Rouen Castle (''Château Bouvreuil'') was a fortified ducal and royal residence in the city of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, capital of the

duchy of Normandy The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple, King Charles III of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo. The duchy was named for its inhabitants, the Normans. From 1066 until 1204, as a r ...

, now in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. With the exception of the tower wrongly associated with

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

, which was restored by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century, the castle was destroyed at the end of the 16th century, its stones quarried for other construction.

History

The castle was built by Philip II of France from 1204 to 1210 following his capture of the duchy from John, Duke of Normandy and King of England. Located outside the medieval town to its north, in a dominant position, it played a military role in 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 ...

and the Wars of Religion. It was the main seat of power, administration and politics in the duchy of Normandy for nearly 400 years, symbolically replacing the ducal palace of Rouen in these roles – of the bailliage and vicomté of the king of France, of the English government of the area (1418–1449), of the Exchequer of Normandy (which became the

Parlement of Rouen The Parlement of Rouen (), also known as the Parlement of Normandy () after the place where it sat (the provincial capital of Normandy), was a provincial parlement of the Kingdom of France. It replaced the ancient court of the exchequer of Norm ...

). It was here that

was imprisoned on 23 December 1430 and tried from 21 February to 23 May 1431. The castle was probably the site of the birth of King

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

of England, who was born at Rouen in 1442. Vulnerable to artillery like other medieval fortresses, all but the

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

(now known as the Tour Jeanne d'Arc) was dismantled in 1591.

Tour Jeanne d'Arc

Formerly known as the castle's donjon or "Grosse Tour", this tower is part of Philip's 1204 phase. It housed one of the sessions of Joan of Arc's trial on 9 May 1431, one in which she was shown the instruments of torture, to which she replied "Truly, if you have to pull my members and my soul from my body, I shall say nothing else; and if I say something to you, I would always say to you afterwards that you made me say it by force.". She was not imprisoned here but in the now-lost Tour de la Pucelle, whose foundations may be seen at 102 rue Jeanne d'Arc. The pointed roof was added in restoration works beginning in the 1870s. During the Second World War the tower was camouflaged and turned into a bunker by the occupying German forces. It is now open to the public.Ville de Rouen
Tour Jeanne d'Arc
accessed 18 March 2023

References

External links

Tour Jeanne d'Arc
- Visiting information {{coord, 49, 26, 47, N, 1, 5, 40, E, source:frwiki_region:FR_type:landmark, display=title Castles in Seine-Maritime

Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

Duchy of Normandy Tourist attractions in Seine-Maritime

History

Tour Jeanne d'Arc

References

Further reading

External links