Fécamp () is a
commune in the northwestern French
department of
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� ...
.
Geography
Fécamp is situated in the valley of the river
Valmont, at the heart of the
Pays de Caux
The Pays de Caux (, , literally ''Land of Caux'') is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French '' département'' of Seine Maritime in Normandy. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cl ...
, on the
Alabaster Coast. It is around northeast of
Le Havre
Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
, and around northwest 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 ...
.
History
Origin of the name
According to its late medieval
founding legend, the trunk of a fig tree (''
ficus
''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family (biology), family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few spe ...
'') carrying the Precious
Blood of Christ
Blood of Christ, also known as the Most Precious Blood, in Christian theology refers to the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ primarily on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomplished thereby, or the sacram ...
collected by
Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea () is a Biblical figure who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion. Three of the four Biblical Canon, canonical Gospels identify him as a member of the Sanhedrin, while the ...
was washed ashore on the riverbank at Fécamp in the 1st century. Immediately, a
fountain of holy blood gushed from the site; the relic attracted many medieval pilgrims, enhancing the reputation of the city.
The monks' legend justified the artificial etymology of the name to ''Fici-campus'', the camp of the
fig tree
''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family (biology), family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few spe ...
. Fécamp, however, is mentioned in 875 as ''Fiscannum'' and in 990 as ''Fiscannus'' and as late as 1496 which stem from the Germanic root ''fisc'' (English "
fish
A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
") with an unknown suffix. It used to be the name of the
Valmont River.
Pre-history
The prehistoric site, on the high ground inland from the port of Fécamp, reveals human occupation dating back to
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
times. Spreading over 21 hectares, surrounded by walls and ditches for a length of nearly 2000 meters, including a praetorian door. Objects recovered range in date from the Neolithic until Roman times.
Roman times
Many items 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 ...
period have been found locally, particularly coins (including two gold
Gallic coins found in 1839). A bronze axe, of Celtic design, was unearthed in 1859.
Fécamp was on the ancient road linking
Arques-la-Bataille
Arques-la-Bataille () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region in north-western France.
The zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (177 ...
and
Lillebonne
Lillebonne () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in Northern France. It lies north of the Seine and east of Le Havre.
History
Before the Roman conquest of Gaul, the site was the capital of the Caletes tribe ...
with the north of Gaul. The archaeological diggings around the Ducal palace (in the grounds of the present abbey) in 1973-1984 revealed some evidence of
the La Tène Celtic culture and Gallo-Roman works. Two Gallo-Roman cemeteries have also been discovered.
During Roman times, a road linked Fécamp to
Étretat
Étretat () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region of Northwestern France. It is a Tourism, tourist and Agriculture, far ...
, passing through the present-day village of Fond-Pitron. The current D940 follows the original Roman road.
Middle Ages
The Abbey
More from the Middle Ages
In the 7th century,
Saint Leger was exiled to Fécamp. In 932,
William I of Normandy
William Longsword (, , , ; 893 – 17 December 942) was the second ruler of Normandy, from 927 until his assassination in 942.Detlev Schwennicke, '' Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten'', Neue Folge, ...
(Long-Sword) founded the castle that was to be the residence of the Dukes of Normandy up until 1204, after which the Norman Duchy was integrated within the
French royal domain
The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or (in French) ''domaine royal'' (from demesne) of France were the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the kings of France. While the term eventually came to refer to a territorial unit, the ...
. The castle was the birthplace of many Norman dukes, including
Richard I of Normandy
Richard I (28 August 932 – 20 November 996), also known as Richard the Fearless (French: ''Richard Sans-Peur''; Old Norse: ''Jarl Rikard''), was the count of Rouen from 942 to 996.Detlev Schwennicke, ''Europäische Stammtafeln, Europäische S ...
(born 933) and
Richard II of Normandy (who died 22 August 1027).
In 1202, King
John of England
John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empi ...
granted a community system to Fécamp. In 1410, the English razed the town. In 1449, Fécamp was freed from the English occupation.
For Fécamp, 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 ...
ended in July 1593, when Captain de Bois-Rosé rallied the city to
Henry IV of France
Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...
after his conversion to Catholicism.
[''Wars of religion'' by Pierre Miquel, p 388] It was at Fécamp that
Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest su ...
landed, on 16 October 1651, soon after the
Battle of Worcester
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...
, where he had been finally defeated by
Cromwell.
Modern era

The history of Fécamp has always revolved around the fishing industry and its harbour (first mentioned in the 11th century).
The reputation of the salt-herrings of Fécamp was established as early as the 10th century, that of smoked herrings from the 13th century. An association of whale fishermen was created in the 11th century.
Fishing for cod started commercially in the 16th century, under the impetus of Nicolas Selles, an early shipping magnate.
Throughout the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, Fécamp had an important role as the chief fishing port in France for cod and cod-related fish. This was the case up until the 1970s, when Canada stopped all access to their fishing grounds.
First practiced by three-masted sailing ships,
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
fishing trips could last more than six months, the time taken to fill the hold with cod, which were salted to preserve them.
The fishing was actually carried out in small boats, carrying only two or three fishermen. Many of these small boats would be lost in the fog and never returned to the ship. As technology evolved, the three-mast boats disappeared, giving way to steamers, then to diesel-engined vessels. These days, only a small fishing fleet survives, restricted to fishing around coastal waters. In the harbour, pleasure-boats have taken the place of all but a few fishing-boats.
* In the 19th century, the recipe for
Bénédictine liqueur was “rediscovered” by Alexandre Legrand. The Palais Bénédictine now houses a visitors’ centre, which shows how the liqueur is made.
File:Benedictine1.JPG, Palais de la Bénédictine
File:Palais Benedictine cour.jpg, The Bénédictine Palace
File:Auguste-Emile Flick - The Beach at Fécamp - Walters 372641.jpg, Auguste-Émile Flick, ''The Beach at Fécamp'' (1875). The Walters Art Museum
The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially by major American art an ...
Heraldry
Population
Education
Fécamp has four high schools:
*
Anita Conti
Anita Conti (; ''née'' Caracotchian) (17 May 1899 – 25 December 1997) was a French-Armenian explorer and photographer, and the first female Oceanography, oceanographer in her country.
Between the two World war, World Wars, she began drawing th ...
professional high school
* Providence high school, a private high school situated in the city centre.
*
Descartes professional high school, situated in the school complex at Saint-Jacques
*
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and s ...
high school, also at Saint-Jacques
Civil architecture
* 12th – 14th century ruins of the ducal former palace enclosed in the abbey grounds – two towers and a wall section
* Remains of the fort of Bourg-Baudouin, on the approach to Notre-Dame-du-Salut
* Bénédictine Palace, ruined buildings of the Benedictine abbey.
* Former mill of the 18th century.
* The Town hall, a Louis XVI style building
* Former hostelry of the du Grand Cerf, 16th century
* Courtyard de la Maîtrise with 11th–12th-century tower.
* Old houses in the neighbourhood of the Hallettes, of which two houses are 16th century: Numbers 21 and 73 Rue Arquaise and 6, Rue de la Voûte (built with reclaimed materials from the abbey palace)
* Water Tower 13th century
* Épinay farm, 16th century, former country retreat of a religious order
Church architecture
* Church of the Trinity: Primitive Norman Gothic style, constructed from 1175 to 1220 with some Roman traces. Lantern tower from the 12th century; Façade - 18th century; Porch - 13th century; choir - 14th-15th century; Chapel of the Virgin 16th century with 13th-century stained-glass windows; Organ from 1746, originating from the
Montivilliers Abbey; Group of multi-coloured stone from the 15th century; 16th century balustrades and tombs of the Dukes of Normandy of the 13th–14th centuries.
* Abbey of the Trinity: Traces of former buildings: cloisters, a former mill, tower de la Maîtrise
*
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...
’s church: 16th century flamboyant Gothic porch and south transept from 1500, facade and tower from the 19th century; wooden statues and pulpit 17th-18th century.
*Chapel Notre-Dame-du-Salut: Originally 14th century, on a cliff: Rebuilt in the 17th century; a gilded statue of the Virgin on the roof.
* Chapel of the Precious Blood: Rebuilt in stone in the 17th century, covering the miraculous source of the "Precious Blood".
* Three other religious communities
*
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 ...
church
Museums
* Municipal Museum: Earthenware, glassware, 18th and 19th century paintings, archeology, religious art and maritime folklore.
* Benedictine Palace Museum: Objects of religious art from the 12th – 18th century (some of the collection originates from the former abbey); 14th – 18th century metalwork; Benedictine liquor manufacturing equipment for distillation etc.
* Museum of Arts et de l'Enfance: Gallo-Roman objects found in the 19th century explaining man's beginnings in Fécamp.
* Museum Terre-Neuvas et de la Pêche (Newfoundland and Fishing): Museum of Fécamp's glorious maritime past, inaugurated in 1988 but closed in 2012 to be integrated in the new "Musée des Pêcheries". The adventures of the cod-fishermen that left for long months in the icy waters of Newfoundland (boats, models, equipment), construction and naval repair, architectural model of the city, audio-visual events and exhibitions of painting (annual display of naval painting)
* Musée du chocolat: Chocolate discovery museum
* Visits to the watercress beds
* Maison du patrimoine (Heritage house) Built and furnished as in the 16th century. Since 2005, the municipal archives have been stored here
* Villa Émilie, Art Nouveau style house from the end of the 19th century
* Musée des Pêcheries (inaugurated in December 2017) : Museum that gathers together the municipal collections. It includes: art and history items, ethnographic items linked to fishing and sailors, and the Doctor Dufour's childhood collection. The museum occupies a historical building, a former fish factory which have been partly transformed to welcome the collections. It has been completed with a roof extension that gives a 360 view on Fécamp's port.
Sites
* Panorama from Notre-Dame-de-Salut:
Orientation table
* Pebble beach
* Cliffs
People associated with Fécamp

*
Jean Accart, World War II fighter pilot – born in Fécamp
*
David Belle
David Nicolas Williams Belle (born 29 April 1973) is a French actor, film choreographer and stunt coordinator. He is deemed the founder and leading pioneer of the physical discipline parkour, coining it based on his training and the teachings fro ...
(1973), creator of
Parkour
Parkour () is an athletic Training#Physical training, training discipline or sport in which practitioners (called ''traceurs'') attempt to get from one point to another in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment ...
*
Pierre Carron (1932), sculptor and painter
*
Louis-Armand Chardin (1755–1793), baritone and composer
*
Étienne Chicot, comedian, born in Fécamp
*
Remigius de Fécamp, first bishop of
Lincoln
*
Raoul Dufy
Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French painter associated with the Fauvist movement. He gained recognition for his vibrant and decorative style, which became popular in various forms, such as textile designs, and public build ...
(1877–1953), Fauvist painter
*
Guy Dupré
Guy Dupré (February 27, 1928 – January 17, 2018) was a French writer and publisher.
Biography
Dupré published three novels, two books of memoirs and a collection of chronicles, but the unity of his style and his writing unconcerned with tra ...
(born 1928), writer - born in Fécamp
*
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex.
Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...
, exiled to Fécamp.
*
Gustave Lambert, explorer
*
Alexandre Legrand, industrialist, “rediscovered” Bénédictine
* , inventor, born in Fécamp
*
Eugène Lepoittevin, painter
*
Louis Levacher (1934–1983), sculptor and painter
*
Jean Lorrain, writer was born in Fécamp (9 August 1855)
* , ship owner
*
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and s ...
, once lived in Fécamp.
*
Tony Parker
William Anthony Parker Jr. (born 17 May 1982) is a French-American former professional basketball player and majority owner of ASVEL Basket, LDLC ASVEL of the LNB Élite and the EuroLeague. The son of a basketball pro, Parker started his career ...
, French basketball player (played one year with Fécamp)
* , resistance member, murdered in Auschwitz
* (1954), writer
*
Richard I of Normandy
Richard I (28 August 932 – 20 November 996), also known as Richard the Fearless (French: ''Richard Sans-Peur''; Old Norse: ''Jarl Rikard''), was the count of Rouen from 942 to 996.Detlev Schwennicke, ''Europäische Stammtafeln, Europäische S ...
(933-996)
* , politician
*
Wace
Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his car ...
, writer – stayed in Fécamp.
*
William of Volpiano, religious reformer - buried in Fécamp in 1031
Twin towns - sister cities
*
Mouscron
Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...
, Belgium
*
Putnok, Hungary
*
Rheinfelden, Germany
*
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...
, Wales, United Kingdom
See also
*''
Sébastien et la Mary-Morgane''
References
External links
Fécamp on the Quid website
Galerie d'images de Fécamp
*
Recherches historiques médiévales sur Fécamp
Site de la chapelle du Précieux-Sang de Fécamp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fecamp
Communes of Seine-Maritime
Fishing communities in France
Port cities and towns on the French Atlantic coast
Ports and harbours of the English Channel
Seaside resorts in France
Caletes