Castle of Gaillon

"Gaillon: Hearth of the Renaissance".

• History of the place:

• A ducal castle intended to defend the Normandy border against the King of France was built around the 11th century. It was then part of a whole system of fortifications mainly built along the Epte on the Norman side (Malassis, Gasny, Baudemont, Écos, Château-sur-Epte, Gamaches, etc.), but also between Eure and Seine (left bank) including Gaillon.
• In 1192, following an agreement between Philippe Auguste, King of France, and Jean Sans Terre, King of England and Duke of Normandy, Gaillon came under the domination of the King of France, at the same as Norman Vexin and a few other strongholds, including Évreux. Jean Sans Terre was only a substitute king during the captivity of his brother Richard Coeur de Lion, but as soon as he was freed and returned to Normandy in 1194, the latter recovered some of his possessions after defeating the Capétien at Fréteval, but not Gaillon nor Vernon that Richard loses at the end of a treaty with Philippe. This is why he consolidated his positions by having Château-Gaillard built in Les Andelys on the other bank of the Seine. However, it was not until 1204, after the fall of the stronghold and the ensuing conquest of all of Normandy, that Gaillon was definitively attached to the French royal domain.
• In 1194, Philippe Auguste entrusted the defense of the castle of Gaillon to the mercenary leader Lambert Cadoc and donated it to him to thank him for his acts of war, but in 1220 Philippe Auguste took over the castle by force. Saint Louis (Louis IX), King of France, owns the feudal manor, a vestige of the old fortified castle of the Dukes of Normandy. The good king was not very interested in this property and it was with great pleasure that he donated it to his friend Eudes Rigaud, Archbishop of Rouen, giving him towers and medieval walls for a plump sum of money and exchange of fishponds and mills in Rouen (1262).
• The archbishops follow one another on the episcopal see of Rouen. In 1453, one of them, Guillaume d'Estouteville, a famous Norman builder, undertook the construction of what it became appropriate to call a castle.
• In 1494, his successor, Georges d'Amboise, future legate of the pope and prime minister of Louis XII, great patron of the arts, keen on Italy, was lucky enough for Gaillon.
• In just over ten years, from 1498 to 1509, the Cardinal Archbishop of Rouen, Georges I of Amboise, transformed the former summer residence of his predecessors into a grandiose castle and made Gaillon a meeting place between flamboyant art and that of the Renaissance. Traces of the transition between the two repertoires of Norman Gothic and Italian Renaissance are still visible.
• In more than 10 years he has invested more than 153,600 lt (tournament books); a fortune that makes Gaillon "The most beautiful and superb place there is in all of France" (Bonaventura Mosti, September 1508).
• In 1508, he was visited by King Louis XII and his wife Anne of Brittany. Gaillon functions as a miniature court.
• The successors of Cardinal d'Amboise strive to maintain the château in the best possible condition, even making improvements.
• But during the Revolution, the castle, property of the Church, became national property. It was put up for sale in 1792. Its new owner cut it up and put the sculpted elements up for sale. Alexandre Lenoir, curator of the Musée des Petits Augustins in Paris, brought certain parts of the building back to the Cour des Beaux-Arts (1801). The rest of the castle became a penitentiary under Napoleon I, thus signing its decline, or, on the contrary, the chance to bequeath it to future generations.

• The castle of Gaillon is open to the public from June 1 to November 6, from Tuesday to Sunday only on guided tour at the following times: 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.
• Duration of the guided tour: 1 hour.
• Public reception from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• Closed Mondays.
• Telephone number: +33 2 32 53 86 40.
• Address: Allée de l'Ermitage - 27600 Gaillon.
• Other services: Shop and bicycle parking.
• Activities: Specific thematic animation.