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-Infà ...
, in
Normandy
Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
. Covering an area of , this
beech
Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...
A narrow band more than 30 km long and 5 to 6 km wide, the Eu Forest covers the easternmost part of the
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
plateau that separates the
Yères
The Yères () is a river of Normandy, France, in length, flowing through the department of Seine-Maritime.
Geography
The river's source is in the forest of Eu, just south of the village of Aubermesnil-aux-Érables. Its course takes a northerl ...
and
Bresle
Bresle (; Picard: ''Brèle'') is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
Geography
Bresle is situated on the D226 road, some northwest of Amiens.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Somme department
The ...
rivers to the south-east of the town of Eu. This area extends from
Saint-Pierre-en-Val
Saint-Pierre-en-Val () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France.
Geography
A forestry and farming village situated in the valley of the river Bresle in the Pays de Bray, some northeast of Dieppe, ...
, near Eu to the surroundings of
Aumale
Aumale (), formerly known as Albemarle," is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. It lies on the River Bresle.
History
The town's Latin name was ''Alba Marla''. It was raised by William ...
Natura 2000
Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...
' site.
The Upper Eu forest and Yères and Bresle valleys are in a ''Natural zone of ecological interest, fauna and flora'' (' or ''ZNIEFF'').
The Lower Eu forest is also in a ''Natural zone of ecological interest, fauna and flora''.
History and exploitation
The history of this forest begins with the abandonment, in the third century, of the
Gallo-Roman
Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...
Robert, Count of Eu
Robert, Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings (died between 1089 and 1093) was a Norman nobleman, son of William I, Count of Eu, and his wife Lesceline. He was a member of the House of Normandy and held the titles Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings.
Ro ...
tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...
of
pannage
Pannage is the practice of releasing livestock- pigs in a forest, so that they can feed on fallen acorns, beechmast, chestnuts or other nuts. Historically, it was a right or privilege granted to local people on common land or in royal forests ...
of the forest of Eu and all the sartage of this same forest. By a charter of August 1282, Jean 1st of Brienne, Count of Eu, undoubtedly at the instigation of his viscounts, limited the monks' pannage in the forest of Eu to eight free-range pigs, while maintaining free pasture for all their animals in the forest.
It seems that the forest covered, until the year 1000, the whole plateau separating the valleys of Yères and Bresle; large clearances were then undertaken from the 11th century to the 13th century. It was the time of initial fragmentation of the forest by cultivated fields which still divide the current forest of Eu into three massifs. Land clearing slowed in the 14th century with the start of the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...
, the invasions of the troops of the King of England put an end to the prosperity of Normandy. This reduction of clearance continued despite the return to peace due to the development of regular logging. The
Counts of Eu
This is a list of the counts of Eu, Seine-Maritime, Eu, a French county in the Middle Ages (Eu, Seine-Maritime, Eu is in the department of Seine-Maritime, in the extreme north of Normandy), disputed between Kingdom of France, France and Kingdom ...
, landowners, found it more advantageous to sell the trees to charcoal burners, woodworkers and glassmakers than to cultivate low-paying lands.
The exploitation of the forest contributed to the establishment of many glass factories in the surroundings, in particular in the Bresle valley.
After belonging to the
Dukes of Normandy
In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western Kingdom of France, France. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles the Simple in 911. In 924 an ...
, then to the Counts of Eu, the forest was confiscated during the French Revolution but it was returned to its former owner in 1814:
Louis Philippe I
Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, and the last French monarch to bear the title "King". He abdicated from his throne ...
, future king of France. The forest remained a possession of the Orleans family for a long time. In 1852, the forest became nationalised before being returned, once again, to its former owners, in 1872.
It was after this restitution that the 28 cast iron posts were installed across the forest, to mark the intersections of the paths. The best known of them is the ''Pole Maître Jean''.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the forest passed into the hands of a civil society founded by friends of the Duke of Orleans to avoid state control. Finally, after the failure of an amicable acquisition by the authorities, the
expropriation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English)
is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...
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-Infà ...