Saint-Rémi in Bosmont-sur-Serre is an extraordinary church in many respects, and also an extremely beautiful church. The combination of a Romanesque nave and a fortified keep, both in a well-preserved state, is a rarity.

Unfortunately, like many churches in the immediate vicinity, it is locked without information about a key, so that some of the highlights of the church cannot be visited. But first things first.

The white stone choir and nave are Romanesque, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries. The side portal, beautiful in its simplicity, and the ten arched windows that run around the nave give the building a calm harmony.

This contrasts with the robust military body of the keep, which was built from red bricks in the 15th century. This is attached to the side of the nave in a way that is completely atypical for the region, symmetrical to a small side chapel dedicated to the de La Tour du Pin family and decorated with glazed tiles in a diamond shape.

The perfect interplay between white and red gives Saint-Rémi a certain uniqueness.
Unfortunately, the most impressive elements can only be discovered if you enter the keep (which we were unable to do). At a height of around 2 metres above the ground, engraved stones are set into the walls, glorifying the “successes” of the Catholics during the Wars of Religion between 1562 and 1598 in old French and verse.

One of these inscriptions in particular mentions the death of the “rebellious” Admiral de Coligny in 1572, who was murdered in the St Bartholomew massacre. These rare testimonies are a reminder that the Thiérache suffered not only from foreign invasions, but also from the bloody fratricidal battles between the French.