The Château de Pierrefonds includes most of the characteristics of defensive military architecture from the Middle Ages, though it underwent a major restoration in the 19th century.

Two centuries later, in 1392, King Charles VI turned the County of Valois (of which Pierrefonds was part) into a duchy and gave it to his brother Louis I, Duke of Orléans.

In March 1617, during the early troubled days of Louis XIII's reign, the castle, then the property of François Annibal d'Estrées (brother of the beauty Gabrielle d'Estrées), who joined the "parti des mécontents" (party of discontent) led by Henri II, Prince of Condé, was besieged and taken by troops sent by Cardinal Richelieu, the secretary of state for war.

During the 19th century, with the rediscovery of the architectural heritage of the Middle Ages, it became a "romantic ruin": in August 1832, Louis-Philippe gave a banquet there on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter Louise of Orléans to Léopold de Saxe-Cobourg Gotha, first king of the Belgians.

[3] The castle has often been used as a location for filming including Les Visiteurs, Le Capitan, Highlander: The Series, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc and the 1998 version of The Man in the Iron Mask.