Association de Sauvegarde du

CHATEAU DE GAVRAY

AFTER THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR

The Hundred Years' War is over. Charles VII could legitimately reward the architects of his victory, including the Count  of Richemont, to whom he gave "the town, land, lordship and viscounty of Gavray" during his lifetime, by an act dated 24 November 1451:

Ironically, Gavray was given to the grandson  of Charles II of Navarre.

This act is interesting in more ways than one:

- For the first time in its history, Gavray is given to a private individual. Arthur de Richemont not only had the revenues from the lands of the castle but also, as specified later in the text, "may provide for the custody and cappitainerie....de Gavray".
- and surprisingly, the "viscounty" of Gavray  is mentioned twice in the text and further on, a restriction is made to his power: "he will not be able to appoint the viscount when the said office is vacant".However, the viscounty of Gavray
 no longer existed since the end of the ducal period and as early as 1472, it is well attested that Gavray was part of the viscounty of  Coutances. There was a viscounty in Gavray from 1636.

The war is over, but can a lasting peace be established? The English threat is still there. Charles VII demanded De Richemont's permanent presence  in Normandy.

In 1459, the estate of Gavray returned to the crown after the death  of De Richemont and saw repairs carried out. It is known, in fact, that Guillaume Collas, lieutenant and guard of the chastel of Gavray, visited the repairs. (2)

It is from Brittany that the danger will come. From 1465 to 1467, a war took place between the Bretons and the Normans, which was the last act of war in which the castle played a role. Taking advantage of the struggle between the Norman nobility and the royal power, Francis II, Duke of Brittany, occupied the Norman squares. It's civil war.

Soon after, the coalition was reformed between the Duke of Brittany, the Norman nobles,  Charles of Berry and Charles the Bold. In October 1467, Breton troops invaded Normandy:

In the struggle against the Bretons, there was a sort of secret organization called "the Galants de la Feuillée" whose origin dates back to the English occupation. In a note to the previous text, Siméon Luce reports that in a letter of remission from Louis XI, dated Beaugency in January 1467, Pierre Hossart, archer, lieutenant  of Raymonnet de Boessi, captain of the castle of Gavray, living in the keep of the said castle prays:

The following year, Louis XI took control of Normandy and obtained from his brother the renunciation of his appanage.

It seems that in the sixteenth century, a well-attested donation in 1524 to Jacques d'Argouges did not take it out of the royal domain for a while. (5) The castle was home to a garrison throughout this century, as evidenced by archaeological excavations carried out in the residential buildings located to the east of the enclosure.

In 1609, a captain, Jean Freschinet, archer of the Guards of the Body and captain of the castle of Gavray,  asked for permission to build a paper mill on the Sienne. (6)

Then, it will be gradually abandoned. We do not know when it was decommissioned, but excavations have revealed a number of 17th century coins in the demolition layers.

In 1697, Louis XIV granted the estate of Gavray  to the  Count of Toulouse, Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, his son who had adulterated with the Marquise de Montespan, which included:

- the vices and the butchers' and bread halls,

- the castle,

- the audience (share of the fines imposed by the officers of the Viscountcy of Gavray),

- jurisdiction with jail and prison,

- the Saint-Luc moor with the right of custom (rental taxes of the moor and probably a toll at its entrance) at the Saint-Luc fair,

The Revolution

In 1789, the list of grievances of the inhabitants of Gavray mentions, among other things, the following demands:

- the implementation of a decision of the Assembly of the Parliament of Coutances relating to the construction of a road linking Coutances to Gavray,

- relating to the construction of another road to Bricqueville-les-Salines for the transport of sea manure.

Were stones from the castle used to enclose these roads when they were built?

For more details, see: Grievance Books

Transfer of the castle to the municipality of Gavray

On 5 December 1832, the Compagnie du Cotentin, exercising the rights of the House of Orléans, ceded 106 ha 49 ares, including the mound of the castle, to the commune of Gavray, free of charge, because of its former rights of use.

The fire in the old town

On 20 July 1876, a fire broke out in the old town of Gavray. 140 houses were destroyed, the Municipality authorized the victims to remove stones from the castle for their reconstruction.

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