Chateau de Horst

The castle of Horst is a castle in Sint-Pieters-Rode (part of Holsbeek in Flanders). The castle is well preserved and still has the traditional moat. The castle has a very large pond annex moat. Outside the moat there is also a coach house, which was restored in the 90s of the 20th century and converted into tavern.

The oldest known lords of Horst are Jan van Horst and his son Arnold (13th century). Jan van Horst, together with his sons Arnold and Adam van Landwijk, belongs to the Van Thunen family. Later, when they settled permanently in Horst, the family started calling themselves 'van Horst'.

In 1369, the Horst was sold to Amelric Boote. When Amelric died in 1405, his daughter Elisabeth inherited the glory and sold it to her cousin Amelric Pynnock. Pynnock converted the fortified farm into a moated castle. During the uprising of 1488-1489 against Maximilian of Austria, the castle was destroyed. The then owner, Lodewijk III Pynnock, rebuilt the castle with a loan from Maximilian of Austria but still got into financial difficulties. That is why in August 1500 he had to relinquish Horst to Ivan van Cortenbach.

At the end of the 15th century, the square donjon, the auditorium and the camera were also built, which still exist today. Under Franchoys van Busleyden (1545-1555) the large cross windows were placed on the canal side, so that the castle lost its strength. In 1587 Horst was destroyed by the Beggars. The forest, near the castle (the current Horststraat) was then called the heretic [2]. In the 17th century the two westerly wings with offices below and pronk halls were built up by Olivier van Schoonhoven. At that time the chapel was also added. Maria-Anne van den Tympel, the last castle lady, had the plaster ceilings installed in the large halls of the western wing in 1655.