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 ...
Domfront is situated on a bluff overlooking the river Varenne and is said to have been established in the 6th century round the oratory of the hermit St. Front, and played an important part in the wars against the English and the
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...
. Beginning from the strategically sited castle of Domfront, the dispossessed count Henry, youngest son of
William the Conqueror
William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
, rallied support among local lords and eventually ruled the Anglo-Norman dominions as Henry I of England.
In 1574 it was occupied by the
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
leader Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, who after a stubborn siege was forced to yield it to Jacques Goyon, Count of Matignon.
It has been subjected to floods when the river Varenne burst its banks, causing widespread havoc and damage to many of the buildings and houses that lay in its path. On 23 December 2020 occurred the highest on record since 1995, when les tanneries were badly affected with the ancient stone bridge being impassable.
Duke of Normandy
In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western 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 and again in 933, N ...
. The inhabitants, fed up with William the Cruel's conduct, revolted again and gave themselves to Henry I Beauclerc, third son of
William the Conqueror
William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
.
In 1092, Henri I Beauclerc erected a fortified stone castle on the rocky spur, complete with a powerful quadrangular keep and the Saint-Symphorien chapel, a priory of the Lonlay abbey. In 1100, Henri Beauclerc became
King of England
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers Constitutional monarchy, regula ...
, and in order to avoid a fratricidal war with his elder brother, Robert Curthose, who claimed the kingdom of England, relinquished Cotentin and all his possessions in Normandy to the latter, with the exception of Domfront, which became a royal stronghold. Along with Argentan, Alençon and Mortagne-au-Perche, Domfront was part of Henry I Beauclerc's stone belt. On the death of the King of England, the captain of the fortress surrendered it to Étienne de Blois, Count of Mortain. Mathilde, daughter and heiress of Henry I, and her husband, Geoffroy Plantagenet, came to lay siege to Domfront, which they captured after several assaults.
Henry II Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine, his wife, and Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland, their sons, stayed here. In particular, Eleanor of Aquitaine held court here, as did her daughter Marie de Champagne (protector of
, who accompanied her). Wace was also part of this court, as was Benoît de Sainte-Maure, who does not name it, but praises it in his Roman de Troie, a kind of dedication.
The first two link Domfront and its region to Arthurian legends.
In August 1161, Eleanor of Aquitaine gave birth to Eleanor of England, future grandmother of Saint Louis.
After Philip Augustus conquered Normandy in 1204, the stronghold became Capetian.
During 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 castle was occupied by the English from 1356 to 1366 and from 1418 to 1450. In the summer of 1450, Charles VII's royal army recaptured the castle after a twenty-day siege.
Modern era
In 1574, the Norman Huguenot leader Gabriel I de Montgommery, who had taken refuge in Domfront after fleeing Saint-Lô , surrendered during the siege of the town after the arrival of the royal artillery. Catherine de Medici immediately had him tried by the Paris Parliament, followed by his execution by beheading in the Place de Grève on June 26, 1574. In 1608, the château was dismantled by order of Henry IV.
Six years later, from 1633 to 1639, the plague returned to Domfront.
Contemporary era
Domfront was chief town of the Domfront district during the Revolution, then became chief town of the Domfront arrondissement.
In 1863, Domfront (2,909 inhabitants in 1861) absorbed Saint-Front (2,252 inhabitants).
War 1914-1918
During the
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the 3rd Battalion of the 130th Infantry Regiment, housed in the Laharpe barracks, left on August 5, 1914. The 130th Infantry Regiment's headquarters were located in
Mayenne
Mayenne ( ) is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Il ...
. This regiment, incorporated into the 7th Infantry Division, suffered appalling losses on August 22, 1914 on the Belgian front around Virton and Ethe. The division was transferred to various army corps and took part in all the major battles of the war.
Between the wars
On September 10, 1926, following the
Dunkirk
Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...
. The 130th RI was completely taken prisoner.
During the Occupation, Domfront was home to three permanent German units: the gendarmerie, which represented the German occupation administration and carried out requisitions; the railway station, which was commanded by a company of engineers who controlled the railroads; and the Laharpe barracks, where a unit of Territoriaux guarded the Senegalese infantrymen held there as prisoners of war. German police duties were carried out by the Alençon section of the SD and, for serious cases, by the Rouen section.
The occupation intensified in February 1944, with the Germans forcing Domfronters to build structures to reinforce Domfront's defenses in the event of a landing, and to work on the construction of an ammunition and fuel depot in the Andaine forest. On January 17, 1944, a German soldier was wounded during the night, and Mayor Gallot was asked to designate hostages. Gallot refused, was dismissed and Domfront residents were taken at random from the streets by German policemen from Alençon. Some were deported to Germany.
Domfront, located between the Andaine forest ammunition depot and Mortain, where the great German counter-attack took place, and especially the station district (now called Notre-Dame), were subjected to numerous Allied air attacks. The most deadly bombing raids were those of Friday evening June 2, 1944 (twenty-four twin-engine planes) on the station, which killed eight people and a child, and that of June 14, 1944 on the lower town by B17 bombers, which killed 37 people and destroyed 494 buildings. A total of thirty-six civilians (not all of whom were Domfront residents - the figure is uncertain) were killed in the twenty-four air attacks, mainly on the railway station.
On August 7, a
Waffen-SS
The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...
armored unit from Flers crossed the railway station district towards Saint-Mars-d'Égrenne to attack towards Mortain. After the German defeat in front of Mortain, the remaining armored units withdrew to Falaise, and only low-combat troops held Domfront. On August 13, American forces, scalded by the Mortenais episode, randomly fired cannons at the town. Some Domfronters decided to go to meet them, to stop the firing and help them enter the town. On August 14, a firefighter managed to rally them on the Saint-Mars road and led a column (seven vehicles) around the town to the west. It passed through Saint-Gilles-des-Marais and La Haute-Chapelle, where it captured a German company on the Sainte-Anne knoll (hill 210 on staff maps), then crossed the mined
Caen
Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...
neo-Byzantine
Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a Revivalism (architecture), revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine architecture, ...
Communes of the Orne department
The following is a list of the 381 communes of the Orne department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2025):