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

duchy of Normandy The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between 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 result of the Norman c ...

, now in

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 area ...

. With the exception of the tower wrongly associated with

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 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 coronat ...

, which was restored by Viollet-le-Duc, 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 Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French m ...

from 1204 to 1210 following his capture of the duchy from

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

, 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 and 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 ...

. 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 échiquier de Normandie (which became the

Parlement de Normandie The Parliament of Normandy (''parlement de Normandy, Normandie''), also known as the Parliament of Rouen (''parlement de Rouen'') after the place where it sat (the provincial capital of Normandy), was a provincial parlement of the Kingdom of Fra ...

). It was here that

was imprisoned in December 1430 and tried from 21 February to 23 May 1431. The castle was probably the site of the birth of Edward IV of England who was born at Rouen in 1442. Vulnerable to artillery like other medieval fortresses, all but the keep (now known as the Tour Jeanne d'Arc) was dismantled in 1591.

Tour Jeanne d'Arc

Formerly known as the castle's

donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') 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 ...

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.

Notes

Dominique Léost, Geoff Simkins (translator), ''The castle of Rouen and its keep known as the "Joan of Arc Tower"'', musées départementaux de Seine-Maritime, 2004, 47p

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 Duchy of Normandy Tourist attractions in Seine-Maritime