The Château de Vaudémont is a ruined 11th-century castle. At its greatest extent the castle measures about 500 by 250 metres.
The castle is one of a group of four castles built around the same time on highland sites along the Moselle valley between Nancy and Metz in northeast France. The other three castles are Dieulouard, Mousson, and Prény; of the four, Château de Vaudémont is the largest and best preserved. It was built as a hill castle in the 11th century for the Counts of Vaudémont, possibly for Gérard I (1071 – c.1120). The architect is unknown. The remains are part of the curtain wall and the keep, the so-called tour Brunehaut (Brunehaut tower) constructed with recycled Gallo-Roman remains. It was repaired during the 15th century, dismantled in 1639 on the orders of Louis XIII, and restored in 1930.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.