It is said throughout Europe that one cannot travel 5 miles without seeing the remains of at least one castle. This is more than true of France, where several races fought to secure their hard won heritage and grow into neighbouring lands to preserve their rights for the next generation.

Saint-Omer Castle dates back to the ancient Normans and Vikings who settled the Flanders, Arras area.

In modern records we have found traces of the Castle Saint-Omer showing that the status of the property is now – “data unavailable”.

Notes on the history of Castle Saint-Omer through the centuries, show the following in the earliest records; Bagod d'Arras, Carlovingian Counts.

Many families were affiliated with this ancient relic throughout the centuries of  illustrious history, whether as lords, guardians, paxmen or servants and here’s a sampling of just some of those families;  - d' Arras.

Why not check which castle your family was associated with in the pages of history?(As you can see, they have now gone ofline. It seems that they still have their Domain Name and have not yet abondoned their site since they must have evidently given Godaddy the availability to use it.

Maybe there will come a time when they will come back again and give us much more information than they once had. That would be a very nice to see that they have digged out things that have never been found before. Let us hope this to be the case. Oh well, we will just wait and see.) JMB

Our combines Search Engine query brings you samplings of the research that its taken us over 25 years to compile on each family history.

A castle is just a small part of the intricate tapestry of the history of each ancient family.

The castellan of Saint-Omer is first mentioned in 938; those of other castles not before the eleventh century, and in some cases not before the twelfth. This may be a mere incident, for our sourses of information in these centuries are scanty. But it is possible that the castellan was not a personage of importance before the eleventh century, and that his administrative powers were grafted by degrees upon the office of a local military commander, as the county of Flanders expanded into a substantual principality and the counts began to feel the necessity of an organized system of administration.

By the twelfth century the castelry began recognized as a jurisdictional unit, and became a short-lived institution; for in the thirteenth century we find that the power of the castellan is slipping from his hands and that the castelry is honeycomed with priviledged areas.

There is, however, a more certain inference which can be deduced from these chronological data. The Flemish castelry, considered as an administrative and judicial organization, is not of French or German origin. Flanders was completely divided into castelries before the neighboring powers began to appreciate and to adopt the new system.