Tour de Broue
The Tour de Broue is the former donjon ( keep ) of Broue is located in the small French settlement of the same name Broue, in the municipality of Saint-Sornin in the Charente-Maritime department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region , approx. 18 kilometers south of Rochefort and approx. 30 kilometers west of Saintes, in the Marais- Brouage area .
history
The Donjon (keep) of Broue is assigned to the 11th century. Its first documentary mention comes from 1047, under the reign of Heinrich I (1031-1060). It could be one of the oldest donjons in France.
The Donjon de Broue stands on the top of a geologically rocky formation ( called Puy in France ), reaching about two kilometers into the plains of the Brouage wetlands . These puys reached an average height of about 20 meters above sea level. For the choice of the location of a settlement and a port, the dominance of a raised point was decisive, which allowed the overview over as many miles as possible in the round. Before the later massive constructions of a donjon , there was probably a wooden tower, on the chosen puy , which at that time corresponded to the usual " moths ", the heaped up artificial hills, most of the predecessors of castle fortresses.
A castle Broue appears for the first time in the founding deed of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saintes from 1047, executed by the Count of Anjou , Gottfried Martel . The presence of the ruler far from his lands surprised. But if we follow the chronicler Adémar de Chabannes , the Anjou dynasties had established themselves in the region after 1015, with the consent of Duke William of Aquitaine the Great (993-1030):
The Count of Anjou, Foulques III. Nerra , was then recommended " Loudun for his gain and in his hands, together with some other castles in Poitou , and Saintes , with some castles".
Fulko III. Nerra (987-1040) built a large number of castles in all of his lands and sometimes on those of others during his long reign. He was also one of the great advocates of stone building. The mention of the chronicler Adémar "Saintes and some castles" suggests that Broue already existed at that time and was part of this information, which Fulko's son, Gottfried Martel, already had in his possession in 1047. There are efforts to ascribe the keep of Broue to the work of Fulko Nerra, even if this hypothesis has not been proven and can only be based on speculation at the moment. In the scientific evaluation of the processes, the main thing to clarify is whether the building is really one of the oldest of the donjons preserved in France.
During this period, a small river called Brouage flowed towards the sea at the foot of the rocky Puy . It was actually a navigable arm of the sea through which the barges or ships with shallow drafts could get to the base of the donjon . The small port that was located there was used to load the ships with the products of the salt pans , the lords of Broue drew the majority of their funds from it. The tower thus had a double function: on the one hand as an orientation for seafarers, on the other hand for the profitable and safe trade in salt. This was most likely the Portus Santonum (lat.), The port of Saintes, which is mentioned in Ptolemy's geography as early as the 2nd century AD .
The Duke of Aquitaine Guy-Gottfried (1058-1086) succeeded in bringing Saintes and the Saintonge back into the possession of Foulques le Réchin , one of the heirs of Gottfried Martel . This means that the Anjou was once again represented in the region. The fortress of Broue was entrusted to a certain Hugo von Doué and thus also to his descendants for several generations.
The special history of the place includes above all the exploitation of the "white gold" from the salt pans, with the demands and the disputes that can arise after such sources of wealth are released. The lords of the place had some disputes with the Saint-Gemme priory , which was in possession of objects that were not insignificant in the region. In 1244, Gottfried von Doué was sentenced to a fine for failing to arrange the maintenance work on his port.
In the last third of the 13th century, rulership went to the Rochefort . In the 14th century it was transferred to the Baussay , and in the last quarter of this century to the treasury of the von Pons family .
In the period of its prosperity, Broue was equipped with up to two churches ( Saint-Pierre and Saint-Eutrope ), a testament to its size, importance and wealth, of which nothing is left today.
But already the time of decline announced itself. Towards the end of the 13th century the sea began to retreat. The regression of the salt pans was accelerated by the aggressive occurrence of siltation. The Saintonge Gulf was becoming increasingly clogged.
The receding of the shores of the sea meant for the people living, working and trading here at the same time moving away from the sources of their prosperity, regardless of the dire consequences of wars in the region.
The port of Broue initially continued to operate undeterred. He was hit by bullets several times and taken over by the English. Duguesclin had not yet finally released it when soon afterwards, towards the end of the 14th century, the accelerated retreat of the sea brought a rapid decline of the port facilities and the settlements with their donjon .
Soon people were thinking of building a new port, the later Brouage , about 12 km northwest of Broue . In 1555 Jacques de Pons decided to build it. On the new Charente-Maritime coastline, the fortifications of Brouage look far over the Marennes - Oléron basin .
The ruins of the donjon today
In addition to the ruins of the Donjon auf der Motte , the former town of Broue also preserved a Romanesque chapel and some sections of the defense or castle wall surrounding the keep for its protection. The donjon formerly had a rectangular floor plan of 20 by 16 meters. Only its west facade is almost completely preserved, at a height of about 25 meters. The donjon probably had four or five floors and had no window openings in the lower area. There are two small windows in the upper area. On the outer wall surfaces, strong, right-angled pillars are built for additional reinforcement, and on the preserved west side there are five. The masonry consists of hewn ashlar stones, supplemented by small irregular breaks. Countless holes are the traces of the scaffolding of the masonry construction. Damage to the pillar templates at a greater height indicates cannon fire.
The walls are two to three meters thick. Only their outer shells consist of a neatly joined bond of the ashlar masonry. Its interior is filled with a mixture of different stone formats that have been inserted between the two shells with a lot of mortar without any special bond. An economical fastening technique that was already used by the Romans.
Some details of the interior can still be seen, such as latrines and a beautiful fireplace with pillars. There are also holes on the rest of the wall surface to the south to accommodate the ceiling joists. It is difficult to determine the number of internal floors. Presumably only the last and top floor had the function as an apartment, equipped with a fireplace and window. The lower rooms, without windows, were probably used to store goods or as a prison.
In 1925 the Tour de Broue was listed as a historical monument . Today it is owned by the municipality of Saint-Sornin, about 2.5 km south .
Far inland, also around the Donjon de Broue, in the former depressions of the old gulf of the Saintonge , the Brouage marshes have become the Brouage swamps, called “Marais-gât” . Today the landscape is mainly used for extensive animal husbandry.
Web links
- http://www.richesheures.net (French)
Coordinates: 45 ° 47 ′ 14 " N , 0 ° 58 ′ 32" W.