Anciennes fortifications urbaines
FortressHidden Treasure
A medieval sentinel of Berry, the fortifications of Dun-sur-Auron have been deploying their circular towers and moats since the time of Philippe Auguste, revealing three interlocking enclosures of rare defensive complexity.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
In the heart of the Berry region, the small town of Dun-sur-Auron is home to one of the most elaborate medieval fortified systems in the Centre-Val de Loire region. Far from the flamboyant châteaux of the Loire, these urban fortifications offer a raw and authentic insight into Capetian military art, with their limestone curtain walls, deep ditches and circular towers still standing as stubborn witnesses to a warlike past. What makes Dun truly unique is the superposition of three concentric walls - the Châtelet, the Châtel-Vieil and the Châtel-Neuf - forming an in-depth defence system that is extremely rare for a town of this size. This Russian-style architecture reveals the successive layers of constrained medieval town planning, with each generation adding its stone belt as the population grew and the threats changed. The visitor experience is that of an open-air archaeological walk. Visitors walk along sections of curtain wall whose masonry still bears the scars of time, see the ditches that have now been filled in or drained, and discover the two surviving circular towers that line the main enclosure. These projecting towers, designed to provide a low angle of fire against attackers, are a perfect illustration of the military technology of the turn of the 13th century. The setting is that of a well-preserved Berry village, where the old built fabric has crept up against and between the fortified remains, creating those striking juxtapositions typical of towns that have grown up within their walls rather than demolishing them. Some sections of the circular walk offer uninterrupted views of the surrounding Berrichon bocage, a reminder that this site was chosen above all for its position as a lookout on the routes of the royal domain.
Architecture
The fortifications at Dun-sur-Auron illustrate Capetian military architecture in its mature phase, at the junction of the 12th and 13th centuries. The system is based on the principle of concentric enclosures - three in all - whose interlocking structure is designed to provide in-depth defence: each enclosure constitutes an additional obstacle for an attacker who has broken through the first curtain. The main curtain wall, built of local limestone, is supplemented at the foot by wide ditches, the extent of which can still be seen in the urban topography. The projecting circular towers are the most immediately recognisable architectural signature of the complex. Their cylindrical plan, adopted on a large scale under Philip Augustus to replace the square towers vulnerable to enfilade fire, allowed for grazing fire on blind corners and was more resistant to projectile impacts. Two of these towers have survived to the present day, having been sufficiently well preserved to appreciate their size and construction. The Grosse Tour, the centrepiece of the system, is part of the same tradition of the Philippine cylindrical keep, which can be seen from Villeneuve-sur-Yonne to Issoudun and the Tour de César in Provins. The materials used are those of the deep Berry region: blond to grey limestone, cut in regular medium coursing, which gives the whole an austere sobriety far removed from the tufa stone of the Loire. Today, the masonry shows irregularities and repairs that bear witness to the many phases of construction, repair and remodelling that punctuated the life of these fortifications between the 12th and 15th centuries.
Related Figures
Philippe Auguste (1165-1223) — roi de France, commanditaire de la Grosse Tour et organisateur du système défensif royal à DunLouis VI le Gros (1081-1137) — roi sous le règne duquel Dun fut intégrée au domaine royal en 1101, posant les bases de la présence capétienneCharles VII (1403-1461) — roi de France dont le règne vit la transformation de la maison-forte en Salle-le-Roi, signe de l'évolution des besoins résidentiels royaux
