Kasteel De Burg

Lummen, Belgium, Belgium

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Kasteel De Burg in Lummen, Belgium, is the oldest known castle in the municipality and one of the earliest noble residences in the area, with its history stretching back to the 13th century.

It was first recorded in 1203, when Count Louis II of Loon donated the castle together with the lordship of Lummen to the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and then received it back as a fief, showing its early importance as a strategic and administrative site. Originally a fortified watercastle with a military function, the building was later rebuilt and transformed, retaining a core from the 16th century while gradually acquiring a neoclassical appearance through successive alterations over the centuries.

From 1350 to 1820 the castle was owned by the van der Marck family, whose most famous member was Willem II van der Marck Lumey, known as Lumey the Sea Beggar, who played a prominent role in the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule. In later centuries the property passed by marriage to the Arenberg family and then, in 1837, was bought by Laurens Renier Palmers, a jenever producer from Stevoort, before eventually coming into the hands of the Briers family, who are linked to the writer Georges Virres under the name Henry Briers de Lumey.