The Castle of Bologna

At the end of the path coming from the Trapperie, at the edge of the main road, we discover a
remarkable site, steeped in history: BOLOGNE...
It was the Celts who gave this name to the place: a mound - a small peak - surrounded by other higher peaks. It was here that Habay-la-Neuve was born in the 12th century.
On the hill to the right of the road, on the other side of the pond, there was a large castle, the Castle of Bologna. This fortress guarded the border between the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France.
Its enclosure was to reach nearly 200 meters in length and had several corner towers.
Over the centuries, castle and lordship passed into the hands of different owners.
The castle suffered several attacks. It would have been destroyed in 1558.
Until 1795, Bologna was the seat of a lordship, then of a provost who exercised jurisdiction, over Habay-la-Neuve, Habay-la-Vieille, Houdemont, Rulles and Marbehan as well as the fiefs of Behême, ban dʼAnier, Villers-sur-Semois, Orsinnfaing, Mortinsart and Nantimont.
Bologna had authority over justice, taxation, police, the army, and over mills and kilns.
This system of authority disappeared with the French Revolution and occupation.
The last owners of the estate under the Ancien Régime were the monks of Orval.

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