A brief history of Le Neubourg...
Winding back the clock...
At the time of the conquest of Gaulle by César, Normandy had only 100.000 habitants, perhaps 20.000 in all the department of l’Eure. We are sorry we do not have any photos but at this time the landscape surrounding Le Neubourg was covered in forests, moors and swamps ; The few inhabitants lived in clearings and in greater numbers along the riverbanks (l’Iton, l’Eure, la Risle ).
When the Romans occupied Gaul, There were only a few new settlements; the plateau had practically no inhabitants but there remains evidence of the Roman presence: the Roman camp at Villettes , Canalizations at Canappeville ,etc..but it was still not prosperous at that time.
On must wait until the arrival of the Francs around the year 500 to find once again agricultural colonies.pour. The names of places with an Franco origin were then more commonplace. : Semerville is the Sigemar estate, Emanville that of Esmann, and Bacquepuis is the estate of Bako, etc...The Francs arrived and reclaimed the country. A few Saxons equally established themselves in the coastal regions.
The territory was only populated increased slightly with the arrival of the Vikings around 800-900. They took over the reclamation started by the Francs. At this time the plateau was populated by Celts in the south, Vikings who effectively reclaimed the wooded zones towards the north with a band of Francs in between.
Novus Burgus
Le Neubourg was without created around the tenth or eleventh century and was perhaps called Nyja Borg before the use of Latin which gave it the name Novus Burgus. Nors, which is a Scandinavian dialect fairly similar to Icelandic, was spoken at that time. Many villages still have names coming from Nors : Criquetot comes from Kirkjutoftir and signifies « establishment of the church », Epegard comes from Eplagardur which comes from « the apple orchard », and Hondouville means « the Hundolfr estate». The south of the plateau kept its original d’origine, mixed with celts and francs, and was not cleared away until one or two centuries later in about the eleventh century.
Le Neubourg played an important role in the history of Normandy
Its fortress, built around the year 1000 was taken by Henry I, (Henri Beauclerc), king of England and 4th son of Willliam the Conqueror. After the death of Henry I, the Barons gathered at Le Neubourg to declare their allegiance to Theobald, however his younger brother Stephen (Etienne de Blois) crossed the channel to Winchester where with the help of his brother Henry usurped the throne and was crowned at Westminster.
In 1160, the marriage of Marguerite of France, daughter of Louis VII to Henri CourtMantel son of the English king, was celebrated.
Then in 1198 Philippe Auguste, king of France s’empara de la Normandie, et au cours de cette guerre, Le Neubourg fut ravagé en 1198.
During the 100 year war, the English reoccupied Le Neubourg in 1356. The religious wars saw the town occupied by Leaguers and at the time of the insurrection the Count of Clères, in the name of Count Harcourt, general of the king’s army captured the chateau. Of this chateau, partly destroyed n 1785, there remains thick walls with niches and machicolations (projecting parapets with openings through which missiles could be dropped). It is in this chateau where the first opera of Corneille, the Golden Fleece, was first played.
