Oise beneath a castle that gave its name to one of France's most influential noble houses. The stronghold guarded a northern frontier exposed to armies from the Low Countries. Its medieval walls were transformed in the sixteenth century to meet the growing power of artillery.

After Guise returned to France in 1542, Francis I ordered the ruined castle restored. Claude of Lorraine added bastions, dry ditches and casemates, creating a fortress for a large garrison, with a barracks intended to house three thousand soldiers. It endured further sieges during the Wars of Religion, the Thirty Years' War and the Fronde. In 1636 the French commander Guébriant successfully defended the place against the army of Prince Thomas of Savoy.