Ivry
The castle originally consisted of a great rectangular keep, similar to those at Colchester and the Tower of London
- these are both claimed to be late eleventh century. Ivry is
claimed to have been built by an engineer named Lanfred, under the
direction of Count Raoul Ivry (d.1006/11). Raoul seems to have
married twice. His first wife would appear to have been one
Aubrey (Albereda). According to Orderic Vitalis she had the citadel of Ivry (arcem de Ibreio)
built and then had the architect beheaded, so that he couldn't build a
better castle for any other warlord. Afterwards she tried to
expel her husband from the castle so he had her put to death.
Raoul then went on to marry a less belligerent wife, Eremburge Caville,
who gave him at least two children. Two of these, Bishop Hugh of
Bayeux and Archbishop John of Rouen went on to defend Ivry castle
against the dukes of Normandy on many occasions. It was probably
after the death of Archbishop John in 1079 that the castle passed back
to its feudal overlord, William the Conqueror.
With his death in 1087 ‘the well-fortified castle, erected by his
grandmother, Alberede' was granted by his successor, Robert Curthose,
to William Breteuil, probably merely as an act of recognition of the
fact that he had already seized it on the old king's death. At
the same time Curthose granted Brionne castle to the previous
custodian, Roger Beaumont, by way of compensation.
In 1089 Ascelin Goel, a great grandson of Bishop Hugh of Bayeux, seized
Ivry castle from William Breteuil (d.1103), the great grandson of Count
Raoul, ‘by a skilful stratagem' and then traitorously surrendered
it to Duke Robert Curthose, who rapidly resold it back to William for
£1,000 of Dreux. This led to William depriving Ascelin of
all he held in the barony as well as the custody of the castle.
Consequently there was a war between Ascelin and William, culminating
in William's capture at a pitched battle and his being forced to marry
his daughter Isabel to Ascelin, giving her together with £1,000
Dreux, his arms and armour and of course Ivry castle. With this
Ascelin ‘enclosed his castle... with deep ditches and stout
palisades, spending his existence there in continual rapine and
bloodshed to the ruin of many'. In the meantime Earl Robert of
Meulan aggressively tackled Duke Robert for the return of the
constableship of Ivry in such a manner as the was arrested. In
1094 William Breteuil brought King Philip of France, Duke Robert of
Normandy and Robert Belesme together against Ascelin Goel who was holed
up in Breteuil castle. After a valiant defence Ascelin admitted
defeat and surrendered Ivry castle back to his son in law, William
Breteuil, in making peace.
In 1118 Ascelin's son, Robert, joined in the rebellion against Henry I,
but reverted to his cause when Henry gave him Ivry to guarantee his
loyalty. Meanwhile in 1119 Eustace Breteuil (d.1136), the son of
William (d.1103), claimed the castle from Henry I, on the grounds that
it belonged to his predecessors. The king put him off with fine
words and to secure the fidelity of Eustace asked his royal constable
of the castle, Ralph Harenc, to hand his son over to Eustace as a
hostage and receive in return for the good return of his son, the two
daughters of Eustace, the king's own granddaughters. Eustace,
then egged on by Amaury Montfort (1070-1137) blinded the boy and sent
him back to his father. The father in a rage went to the king and
demanded justice and the king handed over his granddaughters for Ralph
to blind and cut off the tips of their noses. Ralph informed
Eustace and Juliana of what he had done and, loaded down with presents
from the king to console him for his son's loss, he fortified
Ivry. In reply the lords of Breteuil prepared for war with Henry
I, while being ‘overwhelmed with grief'. The rebels were
soon defeated. The fate of Ralph Harenc and his son is unknown,
but some 70 years later in 1203 another Ralph Harenc was lord of nearby
Gauville-la-Campagne and his son Roger succeeded him. Back in
1119, Eustace found himself bottled up in Pacy castle, from which name
his descendants took their name. The rest of his lands passed to
Ralph Guader, his nephew.
Robert Goel died soon after these events, leaving Ivry to his younger
brother, William Lovel Ivry, who soon married Matilda Beaumont, the
daughter of the earl of Leicester in 1120. In 1123 William, with
his brothers in law, Waleran Meulan, Hugh Montfort and Hugh Chateauneuf
and several others, rebelled against Henry I in favour of William Clito
and Count Fulk of Anjou. After suffering military defeat in 1123
William made his peace with King Henry and was confirmed in his
possessions.
In 1177 the castle came into the hands of King Henry II
(d.1189) on the death of its lord, Waleran Fitz William Lupellus.
It was then the scene of the treaty of Ivry where Henry II and Louis
VII (d.1180) came to terms to end their period of warfare between 1173
and 1175. With the fall of Normandy to Philip Augustus (d.1223)
in 1204 this border castle became somewhat of an irrelevance. It
again gained relevance in the fifteenth century, when war between
England and France once more took place in Normandy. The castle
was taken in 1418 by English forces and burned by the duke of
Bedford in 1424. It was again rebuilt and its fortifications
finally demolished by Dunois, the bastard of Orleans in 1449. It
is possible that the castle may have been repaired again by Philibert
de l'Orme in 1553.
Description
The castle keep probably dates to the end of the tenth century.
During the fighting in the early twelfth century it sounds like the
defences were still of earth and timber. After this in the late
twelfth or early thirteenth century the further defences were added in
stone consisting of a concentric rectangular ward with a twin towered
gatehouse and 2 towers. There was an outer ward to the south.
Why not join me here and at other French castles?
Information on this and other tours can be found at Scholarly
Sojourns.
Copyright©2021
Paul Martin Remfry