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Château d'Anvaing

castle in Wallonia

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ2085724
Source-derived summary

Anvaing Castle (French: Château d'Anvaing) or Château de Lannoy is a historic residence in the village of Anvaing in the municipality of Frasnes-lez-Anvaing, province of Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium.

The site of the Château d'Anvaing has been occupied by a castle since the time of the First Crusade. The first known reference dates from 1127. There is little documentation of the buildings on the site however until the reconstructions of 1561 and 1800. The owners were apparently the Roubaix family, judging from the arms on an early part of the building, and later the comital branch of the de Lannoy family whose descendants still own it. Stéphanie, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, born to the de Lannoy family, grew up in the castle.

The castle is chiefly notable as the place in which the Belgian capitulation was signed on 28 May 1940, during the Battle of the Lys. At the time, it served as the headquarters of the German 6th Army. The Belgian plenipotentiaries arrived at the castle at 9:35 am. Shortly afterwards, General Olivier Derousseaux and Commandant Liagre were received by General Walther von Reichenau and Major-General Friedrich Paulus.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Château d'Anvaing” is castle in Wallonia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Château, d'Anvaing and castle, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1127, 1561, 1800, 1940—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1127. For this dossier, Château, d'Anvaing and castle is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “castle in Wallonia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2085724. Authority coordinates are 50.676, 3.577. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1127, 1561, 1800 and 1940.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Château d'Anvaing”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Château d'Anvaing primary sources, Château d'Anvaing archive and Château research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Château d'Anvaing”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Château d'Anvaing” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.