Renesse Castle

In 1459 his daughter Elisabeth married Wouter van Hamal, who thereby inherited the Oostmalle domain, and added vast property in present-day provinces of Limburg and Liège.

He was Drossaard of Diest and Breda, Councilor of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and stadtholder of the Netherlands, Zeeland and Friesland.

In 1542, William Duke of Guelder rose against Emperor Charles V. His troops were led by Maarten van Rossum, notorious for his pillage of the Campine region.

Some famous guests who stayed at the castle were emperor Charles V (1545, 1548), Margaret of Parma (1561), Lamoral, Count of Egmont and his wife, William I of Orange-Nassau, to name a few.

On 28 July 1561, Frederik van Renesse succeeded his father as Lord of Oostmalle, he married Helena Torck.

In 1700, Count Francis Hyacinthus van Renesse, allowed secretary Peter De Jonghe to live in the service building.

On 6 October 1830, Count Clement-Wenceslas de Renesse-Breidbach sold the castle and the domain to Viscount Leonard Pierre Joseph du Bus de Gisignies, who had been commissioner-general of the Dutch East Indies, for the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and afterwards was appointed Minister of State by William I of the Netherlands.

Léonard du Bus de Gisignies renovated the old service building into a country house with large windows and redesigned the interiors in Empire style.

Maximilian then married Godelieve, the only daughter of Viscount Chretien du Bus de Gisignies (1845–1883), younger brother of Bernard Daniel, and together they had seven children.

The tornado which devastated Oostmalle on 25 June 1967, spared the castle but the damage in the park remains visible until today.