Beaune’s Ramparts

Expansion of the town around the castrum

This period also saw the triumph of Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313, by which Constantine granted Christians freedom to practice their religion and finally put an end to their persecution.

Between 372 and 377, the Beaune area was visited by Saint Martin. He evangelised the entire region, destroyed the temples and altars of the pagan gods and established various religious foundations throughout the countryside, which explains the large number of parishes dedicated to Saint Martin. All the material from the demolition of the temples by the early Christians was used to construct ramparts, known as “Aurelian’s Wall”.

The Castrum meant that about one thousand people could be protected, and it gradually became the heart of an urban area extending beyond the walls along the converging roads. This is how the faubourgs developed; the first ones were Faubourg Saint-Martin (on the west), Faubourg Bretonnière (south) followed by the Bourg-Neuf, renamed Faubourg Saint-Nicolas.

Excavations to the east of the Castrum have uncovered a vast cemetery dating from the 6th and 7th centuries.

In the 8th century, a great army of Saracens swept up the Rhone valley, capturing Mâcon and Chalon before separating into two armies; one headed towards Autun and Sens, and the other crossed the Beaune region to reach Dijon. (This fact, reported mainly by Gandelot and Maurice Chaume, is now challenged by the work of historian Hervé Mouillebouche; see Mouillebouche (H.). — Un autre mythe historiographique: le sac d’Autun par les Sarrasins In: Annales de Bourgogne, t. 82, 2010, p. 5-36.) [Another historiographical myth: the sack of Autun by the Saracens]

Following the victory of Charles Martel in 732, they retreated southward.

Beaune – capital of the dukes of burgundy

The first Duchy of Burgundy was created by Richard, Count of Autun, in 887.

The years around the first millennium marked a turning-point in Beaune’s history. It grew in importance with a powerful religious revival and the development of an active middle class.

The Crusades represented a substantial financial burden for the lords, who had to borrow from the burghers, thus boosting the burghers’ wealth in a thriving city.

These more secure times saw a spate of construction, first on the edge of the castrum and then in the faubourgs along the transport routes. Towards 1000AD the Count of Beaune donated funds for reconstructing the enclosure of Saint-Etienne, destroyed by the Arabs in 731. This vast area contained Beaune’s cemetery which, since the Merovingians, extended from Rue des Tonneliers to Rue Thiers and Rue Poterne, and stretched from the walls of the Castrum to the banks of the Bouzaize.

For a long time this would be the decision-making centre of Beaune. According to tradition, this was where the Town was created by the Charter of Freedom, granted in 1203 by the Duke of Burgundy. It was, in fact, granted in return for a large sum intended to fill the heavily indebted Duchy’s coffers, and to finance the crusade of Eudes III (commonly known as Odo III in English).

The town then experienced a new period of great prosperity and expanded far beyond the castrum along the road from Chalon to Dijon. The map of Beaune, drawn up in the 13th century, had a street-layout that has scarcely changed today. This was also the period when Beaune’s main churches were built, including the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame de Beaune.

The town governed itself, with no intervention by the Duke; as part of its remit, it was responsible for its own security. However, the old castrum had only a historic value, so the town began the construction of its ramparts.

Construction of the current ramparts

The new enceinte enclosed part of the old faubourgs, including the former enclosure of Saint-Etienne, and corresponds to the route the ramparts follow today. Construction took two centuries. This was the time of the Hundred Years’ War, with the English in front of the walls in 1361.

An 8-metre thick rampart was built and moats were dug, using the Aigue for the north-eastern part and the Bouzaize for the western and southern parts, all joining up at the site of the former Lavoir Saint Jacques.

In the 13th century the enceinte included 9 gate-towers and 6 towers, some of which had disappeared two centuries later since too many openings made defence more difficult. Amongst those that disappeared were Porte Dijonnaise, which passed under Tour Blondeau to rejoin the road to Dijon via Gigny, Porte Belvent (or de Chalon or des Bouchers), Porte de la Bussière and Porte Notre Dame. Only the towers, Tour des Poudres and Tour des Billes, remain, as well as a few traces in building foundations (Tour Notre-Dame). The Belfry, which was not an element of the fortifications, was built in the 15th century; with its height of 41m it served as a watch tower.

To begin with, the Belfry had been one of the five towers probably built before the 11th century to protect the population, who had largely moved outside the walls of the Castrum. Acquired by the town in 1395, this tower became the symbol of municipal freedoms and was then raised by several metres in order to install a clock “visible and heard by the entire town”.

The Valois

When the duchy passed to the Valois family, the dukes left Beaune for Dijon. This dynasty ruled in unbroken succession from 1364 (accession of Philip the Bold (Philippe le Hardi)) to 1477 (death of Charles the Bold (Charles le Téméraire)). While Beaune had been fortified by the first Dukes of Burgundy, and in particular by the Capet branch who made it their residence, many fortifications were constructed in the second half of the 15th century under Philip the Good (Philippe Le Bon).

In 1442, Philip the Good demanded that the fortifications be fitted out and held “en bonne seurté et défense” (in good security and defence). The town’s enceinte was thus pierced by 5 gates, listed in 1477: Bourgneuf, Bataille, Echallier, Bretonnière and Saint Martin. They were built as simple quadrangular-shaped towers extending out from the curtain wall and equipped with a drawbridge and portcullis. Between the town’s gates, the enceinte was punctuated by round or square towers. The account books of the second half of the 15th century show that there were sixteen towers. Today the only towers that still exist are Tour Blondeau (mentioned in 1470), Tour Renard (1465), plus Tour des Billes and Tour des Poudres from the 14th century.

Completing the defensive system was a moat; it formed a continuous ring around the ramparts and was fed by the Bouzaize and the Aigue.

The enceinte’s construction, maintenance and later reinforcements represented a considerable expense, especially for a relatively small town (at the end of the 14th century Beaune only had a population of about 3,000 people). The funds came from a number of sources, depending on the period: the Dukes, the Estates of Burgundy (Etats de Bourgogne), the royal treasury (after 1477) and, always, the town!

In order to pay its share, the town obtained from the dukes, and then from the kings, the right for a long time to receive excise duties (this right lasted until the 20th century) and taxes on various products entering (salt, flour, etc.), leaving (wine) or sold in Beaune. It also obtained authorisation to introduce an additional contribution for the upkeep of the fortifications, which the three estates had to pay (this led to some reminders being issued to certain “privileged parties” such as the Notre-Dame Chapter).

In addition, the inhabitants of the surrounding villages (within a radius of some twenty kilometres, as far as Détain, Nolay, Cheilly, Palleau, etc.) were subject to corvées to repair and construct the fortifications. This was the price paid for benefitting from the “droict de retraict” (i.e. the right to seek refuge behind Beaune’s ramparts if there was a threat).

Beaune, a frontier town: reinforcement of the enceinte

Following the death of Charles the Bold (Charles Le Téméraire) in 1477 and Louis XI’s annexation of the Duchy of Burgundy, Beaune rose up in support of Charles the Bold’s daughter, Marie de Bourgogne.

1478 saw terrible reprisals throughout the province. Beaune surrendered after a 5-week siege as a breach had been opened up in the ramparts. The town had to pay a fine of 40.000 écus and surrender all its weapons.

Since the Free County of Burgundy (now the Franche-Comté region) remained part of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgundy became a frontier province and Beaune was only thirty kilometres or so from France’s new frontier. That was why Louis XI strengthened its defences with the construction of a fortress, the Chateau, able to repulse enemy attacks from outside and to put down any revolts from inside, with its fifth tower turned towards Beaune. The fortifications were completed by four large towers (or boulevards), which are still standing:

-Tour des Filles (or Tour de l’Oratoire), built between 1519 and 1524;
-Grosse Tour, built between 1513 and 1517;
-Tour des Dames, or Tour de la Bussière, built between 1513 and 1517;
-Tour des Cordeliers (or Tour de l’Hôtel Dieu), built between 1513 and 1519.
The Château and towers each took several years to build, using large stones in bossage so as to withstand cannonballs and firearms.

New defensive works

One of the final convulsions of the Wars of Religion (2nd half of the 16th century) was the episode of the Catholic League, an ultra-Catholic party, defying the royal power exercised by Henri III. The stronghold of Beaune was assigned to the Duke of Mayenne, who entrusted it to the Leaguers.

Extensive repair work was carried out on the chateau.

After Henri III’s assassination Henri IV opposed the League, which was allied to the King of Spain. Infuriated by the Leaguers who occupied the château, Beaune asked the Marshal, Biron, for help. The town was the scene of heavy fighting, which destroyed all the faubourgs and a part of the town around the chateau. The Leaguers held out for six weeks in the chateau before surrendering. In 1602 Henri IV granted the request from Beaune’s residents for the chateau to be razed to the ground. In the end, of the chateau’s 5 towers, only the one turned towards the town was razed, the upper part was removed from two, and two towers were left standing.

In 1636, during the Thirty Years’ War, Burgundy – then on France’s eastern border – was invaded by the Austrians. General de Gallas of the Holy Roman Empire’s army moved on Beaune, attacked the faubourgs, arrived in front of the walls and then left without taking Beaune. The fortifications were then strengthened in great haste by the Prince de Condé, with the construction in just one year (1636-1637) of four large canted bastions, which are still standing today:

– Bastion Notre Dame, enclosing the Tour Notre Dame;
– Bastion Sainte Anne;
– Bastion Condé;
– Bastion Saint Martin.

Because of the urgency, they were built using stones of a smaller size than those used for the earlier towers.
This ended the third and final phase of rampart construction.

The evolution of the ramparts

With Louis XIV’s annexation of Franche-Comté (1674), France’s frontier moved much further eastwards. In addition military techniques had undergone a great revolution, as illustrated by the “Vauban-style” fortifications. As a result, Beaune’s ramparts had lost their defensive function. At the same time, continuing economic growth and a steadily rising population, plus the new urban planning priorities of the Age of Enlightenment, made them seem a nuisance, and some municipal officials began to modify them, even to remove them in some places.

Despite the town’s difficult financial position, heavily in debt, Mayor J-F. Maufoux (1759-1780) carried out major building work. His first project was to transform the ramparts into a promenade, from Porte Bretonnière to Porte St-Nicolas. He had plane trees planted on the Rempart des Dames and transformed Bastion St-Martin into a tree-lined esplanade that could be reached by ramps and stairs framed by a pediment and two sculptures of lions.

The town’s entrances were also transformed in order to facilitate traffic flow and trade. The old Porte St-Nicolas was replaced by an impressive Triumphal Arch with a double-leaf gate. In the south a new Porte Bretonnière was decided upon; this was at the request of the local residents, who had to negotiate a double bend to go around Bastion Condé when entering or leaving the town. A part of this bastion was demolished so that the road (now Rue Maufoux) and Faubourg Bretonnière were now linked by a straight roadway. The new gate was in the Triumphal Arch style but its decoration was more sober.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Bastion St-Nicolas was levelled and the moat partly filled in. A new coaching inn (Hotel Brian, succeeded by the Reine Pédauque) and a dance hall (the Vauxhall), replaced in 1861 by the Municipal Theatre, were built in this new space. At the end of that century, the rampart and moat between Porte St-Nicolas and Tour de l’Oratoire disappeared, to allow a new local boys’ school and gymnasium (1885) to be built. Further east, Bastion St-Martin was preserved but its wall was partially hidden by the infilling of the moat to create the garden adjoining the Square des Lions (the lions had been introduced by Mayor Maufoux at the end of the 18th century, as described above).

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the ramparts were pierced in several places to extend streets that until then had ended in cul-de-sacs at the foot of the wall (Rue du Collège, Rue Louis-Véry, Rue Armand-Gouffé and the new Avenue de la République above the canalised Bouzaize). Only Rue Charles-Cloutier still retains its original appearance. Similarly, Porte Bretonnière (1869) and Porte St-Martin (1887) were demolished to widen the roadway.

Despite these many changes, made more or less necessary by demographic or economic changes, Beaune still has three-quarters of its enceinte. The crown having transferred their ownership to Beaune at the end of the 18th century, the city sold most of the towers and bastions to private buyers, in particular after the French Revolution. To their credit, these new owners – especially the wine merchants, who used them as wine cellars, and the Hospices de Beaune – took good care of this heritage that we admire today.