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Replacements of Avallon dans l'Yonne

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine urbain
Patrimoine défensif
Rempart
Yonne

Replacements of Avallon

    Remparts
    89200 Avallon
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Crédit photo : photography taken by Christophe.Finot - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Haut Moyen Âge
Moyen Âge central
Bas Moyen Âge
Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
1005
Seat and destruction by Robert le Pieux
1214
Postage Charter
1404–1455
Modernisation by the Dukes of Burgundy
1764–1777
Dismantling of doors
1926
Historical monument classification
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Bastion of the auxerroise door (Box 3): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 15): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 16): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (ca. 17): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (cd. 18): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 31): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 32, 33): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Passage and stairways (Box 34): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 35): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (cd. 36): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (ca. 38): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 39): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (ca. 40): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 45): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Tower of Auxon and parts of the ramparts attached thereto (Box 39, 40, 46, 47): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 50): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Bastion of the small gate and parts of the surrounding ramparts (see Box 52, 53): inscription by decree of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (page 54): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 55, 57): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 58): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Gaujard Tower and parts of the ramparts adjacent thereto (Box 59, 60): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (ca. 63, 65): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 66): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts comprising the garden of the presbytery (cad. 66): inscription by decree of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 71): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Tour des Vaudois and parts of the ramparts (Box 72, 73) and part of the bastion of the Gally coast (Box 74): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Tower of the Chapel and parts of the ramparts adjacent thereto (Box 75, 77): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Part of the bastion of the Gally coast and parts of the surrounding ramparts (Box 79, 81): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 271): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 273): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 274): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Gaffey Tower and remains of ramparts adjacent to it (ca. 286): inscription by decree of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 352): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 423): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 424): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 425, 426, 427): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Parts of the ramparts (Box 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434): inscription by order of 6 December 1926; Tour de l'Eschauguet and parts of the surrounding ramparts (Box 435): inscription by order of 6 December 1926

Key figures

Robert le Pieux - King of France (996–1031) Destroyed the ramparts in 1005.
Jean sans Peur - Duke of Burgundy (1404–1419) Reinforced the defenses (Beurdelaine tower).
Philippe le Bon - Duke of Burgundy (1419–1467) Modernized the ramparts (18 towers, artillery).

Origin and history

The ramparts of Avallon form a defensive system composed of towers, walls and bastions, built on a rocky spur overlooking the Cousin valley. This strategic site, occupied since the Gallo-Roman period, was strengthened in the Middle Ages to protect the city from invasions and conflicts. The natural defences were supplemented by successive enclosures, whose present vestiges date mainly from the twelfth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The first medieval enclosure, probably built after the looting of the High Middle Ages (Sarrazins in 731, Normands in 843), was destroyed in 1005 by King Robert the Pious after a three-month siege. The city, reduced to 300 inhabitants in 1022, took decades to rise. In the 12th century, obtaining a charter of postage (1214) allowed the Avallonnais to rebuild the ramparts and doors, expanding the enclosure to include the new neighborhoods.

During the Hundred Years' War, the Dukes of Burgundy Jean without Fear (1404–1419) and Philip the Good (1455) modernized the fortifications to resist firearms. Jean without Fear had the tower erected in Beurdelaine and reinforced the Auxerroise gate, while Philippe le Bon added eighteen towers (six of which remain today) and adapted the ramparts to artillery. The Clock Tower, serving as a belfry and watchtower, symbolizes this period.

From the 17th century, peace in the kingdom made the ramparts obsolete. The gates were destroyed in 1764 and 1777 to allow urban expansion, and the towers were rented to private individuals (e.g. the Escharguet tower, turned into a dwelling for a surgeon and then a cowman). Ranked historic monuments in 1926, the remains of the ramparts – including the Gaujard, the Vaudois and the Chapître towers – today bear witness to this defensive past.

The site of Avallon, naturally protected by its promontory, played a key role as a Burgundy stronghold in front of the royal estate. His strategic position, between Auxerre and Morvan, made it an issue during the conflicts between the Dukes of Burgundy and the kings of France, until the definitive attachment of Burgundy to the Crown in 1477. The current ramparts, although partially dismantled, remain an identity marker of the city.

Among the remarkable elements, the escharguet tower (15th century), equipped with a scald, illustrates the adaptation of fortifications to the needs of surveillance. Rented in the 16th century to fight the plague, then used as a rural dwelling, it is today municipal property. The strongholds of the Côte-Gally and the missing doors recall the gradual extension of the city beyond its medieval enclosure.

External links