In 1477 Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, dies. His daughter Mary of Burgundy marries the Habsburg Archduke Maximilian of Austria, who, after Mary's death in 1482, assumes the regency on behalf of her underage son Philip. He pursues a vigorous, imperial policy, leading to clashes with the major cities. This marks the beginning of a ten-year revolt of the Flemish and Brabant cities against Maximilian.
In 1488 Philip of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein and commander of the rebellious troops, conquers Brussels. The then lord of Beersel, loyal to his liege lord Maximilian of Austria, immediately builds up the defence of his castle. His troops disrupt the communication and the provision of supplies to the many Brussels citizens owning properties in the countryside surrounding Brussels After an unsuccessful attempt to seize the Castle of Beersel, the Brussels insurgents return to their city and seek revenge by destroying the magnificent residence of the van Witthem family in the Volderstraat. In 1489, Louis XI, King of France, comes to the rescue of the Brussels militias with a very large and modernised army. The castle is defeated in a just few days thanks to a new warfare technique of the French artillery developed specifically for attacking cities: ultralight and easily transportable artillery, whereby a large amount of firepower is concentrated on one single attack area (22 units capable of firing 96 shots each a day, i.e. one shot every 40 seconds) until a sufficiently large breach has been made for an attack to be launched. During the bombardment, the south tower, the residential section and the gate tower are destroyed. From: Michel de Waha, Les traces du bombardement de Beersel en 1489.
During the archaeological survey in the moat of the Castle of Beersel, different fragments of tiled stoves were found in the archaeological fills of the latrines. As from the second half of the 14th century, the medieval fireplace with chimney gradually evolves into a stove, leading to a considerable improvement of the comfort of living. Tiled stoves consist of two parts, located one on top of the other: a substructure in which the fire is fed from an adjacent room and a superstructure that allows for the heat to be radiated into the room.
The major advantage, contrary to wall fireplaces, is that there is no smoke and dirt being released into the room to be heated and that, thanks to the specific shape of the stove tiles, the heat can radiate much more intensely and over a larger area. Moreover, the tiles can retain the heat of the fire for a while (accumulator), even after the stove has been extinguished. Such stoves are an expensive luxury item that can only be found in nobility houses, castles and monasteries.
Two types of tiled stoves can be distinguished. The earliest examples feature the so-called niche tiles with late Gothic open-work ornamental fronts, originating from the "Nischenkachel" and dating back to the second half of the 15th century. A 16th century tiled stove is constructed of square so-called panel tiles with relief decoration. Remains of this early type of tiles stove were found during the excavations near the western tower. An image is shown above. The original is displayed in the archaeological container.