Bouchout Castle - Peter-Ferdinand Roose

Peter-Ferdinand Roose

Peter-Ferdinand Roose was born in Antwerp. He was the son of Jan-Karel Roose († 1641), the mayor of the city of Antwerp and Anna Fredericks van Bouckhorst, lady of Séclin. After his parents died, Peter-Ferdinand became the foster son of his oncle Peter Roose who was an important advisor of Filips IV, King of Spain. In this period, the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands were at war with its suppressor Spain, which ended with a final separation at 1648 (Peace of Münster). During his career, Peter Roose had acquired a number of domains including Froidmont, Jemeppe, Han and Granvelle. Since he did not have any direct heirs, his family including his foster son Peter Ferdinand were well taken care of. Peter-Ferdinand became a lawyer and acquired Bouchout Castle in 1673 from Renom de France since he had many debts. In France, this was the period of the Renaissance during which Louis XIV of France created the Palace of Versailles.

Also Brussels developed into a fashionable capital were wigs and glamour for the happy few were common items. Peter-Ferdinand Roose transformed the medieval Castle into a Renaissance castle surrounded with French ornamental gardens. Most likely, Bouchout Castle was decorated with a wealth of paintings, classy furniture and closets full with books. You may notice that the drawbridge in the etching of Jacobus Harrewijn is more in proportion as compared to the drawing of Jan Baptist Gramaye (1606). In 1700, Peter-Ferdinand died without any heirs and he joined the ornamental family grave at the chapel of the St.Goedekerk (Brussels) besides his uncle Peter Roose.

During the French Revolution and the subsequent domination of the Southern Netherlands (1797–1830), Bouchout Castle was partly destroyed. The wooden bridge was dismantled and used to warm the French soldiers during the severe winter of 1795, while that part of the pond was filled up to facilitate the entrance to the castle. Further, the complete enforcement at the front was destroyed and the castle was also looted by the soldiers. Clearly, Bouchout suffered a lot during the French dominance.