Domfront Castle

THE DOMFRONT FOUNDATION

The region which will later be called Domfrontais, or more broadly Passais (from Passus, the step, the passage, the region we are crossing) experienced sparse settlement in protohistoric times. Witness some menhirs (Le Perron), dolmens (La Table au diable à Passais, Le Lit de la Gione in Andaine forest, ...) and covered alleys (La Bertinière à La Sauvagère). In Celtic times, it was located at the northern limits of the territory of the Gallic tribe of Aulerques Diablintes. The Roman implantation was limited there, even if the north-south Roman road which linked Vieux, capital of Viducasses, to Jublains, capital of Diablintes, crossed it.

Evangelism was late. It was not until the 6th century that missionaries (Saint Bômer, Saint Fraimbault, Saint Ernée, Saint Auvieu, Saint Ortaire, ...), no doubt sent by the bishops of Le Mans, converted the inhabitants of primitive villages or, living as hermits in the forests, attracted the populations to the first clearings of clearing. Thus was formed the mesh of the parishes. That of Saint-Front, long before Domfront, owes its name to one of these evangelizers, even if, later, it was confused with that of Périgord.

The foundation of Domfront is apparently due to the lords of Bellême. Lineage appeared during the 10th century, the Bellême had, between Normandy in the North, Maine and Anjou in the south, paying homage to each other, counts of Anjou, Capétiens, dukes of Normandy,? succeeded in creating a buffer seigneury which extended from Bellême in the east to Domfront in the west via Alençon. Around 1010, William I of Bellême, both to mark his presence and his authority as to enhance this part of his domains, installed Benedictine monks in Lonlay (8 km northwest of Domfront) and founded a castle on the spur overlooking the Varenne cluse. This primitive castle was to be a simple wooden enclosure, with a tower perhaps masonry. No archaeological trace was found, but it is attested by the texts. Attracted by the protection offered by the castle, populations came to settle in the extension of the spur, giving birth to the city. Domfront is therefore a castral town, born from the castle. The Bellêmes created for him and the castle a particular parish, enclosed in the territory of the old parish of Saint-Front. Until the Revolution, Domfront (limited to the layout of the ramparts and Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau) and Saint-Front were now two separate parishes.

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

Between 1048 and 1052 Geoffroy II Martel, count of Anjou, tried to control the region. His attempt provoked a reply from Guillaume le Bâtard, Duke of Normandy (future Conqueror), who came to besiege and take the castle, de facto confiscated from Bellême. The region, the Passais, was annexed to Normandy; it is the part of the duchy which became Norman at the latest. On the religious level, it continued to depend until the revolution of the bishopric of Le Mans.

HENRI Ier BEAUCLERC, LORD OF DOMFRONT

In 1087, on the death of the Conqueror, Robert II of Bellême drove out the ducal garrison and took over the castle. Ordéric Vital, a partial chronicler, describes him as a tyrant. It seems that the population of Domfront revolted against him in 1092, and gave themselves to Henri, 3rd son of William the Conqueror, who had not received domains during the succession of his father. This was the origin of Domfront's fortune in the 12th century and beyond, because shortly after, in 1100, on the death of his brother Guillaume le Roux, Henri Beauclerc became king of England, then duke of Normandy in 1106 after his victory against his other brother Robert Courteheuse at the battle of Tinchebray, not far from Domfront. He had thus reconstituted his father's estate.

From then on, the Lord of Domfront was none other than the Duke-King. Powerful and rich, he completely remodeled the castle, enlarged its enclosure and built, perhaps around 1120, the enormous dungeon of which there are still vestiges. It was also a period of prosperity for the Lonlay Abbey, which rebuilt its abbey church (the transept and its interesting series of capitals still exist from this period), and its priories: Saint-Michel de Goult, and especially at Domfront Saint -Symphorien, located within the castle, and Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau, below the spur.

PLANTAGENET

After his death in 1135, his possessions were disputed between Etienne de Blois, grandson of William the Conqueror by his mother, and his daughter Mathilde, widow of Emperor Henri V, hence her nickname Emperor, remarried to Geoffroy V Plantagenêt, count of Anjou and Maine. It quickly conquered the Domfront, then more difficult the whole of Normandy. A compromise was found with Etienne, who retained the throne of England his life during, on condition of recognizing Plantagenêt as heir. Geoffroy died in 1152, and it was his son Henri who received the crown of England on the death of Etienne, in 1154. He had married the Duchess of Aquitaine Aliénor, divorced from the king of France Louis VII: the couple owned thus a vast territorial unit which extended from the borders of Scotland to the Pyrenees. In addition, he indirectly controlled Brittany whose heiress, Constance, married their third son, Geoffroy, and of whom she had a son, Arthur.

Located in the middle of this set which is called "the plantagenêt empire", the castle of Domfront was a stage for these great characters perpetually in movement. Several stays of the Anglo-Norman sovereigns are attested. In 1161, one of their daughters, also named Aliénor, was baptized there (later married to the king of Castille Alphonse VIII, she herself had for daughter Blanche de Castille: the grandmother of Saint Louis was therefore born in Domfront) . In August 1169, Henry II received legates from the Pope charged with reconciling him with Thomas Becket, but the interview was a failure.

Richard Coeur-de-Lion succeeded his father in 1189. His presence at Domfront is attested on several occasions. After his death in 1199, his brother Jean-sans-Terre ascended the throne and eliminated his nephew Arthur of Brittany. Summoned to appear at the court of the King of France Philippe Auguste, of whom he was the vassal for his continental fiefs, he refused. The conflict was looming; he strengthened the defenses of his castles, including that of Domfront, which did not prevent the King of France from taking all of his estates north of the Loire, including Normandy and Domfront, in 1204.

FROM PHILIPPE AUGUSTE TO THE HUNDRED YEAR WAR

The king gave Domfront to his friend and vassal Renaud de Dammartin, but the latter betrayed him in favor of Jean-sans-Terre from 1211. Philippe Auguste came in person to besiege and take over Domfront, which he gave to his son Philippe Hurepel . He founded the village of Epinay, south-west of Domfront. He died in 1234, and his daughter Jeanne, wife of Gaucher de Châtillon, inherited his estates. The couple disappeared in 1250-1251 without leaving an heir. Domfront then returned to the royal domain.

In 1256, on the return from a pilgrimage to Mont-Saint-Michel, Saint Louis passed to Domfront. A few years later, in 1269, he gave Domfront to his nephew Robert II, count of Artois, in order to constitute a dower for his wife. Robert II came several times to Domfront; in his absence a bailiff administered the estate. Many documents remain for this period, which is particularly well known to local historians.

When he died in 1302, his daughter Mahaut and his grandson Robert (III), the protagonists of the Cursed Kings, disputed his inheritance. Robert did not obtain Artois, but he received the other domains from Robert II and he was therefore Lord of Domfront from 1309 to 1331. Having had false documents to support his claim on Artois, he had to flee the kingdom and his estates were confiscated by King Philip VI. The Châtellenie de Domfront then became a small viscount, comprising 40 parishes, which then depended on the Bailiwick of Cotentin.

In 1342, he donated Domfront to his nephew and godson Philippe d'Alençon. Shortly after, the viscounty was officially incorporated into the county (then duchy in 1404) of Alençon.

DOMFRONT IN THE HUNDRED YEAR WAR

If the city and its castle were spared during the ride of Edward III in 1346, they were taken in November 1356 by a troop made up of Englishmen (the truck drivers of Robert Knolles) and Norman partisans of Charles of Navarre, said le Mauvais, cousin of the king of France, count of Evreux and Mortain. Despite the Treaty of Brétigny (1360). It was not until 1366 and the English were paid to agree to vacate the castle.

After having crushed the French army in Azincourt in October 1415, the king of England Henri V could easily undertake the systematic conquest of Normandy from 1417. The English began the siege of the castle in November, and the garrison of the duke of 'Alençon gave way on July 22: it was one of the longest seats in the campaign with that of Rouen. The occupiers appointed new officers to administer the country, and a strong garrison occupied the castle, which served as a rear base for English troops fighting in Maine, further south, on what is known as the "war barrier" . Many documents remain from this period. The English stayed at the Domfront until the very end. They returned the place on August 2, 1450, 15 days before Cherbourg, the penultimate place taken again by the army of the king of France Charles VII.

END OF THE MIDDLE AGES AND MODERN ERA

With the end of the Hundred Years War, Domfront ceased to play a major role. The city however suffered from troubles at the end of the Middle Ages, then in modern times. In 1466-1467, John II, Duke of Alençon was part of the league of rebellious princes against Louis XI during what was called The War of the Public Good. The city and the region were ravaged by the troops of the Duke of Brittany, his ally, who occupied the castle. Domfront later suffered the wars of religion. The Protestants pillaged the Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau church and occupied the castle for a time. In May 1574, the Protestant chief Gabriel de Montgomery was captured there after a siege of a few days by the Catholic and royal army of Marshal Matignon; he was executed a few days later in Paris. A few years later, the leaguers opposed to Henri IV occupied the place. Vulnerable, except to maintain a costly garrison there, capable of serving as a refuge for various bands of opponents or brigands, the fortress had become useless. It was dismantled in 1610 following an order from Sully, Minister of Henri IV, dated June 21, 1608. The bourgeois recovered the stones from the sections of walls ruined by the explosions and installed vegetable gardens inside the enclosure .

In town, the most notable fact was the creation of a college, in 1689, on the "Grande Brière", the summit of the ridge located east of the ramparts of the medieval city. The Eudists took charge of it in 1727. The chapel was built from 1730 to 1732. The incidents caused by college students often hit the local headlines. In 1788, Louis XVI in person was informed, and the college was threatened with closure!

REVOLUTIONARY AND POST-REVOLUTIONARY EPISODES

During the revolution, Domfront was rather "blue", revolutionary, but without excess. The religious refused to take the constitutional oath, they were expelled and the college was closed (1792). The region was, however, a land of active chouannerie, and the bands led by Louis de Frotté long defeated government forces. Frotté was finally arrested despite a safe conduct while on his way to talks, and executed on Bonaparte's orders in 1800.

When the departments were created, the delimitation between the Orne and the Mayenne was very complicated, because the old Passais was originally in Maine. At the southern limits of the viscount, many parishes, known as "mixed", straddled Normandy and Maine. It sometimes took until the 1840s for all cases to be resolved. Some communes (former parishes) of the former viscounty were entirely located in Mayenne (Lesbois, Le Housseau, ...), others in Orne (Céaucé, Saint-Fraimbault), others were shared (Vaucé). It was also at this time that the parish of Saint-Front was joined to that of Domfront to form the only commune of Domfront.

In 1836, despite the protests of Prosper Mérimée, first inspector of Historic Monuments, the 4 western spans of the nave of Notre-Dame-sur-l'Eau (which had 6) and the aisles were cut down to widen the road . In compensation, if one can say, the building was classified as a Historic Monument in 1846 (first list of HD). It has benefited from numerous restoration and maintenance works, and this until recent years.

MODERN PERIOD

Small town of services (sub-prefecture [until 1926], lawyers, ...), animated by large fairs and other agricultural meetings very frequented, the fate of Domfront in modern times offers nothing of 'original. It was, however, one of the very first cities in France whose public lighting was electric (1885), and we had come to admire this progress from far away. When the Church and the State separated, the college chapel was abandoned, then transformed into a municipal theater. In 1926, a new Saint-Julien church with revolutionary architecture for the time and built in concrete, due to the architect Guilbert, replaced the previous one in the old town.

Like all of France, the small town suffered from the occupation: restrictions, arrests of hostages and resistance fighters. On June 14, 1944, Domfront was severely bombed by American aviation: the station area, near the hospital and Notre-Dame sur l'Eau and the "grand crossroads" and rue des Barbacannes, at the foot of ramparts were particularly affected. Fortunately, the upper town was spared, with some exceptions (north of Place Saint-Julien, Place du Panorama). American troops arrived on August 14.

Despite the establishment of industries (LUREM woodworking machines, PRESIDENT cheeses, MOULINEX, ...) the small town suffered from its isolation at the end of the 20th century. The industrial crisis made him lose many jobs from the 1990s. Moulinex closes; more recently Lurem ... Enhancing its site, promoting its history, developing "green" tourism are more than ever one of the keys to its future.