Altembrouck Estate

Altenbroek, 's Gravenvoeren: Landgoed Altembrouck

Altembrouck is located in the middle of the Voer region, an area between Liège, Maastricht and Aachen, which has remained unchanged in terms of landscape for centuries. Even though it seems that time has stood still here, the historiography is no less fascinating.
Once upon a time there was a small shire (the Luigau) in the early Middle Ages, where the main court was located here in 's-Gravenvoeren. At that time, Voeren was a Carolingian crown domain governed (managed) by a count. In 878, the agreement on the division of Lorraine was concluded between the King of France, Louis the Stammerer and the King of Germany, Louis the Narrow, the respective sons of Charles the Bald and his brother Louis the German who had the historic meeting in Meerssen in 870.
From a donation from Count Conrad in 1083 we know that the parish of Voeren consisted of the present church villages of 's-Gravenvoeren, Noorbeek, Mheer and Banholt, Warsage and Aubel, Sint Martenvoeren, Sit Pietersvoeren, St. Jean-Sart and Slenaken.
Around 1100 Count Thibald was also lord of Valkenburg. On thibald's childless death in 1106, the count of Voeren was moved to neighbouring Dalhem. Just to show how closely this region was once intertwined.
In the middle of this historic area was a "Broeke bi Voeren" around 1300. Etymologically, "pants" means: drained and recreated in pastures swamp. In the course of time, a number of wetlands have indeed been turned into hayfields and meadows by drainage works (such as the construction of ponds). The oldest known lord of Broek (anno 1314) is a certain Jan van Voeren, probably a distant descendant of the counts of Voeren. In his time Altembrouck was a fief of the Counts of Dalhem.
In 1371 Reinier van de Broekke took part in the famous Battle of Baesweiler.
From 1355 to 1511 the castle was owned by the Melcops family. Through marriage it came into the possession of the Holset family who lived there until 1624.
In the 16th century, when "our" Broek (or Brook as Voerenaars say) is connected to the van Hoensbroek family, the name evolves into "Aldenbroek", the old Broek in contrast to the younger Broek van Hoen. The coat of arms of Altenbroek and the coat of arms of Hoensbroek have common quarters. In 1629 Altembrouck became the property of Jan de Berghe, also Lord of Noorbeek.
In 1714, knight de Winckel, lord of Altenbroek and of the lordship of Noorbeek, is still connected to Hoensbroek through his position as aide-de-camp to Antonius van Hoensbroek.
The most famous owner of Altembrouck is the de Schiervel family. She arrived at the castle in 1790 when the lawyer Pierre Joseph de Schiervel married the heiress of the then owner de Fassin, Marie Claire. Father de Fassin then leaves Altembrouck and gives castle and farm to his son-in-law. This gave rise to the legend that Carolus Waelbers spun out in his poem: "Op Waterloo" The young de Schiervel takes the management of the farm personally into his hands and when Napoleon closed the borders with England, he introduced sheep farming in the valley of the Noorbeek. As chief of the Schiervels on Altembrouck, he was an eminent personality. From 1812 to 1827 he was mayor of 's-Gravenvoeren and before 1830 member of the House of Representatives of the States General of the Netherlands. He later became a knight of the Order of the Belgian Lion. He died in Altembrouck on 25 Jan. 1831 at the age of 76. His son Louis de Schiervel became governor of the new Belgian province of Limburg and made himself subservient by, among other things, the construction of a new road between Hasselt and Maastricht. Out of gratitude for the services rendered, the city council of Hasselt had the boulevard between Kuringen and Luikerpoort named the Schiervellaan. His brother, Henri de Schiervel, became mayor of 's-Gravenvoeren just like his father and lived at Altembrouck until his death. He first experienced the independence of Belgium and then had to accept that present-day Dutch Limburg was forcibly ceded to the Netherlands. This was a heavy blow for 's-Gravenvoeren because the new Belgian-Dutch border, which ran right through the Altembrouck estate, closed off from the villages in the Netherlands, such as Mheer, Noorbeek and Slenaken, with which it previously formed an economic unit (which spanned the entire area between Valkenburg and Dalhem).

Henri's son Jacques Gustave de Schiervel, acquired the title baron from his uncle Louis, the governor, after his marriage to the daughter of the well-known Charles Ghislain Vilain XIIII (Vilain quatorze), member of the National Congress (the first Belgian government), later Minister of Foreign Affairs and Extraordinary Minister of the Vatican.
A daughter of this union, Marie-Philipine Ghislaine Josephine, married Arthur de Behault in 1878, the grandfather of Monsieur Jean and Monsieur André, still known to many old Voerenaren. Gustave baron de Schiervel was buried on his death in 1898 in the family crypt next to the parish church of 's-Gravenvoeren. With his passing, the permanent residence of Altembrouck came to a temporary end.

The Behaults were housed in Ghent at Gend'hof Castle in Buggenhout. Arthur de Behault's son, Adrien, born February 7, 1884, was an officer during the war 1914-1918 and married Annette de la Croix, daughter of the Prime Minister de la Croix (after 1914-1918). It was Adrien de Behault who, together with his wife and three sons, used Altembrouck as a summer residence. On their death, the estate is divided. Castle and park go to son Jean, farm and lands to son André.
In 1994 the castle was sold by their heirs to the current residents. Well a year later, farm and estates were also purchased, eventually reuniting the estate. After 100 years, the castle is now bustling with activity again.

Eijsden-Margraten