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Origin and history

The enclosure of Vianne is a medieval vestige of urban fortifications, built around the bastide founded in 1284 by Jean de Grailly, Seneschal d'Agenais, in the name of King Edward I of England. This project is part of a co-seigneury with Jourdain V de l'Isle, the local lord, on land ceded to create a new agglomeration around the Romanesque church of Villelongue. The name Vianne pays tribute to Vianne de Gontaut-Biron, aunt of Jordan, who had bequeathed to him the castle of Mongaillard, a key site of the foundation.

The bastide, organized with six consuls and two squire, received British royal customs in 1286. The stone enclosure, probably built in the early 14th century before the Hundred Years' War, encompasses the church and follows an irregular pentagonal pattern with four doors and round towers. His absence of machicolis suggests a more symbolic than strictly defensive vocation. The Franco-English conflicts (taken successively between 1337 and 1442) and local tensions, such as the execution of Jourdain de l'Isle in 1323 for rebellion, mark its history.

The enclosure, repaired until the 18th century to protect itself from marauders, deteriorated in the 19th century before being classified as a historical monument in 1886. Major restorations took place between 1901 and 1909 (doors, round towers) under the direction of Henry Rapine, chief architect of the Historic Monuments, then in the 21st century for the North Square Tower. Today, it illustrates the bastidary architecture and political stakes of medieval Agenas, between French and English royalities.

The site preserves traces of its original urban organization: two perpendicular streets leading to the gates, a central square, and a Romanesque church integrated into the fortified perimeter. The remains, including two round towers and a foothill dated 1610, show successive adaptations. The chapter of Agen, heir to the seigneurial rights of Jourdain of Isle, finally gave way to coseigneuria in 1747, concluding an enlivened feudal history.

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