Association de Sauvegarde du

CHATEAU DE GAVRAY

THE ROYAL CASTLE

Philippe-Auguste

King of France

1179 - 1223

On 6 March 1204, after the fall of Château-Gaillard and the flight  of Jean-Sans-Terre, Philippe-Auguste and his ally Guy de Thouars, Duke of Brittany, invaded Normandy, which he quickly seized. He modified the administrative divisions of Normandy and reorganised, in particular the bailiwick of the Cotentin. From 1204, the bailiff of the Cotentin extended to almost the entire diocese of Coutances, which until then had included the baillies of Cotentin, Coutances, Gavray and Cérences. Gavray came under the direct authority of the bailiff of the Cotentin, whose post Philippe-Auguste entrusted to Renaud de Cornillon. Until then, he had held an important position in the French administration. (1) When he died in 1215, he  was succeeded by Mile de Lévis. It should be noted that these two characters are not from Normandy.

In 1218, Hugues de Botegniaco or de Boutigny was castellan of Gavray. Two acts confirm this:

- the first, of July 1218 made in Evreux, by which Philippe-Auguste  allowed his castellan  of Gavray to  give as a dowry to his daughter the land of Belval that had been assigned to him for 28 livres of income in land:

- the second, from November 1219, tells us that Hugues de Boutigny, castellan  of Gavray,  was present at the assize of Coutances on 23 November 1219 in the company  of Mile de Lévis, bailiff of the Cotentin. (3)

The link between the castellan  of Gavray and the land of Belval is clearly expressed in the register of fiefs of Philippe-Auguste. In 1210, the castellan  of Gavray held from the king's fief the fief of Belval, which owed the service of a knight (4):

The fact remains that the king reserves Regnéville, which was part of the said fief:

The change of authority does not seem to have brought about any significant changes in the organization of the castle. From a ducal castle, it became  a royal castle and appears as such in the Norman cartulary for Lower Normandy in 1210 (5):

The castle was still guarded by the holders of the same fiefs as under the Dukes of Normandy. (6)

A text from 1220 tells us that  Philippe, the second son  of Philippe-Auguste, received property in the baillie of Cotentin as an appanage. He paid homage to his father for his possessions of the baillie of the Cotentin, held by Mile de Levis:

However, the king kept in his hand, after Regnéville, the fortresses of Gavray and Mortain:

Why does Mortain figure in this homage to the bailiff of the Cotentin? This rapprochement is perhaps due to the fact that Philip also held the county of Mortain at that time, and that it was wanted to insist on the exclusion of the two strongholds.

Normandy enjoyed more than a century of tranquillity (until 1328). Prosperity reappeared during the reigns  of Louis IX, Saint-Louis, and Philip the Fair, and  the English kings regretted the loss of "so fat a country."

Gavray obtained from Philippe Auguste the  right of commune with the resulting municipal franchises at the same time as Saint-Lô, Avranches, Valognes and Cherbourg. The importance of the fortified castle  of Gavray undoubtedly earned him this exceptional favour, much more than the importance of the town. The inhabitants henceforth had the power to distribute taxes, to calibrate their weights and measures, to have a municipal barrier, to bear arms, to choose the leaders of their militia....

No source mentions Gavray until the beginning of the  14th century, with the exception of an ordinance  of Philippe-le-Bel of 15 August 1290:

"that there shall remain no appointed commanders except in the forts and castles named therein." In Normandy, only the castles of Arques, Caen, Bonneville-sur-Touques, Cherbourg and Gavray  are included.(8) In doing so, Gavray seems to be placed among the important castles of the region

During the minority  of Louis IX, grandson  of Philip Augustus, Fulk Paisnel, Lord of  The Hague, came to an agreement with a number of Bannerets of the bocage and made advances to the King of England. In 1228, the latter, Henry III, on good terms with the Duke of Brittany, landed at Saint Malo and advanced towards the frontier of the Bocage where he was received by Fulk Paisnel and the other conspirators. Together they took St. James and Pontorson and headed for the Hague Pesnel. The queen of France, Blanche of Castile, sent an army that took several strongholds including Gavray. Fulk was unable to save his castle at La Haye Pesnel, which was razed to the ground

In 1256, Louis IX, Saint Louis, passed through Gavray on his journey to Lower Normandy. Tradition has it that the name given to the part of the castle formerly occupied by the chapel of Saint-Michel is linked to this trip.
In 1307 and 1310, Philip the Fair also passed through Gavray to sign three charters. (9)

At that time, there was a family called Gavray, descendants of the former lords of the place. In the list of donors to the Hospice Hospital of Saint-Lô, we note the name of Jean de Gavray. In 1269, fifty years later, his descendants Philippe and Jean de Gavray agreed to the foundation of an annuity in favour of the Abbey of Barberia (or Barbery), of the Order of Citeaux founded in 1170 in the diocese of Bayeux. In 1307, in the state of the Templars of Breteville, we find a rent due from Yon de Gavray.

The accounts of 1321 consist mainly of repair work on frameworks, roofs, gutters, floors, etc. all for the sum of 118 pounds, 13 sols and 6 deniers. The following are mentioned:
- The chapele,
- one of the turrets Leiz la Chapele,
- the house after the chapel leaning against the surrounding wall,
- the house above the puiz,
- the porter's house,
- the Grant Room and, further on, the Grant Room at the Châtelain,
- the castellan  room and several other rooms (on the grant room),
- A wardrobe near the Grant Room.

There are also a few small purchases such as  a rope for the saint of the capele or a brand new seel shod with nuef in the cistern. These accounts do not refer to military works, but simply to the development and maintenance of dwellings. These texts allow us to glimpse a group of buildings near the perimeter wall, around the chapel. However, archaeological research has not been able to locate the various buildings.

In 1327, the State of the fiefs of the Election of Coutances, drawn up by Godefroy le Blond, drew up a list of the subjects subject to the custody of the castle of Gavray:
- Guillaume de Montaigu, owed ten days' guard at the second gate of the castle, in return for certain rights of use were granted to him in the forest of Gavray,
- Robert de Ver, had to provide ten bushels of wheat in exchange for an old service to the castle, he was entitled to the acorn for his pigs and to a beech tree for rent at Christmas,
- Robert le Forestier, for a fief worth 140 livres of revenue, was entitled to certain uses in the forest,
- Guillaume de Thieuville, tenant of the fief of Mesnil Garnier, was entitled to an oak tree in the forest, to the breading of his pigs, but owed 20 livres to two instalments for the fief of Mansel and ten days' guard at a gate of the castle in time of war,
- The Prior and the convent of La Bloutière, indebted for various rents giving for their pigs to the forest, to the castle of Gavray, on condition that the people of Belval were released from all rights
- Guillaume de Chanteloup, owed for his fief of Tourneur, an armed man at the west and east of the castle,
- Jean Louvel, esquire for a fief of Ver owed a man-at-arms,
- Guillaume de Moustiers, owed for his fief of Belval, 20 sous tournois to the castle of Gavray in return for which the people of Belval were free of all rights in the fairs and markets of the castellany and exempt from tolls.

Also mentioned were:
Thomas de la Bellieres, Guillaume Huet, Guillaume le Champion, Philippe de Saint Denis, Nicolas Baudre, Foulques de Sainte Marie, Richard de Foligny, Foulques de Beauchamps, Jehan Paenel, Richard Carbonnel, Olivier Paenel (sire de Moyon et Tessy), Jehan de Marchambye, Guillaume de Pirou, Richard de Courcy (sire de Marigny), Foulques Paenel (sire d’Hambye), Jehan Tesson, Guillaume Corbet, Geoffroy de la Lande, Raoul de Saucey (sire de Gratot), Guillaume de Creuly, Fralin de Malesmains, Jehan de Méautis, Guillaume de l’Isle, Jehan d’Agneaux, Robert le Maine (sire de Sourdeval), Geoffroy de Mesnildrey, Guillaume de Camprond (sire du Lorey)…………

The scarcity of texts concerning Gavray between 1220  and 1320 has not made it possible to answer these questions:
- Has the defense been improved?
- Build a new dungeon?
- restructured the whole?
Archaeology, for its part, has not provided a sufficiently precise answer.

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