Crevecoeur Castle

Crevecoeur Castle - Château fort de Crèvecœur, Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, Namur Province, Walloon Region, Kingdom of Belgium.

The original Crevecoeur tower, built around 1320, the original keep of Crèvecœur reinforced the town and castle's defensive system. Around the mid-14th century, a rampart was added to the structure to strengthen its western defenses. Around 1430, a horseshoe-shaped tower was added on the Meuse side. Finally, the gun ports were adapted to the rapid evolution of firearms.
Crèvecœur suffered partial destruction during the 1554 siege by Henry II. Despite some repairs, the fortress was definitively dismantled in 1672.
In the 19th century, several phases of restoration disfigured the site and made it difficult to understand.
In 2012, the Walloon Public Service (Heritage Department), which had owned the site since 2003, undertook restoration and enhancement work with three objectives: ensuring visitor safety, consolidating the remains, and improving the monument's legibility.
The legend of the Ladies of Crèvecœur tells of a time when, during a siege, the town of Bouvignes was ravaged by fire and bloodshed; many burghers perished. Three of the finest knights, their wives, and their personal guards took refuge behind the walls of Crèvecœur. The battle raged. The beautiful women supported their husbands by tending to the wounded. Under the onslaught, the walls crumbled, and the French army breached the fortress. The noble and valiant knights fell beneath the attackers' blows. The three ladies had no choice but to take refuge with a few wounded in the highest tower of the castle. Seeing the troops advance, they went to the ramparts and prayed to God. Preferring death to capture, the three valiant wives threw themselves, entwined in arms, from the top of the tower.
As the legend goes:
Since that most dignified death That breaks our hearts, The old castle of Bouvignes was called Crèvecœur.
Historiography generally associates this legend with the sacking of the town by the troops of Henry II, King of France, which occurred on July 8, 1554. However, archival research tends to link it to the siege of 1430. So, the Three Ladies of Crèvecœur, legend or reality? Isn't there a grain of truth in every legend?