History of Yonne

The history of the Yonne is that of a department created with the French revolution, the March 4th 1790 and whose territory recovered part of the provinces of Burgundy, of Champagne, Orléanais and Île-de-France.

The current territory of the department was occupied by the men as of the Paléolithique as the prehistoric vestiges of them of Arcy-sur-Cure attests.

Antiquity

Celtic time , the inhabitants of the department of the Yonne kept their name of Icaunais coming from the name of the divinized river ( icauna in Latin).

At the time Gallo-Roman, the territory of the current department was occupied by the people Senones. The most important city was Sens ( Agedincum ) which became, after the Roman conquest, the capital of the province of the " fourth Lyons) ".

With the beginning of the IVe century, between 408 and 410, the Burgondes attack the Romans and conquer the territory. With the expansion of the Christianity which then gained the various “countries” ( pagus in Latin) of the Yonne, the province became an ecclesiastical metropolis and Direction was the seat of a Archevêché whose the Diocèse S depended on Chartres, of Auxerre, of Meaux, Paris, Orleans, Nevers and of Troyes which the Voie served Clutched.

the Middle Ages

At the end of antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages, the Francs évincent the burgondes. In 558, Clotaire manages to join together Burgundy with the territories inherited his/her father Clovis. With its death, into 561, the whole of the territories is divided between its sons and it is Gontran which inherits the kingdom of Burgundy.

After the Mérovingiens, the Carolingian Empire reigned on the territory of Burgundy. But, he did not survive his founder. The internal conflicts between its sons and heirs proceeded even on the ground icaunais. The Battle of Fontenoy-in-Puisaye, on June 25th, 841, are undoubtedly one of the causes of the Traité of Verdun (843) which sealed the division of the Carolingian Empire.

With the Middle Ages, the department was a high place of Christendom:

The influence of large the Abbey S, that it is that of Saint-Germain to Auxerre at the time of Charles-the-Bald person and its successors, or later that of the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny, girl of Citeaux in XIVe and XVe centuries had catastrophic consequences: turning into a desert of the campaigns, important mortality…

The Rebirth

The Rebirth is marked by the crusades. Vézelay accommodated Holy Bernard who, in 1146, preached there the Second crusade. It is also in this city that Philippe Auguste and Richard Lion-hearted which was found there to leave at the time of the Third crusade. The town of Pontigny saw arriving of the Prélat S English fighting against monarchy like Thomas Becket, which resided in the town of 1164 to 1166, Etienne Langton, of 1208 to 1213 or Saint Edme, which was buried there in 1240.

Incarnated with Auxerre by the bishop Jacques Amyot, the Rebirth seemed a revival with the construction of castles (Château of Ancy-the-Franc, Château of Tanlay, Château of Saint-Fargeau, Château of Maulnes) and the embellishment of the churches, like the chorus of the Cathédrale of Auxerre.

However, the Protestant wars of religion between and Catholiques brought also their procession of ruins and plunderings.

The Absolute monarchy

It supported the development of the trade, in particular by water ways. Already universally estimated, the wine of Auxerre was led by boats until Paris and from there sent in the Flandres, in Prussia and even in Poland. The floatation of wood allowed rafts Morvan to arrive to the capital. Colbert, marquis of Seignelay, established manufactures to with it. Full with hope in the incipient Revolution, the inhabitants of the countries of Yonne knew the great fear of the summer 1789. The Department of Yonne lately created in 1790 is one of most beautiful kingdom according to Bureaux of Pusy, was made of elements of several general information and its homogeneity was ensured by the river which crosses it right through and which gave him its name.

Empires

Department before very rural, Yonne knew its hour of glory with the return in France of " the aigle", as was made call Napoleon Bonaparte. The decisive meeting between the marshal Ney and Napoleon indeed took place with the prefecture of Auxerre the March 18th 1815. The allied armies occupied the department during the summer 1815.

Thereafter the calm one returned until the Coup d'etat of December 2nd, 1851 after which the Republicans in particular in Puisaye fomented a rising which, taken of short, was severely repressed.

Under the Second Empire, the development of the means of transport (railroad, channels, roads), did not prevent a rural migration, also accelerated by the crisis of Phylloxéra which destroyed 20.000 hectares of Vigne S, the principal culture of the department.

Franco-German War of 1870

During the Franco-German war of 1870-1871, the department was invaded by the enemy troops of armed Anger and with IIe, under the orders of the general-in-chief Edwin von Manteuffel and of prince Frederic-Charles, nephew of the king of Prussia Guillaume Ier.

Auxerre, Direction, Thunder, Joigny, Saint-Florentin cheese, Windfallen wood and a great number of other cities was occupied. However, as of on October 5th, the General advice of Yonne decided to join together funds to organize the defense of the department. Thus the October 21st, a troop made up of national guards attacked without much result, with Grandpuits, close to Nangis, a small Prussian detachment.

However, the November 11th, in spite of an attempt at resistance to Brienon-on-Armançon, the town of Joigny fell to the hands from the Prussians who occupied it to the signature of peace. During the month of November 1870, the enemy managed to enter to Sens, Villeneuve-the Archevêque and Tonnerre. November 16th, a German detachment arrived at Chablis and a few days later, after the Prussian artillery bombarded Auxerre, the Zastrow general, ordering of VIIe body, tie-beam in the city. The small town of Saint-Breaking-the-Vinous undergone the same fate.

December 27th, Courson-the-Careers was delivered to plundering. In January, Avallon was bombarded and on January 25th a battle took place with Laroche, between Joigny and Tonnerre at the conclusion which the volunteers of Yonne succeeded in taking the station by and destroying the bridge of the railroad. The armistice signed at the end of January 1871 allowed Auxerre to be preserved bombardments, destruction.

For the period of occupation, the department belonged to the general government of the north of France, whose seat was with Versailles.

The losses for the department of Yonne were high as well as men as in term of destroyed or damaged buildings, with a blow of rebuilding which bordered the 6 franc million (914.000 €).

World wars

The war of 1914-1918 cruelly tested the department which lost 30.000 more inhabitants between 1911 and 1921. Yonne gave to the III {{E}} République of the politicians of foreground, in particular Paul Bert, Jean Welcome-Martin, Paul Doumer and Pierre-Etienne Flandin. During the Second world war, resistance was illustrated and taken an active part in the release of the department, at the end of August 1944.

External bonds

General advice of Yonne
History of Yonne

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