the medival castle

The first medieval castle was attached to the Benedictine Abbey  estate in Fécamp and was built in the 11th and 12th centuries. In May 1194, during the conflict between the Capetians and the Plantagenists, it was destroyed by Philippe Auguste, after a siege that lasted four days. It was rebuilt in the 13th century  by Guillaume le Putot, the 11th abbot of Fécamp.

On the second Monday after Easter (formerly known as Quasimodo Monday) 1382, twelve mutineers from the La Herelle uprising were imprisoned in the castle. Six of them were hanged from the gibbet in Rouen and six were pardoned by the French King Charles VI.

The castle was damaged a second time during the wars with the English. It was completely destroyed by Charles le Téméraire in his battles against King Louis X1.

The reconstruction of the castle was overseen by Antoine Bohier, or Boyer, at the beginning of the 16th century. Antoine Bohier was a great builder but also a fine diplomat who negotiated the peace treaty between France and England in 1510.

Although the kingdom of France was experiencing a civil war and unprecedented political mayhem, King Henry IV increased  his activity  in the  battle against the League and Alexandre Farnèse. On April 25th 1592 the king, leading 7 to 8 thousand cavaliers and around 15000 infantry left Gouy rapidly for Fontaine-le-Bourg. From his residence he wrote several letters, to Giles de Souvré, to the French ambassador to England, M. de Beauvoir, and to Delabarre, the general treasurer in Dieppe, from whom he solicited provisions. The following day the reinforcements for the King’s army arrived before they left for Croixmare.

In 1649, in order to reestablish discipline in the abbey, discipline severely eroded over time and by the disasters of war, the commendatory abbot, Henri Bourbon-Verneuil, son of Henri IV and bishop of Metz, decided with the agreement of king and the Holy See to unite and aggregate it with  the congregation of St Maur. The Fécamp barony at Fontaine-le-Bourg was attributed to the conventual church. The abbots gave up the enjoyment of the  castle and its outbuildings and the domain became a farm leased to farmworkers. It became national property after the revolution and was sold in 1790. The new owner, M. Plasnage, demolished the remaining ruins in 1793 and partitioned the land, keeping just two levelled towers.