Camp of Beugy

The Camp of Beugy or Camp of English is a fortified camp located at 800 m from Holy-Suzanne (Mayenne) which was used as a basis of 1083 for 1086 for the troops of William the Conqueror, to besiege - in vain - the strengthened city held by the Viscount of the Maine Hubert II of Beaumont.

Description

the camp of Beugy, whose state of conservation is remarkable, is registered with the inventory of the Historic buildings since the July 28th 1937 (Archeological site: 53.255 3 AH).
It constitutes an example of a type of military architecture, that of the ground ramparts and stones.
It is with approximately 800 meters in the north of Holy-Suzanne, between the secondary road 143 (direction Adze-the-Berenger) and the communal way 201, dominating of the pieces of meadows, close to the river the Erve, called Beugic by Orderic Vital, then Beugi , Bongen , Bonjin (registers 1842 - 1843) and today Beugy .
the historians who are leaning on these fortifications grant to allot the realization of it to William the Conqueror, but considering its size and its form, it is possible that it was built on an old preexistent camp, - of which the infrastructure would have been re-used -, of Gallo-Roman or Celtic time. The close properties have as names the mound and Châteauneuf .
Of a surface of almost 2 ha 50, it consists of two whole of East-West directed rectangular fortifications, separated from a ditch, surrounded by ditches, and presenting an original configuration in the horseshoe shape. The southern side deals with Holy-Suzanne, perfectly visible but out of reach weapons of the time. Rises in ground, reinforced stones frays, carried at the 11th century of the palisades and the turns out of wooden. A drawbridge connected the two parts of the camp

All the two camps, external ditches included/understood, covers approximately 230 m out of 110 m (the western enclosure measures 95 m X 85 m, that of the east, vaster, 110 m X approximately 100 m). The interior courses are punts and have following dimensions: 70 m X 45 m for the " small camp" , 90 m X 55 m for the " large camp".
various names of the camp attest relief of the places: the mound , the hillocks . The Western enclosure is incomplete southern part: shaven on more than 40 meters, it made place with agricultural buildings already present on the land register of the 19th century and which were used until in 1981.

This structure represents well the method employed by William the Conqueror since the beginning of its conquests (Brionne in 1047, Domfront in 1049, Arques in 1052…), and described by Gabriel Fleury in 1891 in the historical and archaeological Re-examined of Maine : " When it could not remove a town of sharp force and a first attack, it renonçait immediately with new attacks (...), blocked the city, leaving soldiers in the cuttings off which it had raised, waiting until the enemy, overcome by the famine, went to his mercy ".
It is precisely what Guillaume in undertakes 1084 in front of the fortress coveted of Holy-Suzanne, and unconquered at the time of the first battle. Orderic Vital, whose father had taken share at the sides of Guillaume to the conquest of England, pays in its Histoire of Normandy , which impotent to remove the fortress of Holy-Suzanne, " the King raised a fort in the valley of Beugic and placed a garrison there to contain the enemy ".

The resistance of Maine to William the Conqueror

How William the Conqueror does it come from there to besiege this fortified town?

second half of the 11th century is marked in France by a great confusion. Everywhere, fights and violences put the country at fire and blood. In front of the obliteration of the royal capacity, the Comté of Maine acquires in fact a certain independence. However, by its geographical location, it makes the object of desire on behalf of its powerful neighbors, the counts d' Anjou, the dukes of Brittany and Normandy, but also of the lords of Bellême, warriors particularly dreaded.
It is in this context that Herbert II, count of Maine, fearing the claims of Geoffroy II Martel, count d' Anjou, approaches Guillaume and concludes with him a treaty from allegiance: in the event of died from Herbert without heir, the county of Maine would be allocated to the duke of Normandy. Herbert II also promises to marry one of his daughters, and to promise in marriage his Marguerite sister to Robert Courteheuse, the proper son of Guillaume.
Marguerite dies, preceding by little the death of his/her brother Herbert II of Maine in 1062. No heir not having incipient, Guillaume estimates that the treaty applies and that the grounds of the Comté of Maine thus return to him from right. He installs his son Robert Courteheuse as Count of Maine but directs in fact itself the new territory.
But in 1063 Manceaux refuse this domination and revolt with, at their head, Gautier III of Vexin, supported by Geoffroy II of Mayenne, Hubert II lord of Beaumont, Fresnay and Holy-Suzanne, Hugues of Sillé (1040 - 1087), but also by Geoffroy Martel then by his nephew Geoffroy III Bearded the.
In spite of this coalition, Guillaume seizes the Mans, made captive Gautier III of Vexin which was cut off there, takes along it to Falaise where it kills it. It supplements its victory while being made main of the castles of the area: Gorron, Lassay, Mayenne, where Geoffroy II of Mayenne besieged ends up capitulating, and that of Ambrières (where it had done itself to build a fortress in 1052 at the time of an incursion on the grounds of the count d' Anjou).
Thinking of having thus subjected the Maine, Guillaume leaves to conquer England in 1066. It was to underestimate the obstinacy of Manceaux, which again revolts against the domination Norman and the ambitions of the count d' Anjou Foulque-le-Réchin, also nephew of Geoffroy Martel, which had taken possession of Maine. Furious to have lost control of it, Guillaume returns to France and, in 1073, to the head of a powerful army, seizes the castles of Fresnay, Beaumont and Sillé, then moves towards Mans and subjects the city.
Hubert II of Beaumont, lord of Holy-Suzanne, taken refuge then in its last castle, puts in Guillaume failure while resisting his first attack. At this point in time Guillaume, applying his usual tactic, built in Beugy its fortified camp to besiege the city.

The attack and the seat

"The king , known as Vital Orderic, could not besiege the fortress, which was inaccessible because of the rocks and the thickness of the vines. who surrounded it by all shares; it could not block the enemy more there because this one got means of communication " courageously;.
an underground, says one, led castle to the Large-mill or Moulin with the Viscount , located on the Erve downwards, and made it possible to feed in various flour and vivres the castle, which had moreover a well with the foot even of the keep. The besieged population could thus live in autarky and support a prolonged seat.
Guillaume placed a strong garrison in the camp of Beugy, ordered by one of its more faithful captains, Alain the Russet-red.
Orderic Vital continues: " the army of the king, with the head was Alain the Russet-red, count of Breton, was pointed out by its richnesses, its horses and its military apparatus; but besieged endeavoured to equalize it in courage and of number, bus of Aquitaine, Burgundy and other provinces of France, the best knights ran towards Hubert to assist it their efforts and of their bravery. It resulted from it that the castle of Holy-Suzanne grows rich at the expense of besieging, and that more and more it was strengthened in its means of resistance. It often happened that rich person lords, Norman or English, fell into the hands from besieged: at the price of their ransom, the Viscount and Robert of Burgundy, from which he had married the niece, as well as the other people of his party, grew rich " honourably;.
Of 1083 with 1086, Hubert resisted Norman and, charged with the skins of the enemy, faced his attacks. In this war, Robert of Old man-Bridge, Robert d' Ussi and several other Norman knights of distinction were killed .

the legend of the Mule of the Large-mill At the beginning of the 20th century, the folklorist Amand Dagnet wrote a song on the legend of the mule of the Large-mill, which would have supplied in flour the castle during the seat of 1083 - 1086. ( Holy-Suzanne in songs , Imp. Goupil, Laval, 1929). This song was given in music at the end of the years 1960 by the Grand Prix of Rome of music Jean Deré .

Let us sing all, glass with the hand,/White-mule of the Large-mill: /The white mule, White-mule ,/From the Large-mill to the tower,/Go its train, never does not move back,/In top, then in bottom, in turn. / Lives the good white mule/Which never does not butt or flanche!
When the enemy, of all shares,/besieges Us in our ramparts,/Mister the English keeps the door,/Waiting until one dies of hunger… /It can! bus White-mule brings/the flour of the Large-mill. / Lives the good white mule…
the mule alone, undoubtedly,/Is worth well as much as a regiment: /Thanks to its sure and fast foot,/We have the good corn bread… /Large God! thank you! because belly empties/would quickly have capitulated. / Lives the good white mule…
besieging It does not suspect/Que under its nose? Not, under its steps,/White-mule, activates, hastens/to nourish its dear Suzannais,/And that while walking on it leaves/… droppings, for Mister the English! / Lives the good white mule…

The death of Richer of the Eagle

the November 18th 1085, when the army Norman was going to charge the enemy, a still beardless young man, who had hidden along the way in bushes, drew an arrow and struck mortally under the eye Richer of the Eagle, wire of Engenoulf of the Eagle. His/her comrades in arms ran full with fury, seized themselves of the young man and wanted to kill it to avenge this noble lord, but dying Richer protected it .
While one wanted to cut the throat of the young man, the casualty shouted as extremely as it could: " For the love of god, let suit it; thus I must die, for the atonement of my péchés." The murderer was returned at once; the knight, worthy of regrets, confessed his sins to his comrades and died before one had been able to lead it downtown.
In January 1086, Gislebert of the Eagle, wishing to avenge death for Richer, makes an effort, in particular with Guillaume Ier de Warenne and Bauldri de Quitri, to deliver attack to besieged, with the assistance of a powerful army the Norman ones, but they gained there only the iron which was inserted in their wounds , reports Orderic Vital. Guillaume, Count d' Évreux (1067 - 1118), is made prisoner, and Machiel de Guitot, wire of Godefroi-the-Small, is wounded mortally.

End of the seat

As the Norman ones which kept the camp of Beugy could override Hubert de Beaumont neither by the value, nor by happiness, having changed resolution, they tried to insert it in the alliance of the king . Did Hubert grant the negotiations wisely, and William the Conqueror lent himself to it, discouraged by the death of so many brave men knights, inter alia by that of Herve Breton the (or more probably Anvrai the Breton one?), which had succeeded Alain the Russet-red in the command of the seat.
Guillaume accepted in a friendly way in England the defender of Holy-Suzanne, honourably returned the fields of his/her fathers to him, and consequently was maintained in good intelligence with him . Thus the seat of Holy-Suzanne ended. William the Conqueror, wounded during the plundering of Mantes, died in Rouen little time afterwards, the September 9th 1087. Hubert II died towards 1095 but the family of Beaumont, then allied in Brienne, held the Viscount until the end of the 14th century.

Epilog

Hubert II of Beaumont, known as Hubert of Holy-Suzanne , thus left unconquered this four year old seat, so that Holy-Suzanne is quoted in the history of England like " the only castle that William the Conqueror could never take " .

To see

Country of Art and History Coëvrons-Mayenne
the camp of Beugy, in spite of an erosion of almost thousand years, is still impressing nowadays. The kinds of bastions located at the angles of the enclosure dominate of approximately 10 m the external ditches. A very clear depression, between the two camps, is completely visible at the place where this passage was. The general form was safeguarded because no construction, except for the farm of La Motte , was built on these grounds, which always kept an agricultural vocation and were slightly eroded only by the passage of the animals and the action of the tools.
the camp of English is today, except for the ground of La Motte , property of the Holy-Suzanne commune of , which acquired in 1989 of it with an aim of safeguarding the site, to emphasize it and to open it with the public. There can of the excavations deepened to be carried out one day.
the camp, located in edge of the road of Adze-the-Berenger, is open in any season to the walkers, pedestrians and hikers. Carpark in the vicinity.
the camp of Beugy gave its name to a street of Holy-Suzanne: the street of the camp of English (D 9 route de Torcé-Fish pond-in-Charnie).

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