Envermeu () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Infér ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Geography

A town of

light industry Light industry are industries that usually are less capital-intensive than heavy industry and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consumer goods. Most light industry products are produced for ...

and

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

situated in the valley of the

Eaulne The river Eaulne is one of the rivers that flow from the plateau of the eastern Pays de Caux in the Seine-Maritime ''département'' of Normandy in northern France. It is long. The Eaulne's source is at Mortemer. It then flows northwestwards th ...

river, in the

Pays de Caux The Pays de Caux (, , literally ''Land of Caux'') is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French ''département'' of Seine Maritime in Normandy. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs ...

, some east of

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newh ...

, at the junction of the D149 and the D920 roads.

Heraldry

History

Known by various versions of the name over the years, it is first cited as Edremau, around 735–745, then Ebremau and Evremou in 875 then Envremou in the 12th century. The name is derived from the Celtic Eburomagos, based on the terms eburo (

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

) and magos, a market.
Archaeological excavations have unearthed Gallic gold and some Roman coins found at a place called Le Bucq. Many other relics dating after the fall of the Roman Empire have been found northeast of the church. Eight hundred graves were brought to light, with 460 skeletons of warriors with their weapons (

angon The ''angon'' (Medieval Greek , Old High German ''ango'', Old English ''anga'' "hook, point, spike") was a type of javelin used during the Early Middle Ages by the Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Goths, and other Germanic peoples. It was similar to, and ...

seax ''Seax'' (; also sax, sæx, sex; invariant in plural, latinized ''sachsum'') is an Old English word for "knife". In modern archaeology, the term ''seax'' is used specifically for a type of small sword, knife or dagger typical of the Germanic ...

spatha The spatha was a type of straight and long sword, measuring between 0.5 and 1 m (19.7 and 39.4 in), with a handle length of between 18 and 20 cm (7.1 and 7.9 in), in use in the territory of the Roman Empire during the 1st to 6th centuries AD ...

, etc.), also women adorned with jewelry and other ornaments. There were horses'tombs typical for the Germanic tradition, that is often found in the north of Europe, but quite rarely in France. These tombs demonstrate a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

military presence (5th and 6th century), with their families. During the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

era, after the fall of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...

, the village became capital of the “Pays de Talou”.
In a charter dated 912, The Norman leader

Rollo Rollo ( nrf, Rou, ''Rolloun''; non, Hrólfr; french: Rollon; died between 928 and 933) was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, today a region in northern France. He emerged as the outstanding warrior among the Norsemen who had s ...

confirmed his possession of the stronghold of Envermeu.
In 1052, the

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

of Saint-Laurent d'Envermeu was founded on the site of a Gallo-Roman villa by Hugh, Lord of Envermeu and his brother Turold. Following the famine and plague that ravaged the region in 1244, Envermeu only numbered 140 homes. The 13th century was also marked by the construction of the chapel at St. Guillain and the foundation, by Michel Taupin and his wife Amelie Guillemette, of the hospital of Saint-Nicolas.
In 1472, the town of Envermeu was burned down by troops of

Charles the Bold Charles I (Charles Martin; german: Karl Martin; nl, Karel Maarten; 10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), nicknamed the Bold (German: ''der Kühne''; Dutch: ''de Stoute''; french: le Téméraire), was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. ...

, Duke of Burgundy.
During the

Wars of Religion A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war ( la, sanctum bellum), is a war which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to wh ...

, Envermeu was looted by

Protestants Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

from Dieppe, on 8 July 1562.
In 1589, Henri de Navarre (the future

Henri IV Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...

) stayed in Envermeu Castle, which was located on the right bank of the Eaulne. In the 18th century, a massive fire destroyed much of the town, which had at that time a population of 1610.
During the

Napoleonic War The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

s and the liberation of France in 1814, Envermeu had to accommodate the British artillery for 3 months.
The commune experienced rapid growth in the 19th century. In 1827, the post office was established. The current town hall was built in 1865. In 1885, the railway line linking Dieppe with Eu was opened. The electrification of the village was completed in 1892. The market hall was built in 1900.
53 soldiers from Envermeu were killed during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. To their memory, a granite monument was commissioned and inaugurated on 23 November 1919. Envermeu absorbed the hamlets of Hybouville and Saint-Laurent-d'Envermeu in 1822 and Auberville-on-Eaulne in 1843.

Population

Places of interest

* The church of Notre-Dame, dating from the sixteenth century. * A feudal

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively eas ...

at a place called ”le Câtel”, by the river. * The Château d'Hibouville, dating from the sixteenth century. * The Château d'Auberville, now a farm. * A thirteenth-century chapel.

Notable people

Pierre Laffillé Pierre Laffillé was a French painter, (June 1, 1938 – June 4, 2011) born at Envermeu, Seine-Maritime. Biography Pierre Laffillé studied at the Académie Julian in Paris in 1956. He then studied at the École nationale supérieure des Be ...