Hirson

Hirson lay in the wooded country of Thiérache, within the lands of the dukes of Guise. Its castle and mills stood in a frontier region exposed to repeated warfare. The castle chapel was attached to the nearby abbey of Saint-Michel, which also held a share of the mill. The town's old mill, recorded in the twelfth century, ground grain and later included facilities for pressing oil and fulling cloth.

Spanish forces besieged Hirson's castle in 1636, and Turenne retook it the following year. Another Spanish siege in 1650 left the castle almost entirely destroyed, and it was never rebuilt. The mills were also ruined; in 1653 the miller and carpenter Antoine de Landouzy rebuilt them, using stone from the remains of the fortress.