Vexin () is a historical county of northern France. It covers a verdant plateau on the right bank (north) of the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

running roughly east to west between Pontoise and Romilly-sur-Andelle (about 20 km from Rouen), and north to south between Auneuil and the Seine near Vernon. The plateau is crossed by the Epte and the Andelle river valleys.

History

The name ''Vexin'' is derived from a name for a Gaulish tribe now known as the Veliocasses. They had inhabited the area and made

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 ...

their most important city. The Norse nobleman Rollo of Normandy (c. 846 – c. 931), the first ruler of the

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

principality that became Normandy, made several incursions into the western half of the county. He halted his actions when the Carolingian king Charles the Simple abandoned the part of the territory that Rollo occupied under the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 911. The terms of the treaty established 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 ...

and fixed its boundary with the Kingdom of France along the river Epte. This divided the county of Vexin into two parts: *Norman Vexin (''Vexin normand''), bounded by the rivers Epte, Andelle and

, which became part of the

. *French Vexin (''Vexin français''), bounded by the rivers Epte,

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

and Seine, which remained part of the Île-de-France province. During the twelfth century, the county of Vexin was a heavily contested border between the Angevin kings of England and Capetian France (see Capetian-Plantagenet rivalry). It was of particular importance due to its close proximity to Paris and the location of the route to the coastal cities of Normandy. As a result, Vexin was the site of defensive castle construction, notably at Château Gaillard.

World War II

During the liberation of Vexin, German troops in the forests of Marainville, Montgison, and Longues carried out a surprise attack against the American defenders in attempt to reoccupy the village of Fontenay-Saint-Père. Beginning 20 August 1944, fighting broke out, with about 30,000 troops engaged in total; in the nine days of fighting, multiple offensives and counter-offensives were carried out across the city. This eventually ended when a reinforced American army managed to defeat the German battalion. In total, there were about 50 casualties on the American side, and several hundred on the German side. However, most of the casualties came from the inhabitants of the area, with an estimated loss of 2,500 civilians. There were around 3,000 casualties in total during the fighting, but the victory at Fontenay allowed the American troops to lead a successful counteroffensive, and eventually led to the liberation of Vexin on 30 August 1944. A monument in honor of the liberation is depicted on three plaques. The leftmost plaque lists the names of the American soldiers lost, the middle one contains the commemoration messages, and the rightmostn plaque commemorates the civilians lost. The memorial was inaugurated on September 5, 2021.

Geography

Today, the county's territory is shared by parts of five

departments of France In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the Regions of France, administrative regions a ...

: Val-d'Oise and

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

region;

in the

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; ; ), also referred to in English as Upper France, is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. ...

region; and

Eure Eure ( ; ; or ) is a department in the administrative region of Normandy, northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2021, Eure had a population of 598,934.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-Inf� ...

in the

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 ...

region. The major towns are Pontoise, Vernon, Meulan-en-Yvelines,

Gisors Gisors () is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Eure, Normandy (administrative region), Normandy, France. It is located northwest from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Gisors, together with the ...

, and Les Andelys. The plateau is primarily an agricultural region with some manufacturing located in the valleys. The French Impressionist artist

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

made his home at Giverny, and the Dutch Post-Impressionist

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

painted the wheat fields of Vexin. A regional nature park was established in the area in 1995.

In popular culture

Ownership of Vexin, and the court intrigue related to securing it, is a key plot point in James Goldman's play '' The Lion in Winter'' (1966). It also features in the Angevin novels of Sharon Kay Penman, and in the BBC series '' The Devil's Crown'' (1978), which stars Brian Cox.

References

External links

Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, ''Carte du Vexin, Beauvoisis, et Hurepoix''
historical map of the Vexin region by Christophe Nicolas Tassin (1634) {{Authority control Geography of Normandy Belgae