Water, Stone, Vine...
Presentation and history of Tonnerre
Tonnerre first appeared in Roman times as Tornodurum, meaning "fortress". For the Lingons, it was the capital of the Pagus tornodorensis. Here, in the Armançon valley, the County of Tonnerre was created, and served as a crossing point between Paris and Dijon, at a time when the King of France had designs on the Duchy of Burgundy.
The etymologies of Tonnerre come, for the Celtic period, from Torn, deriving from the name of an obscure local divinity; others relate it to Douros: fortress, finally another denomination would correspond to Dour in connection with a place near the torrent. It is also possible that the three solutions come together in a single one: a divinized place (1782, discovery of cavities containing weapons and ornaments, coins and jewels linked to the cult of divinities).
The fortress dominating Tonnerre would have been located on the "Mont Bellant" and "Vieux Châteaux" sites, with numerous ancient remains.
As for the "divinized spring", the vestige of this is blatantly obvious, as it is the Fosse Dionne.
La Fosse Dionne de Tonnerre
Antiquity
In 2005, research at Les Petits Ovis revealed that the site was occupied by a necropolis dating from the late Bronze Age and a settlement dating from the Second Iron Age. At "Terre de Vauplaine", burials and cremations dating from between the Bronze and Iron Ages were uncovered. A Gallo-Roman rural settlement, known but poorly located, was also identified.
Middle Ages
During this period, numerous tanners' workshops appeared along the Armançon or near the Fosse Dionne to work the hides.
The native Comtale dynasty
Tonnerre has been the seat of a county since the middle of the 10th century. It administered the western edge of the vast bishopric of Langres.
Several members of the Count's family rose to head this bishopric. It may have included the Bar-sur-Seine region.
The counts, known from the charters of the Abbey of Saint-Michel, bear the first name Miles. In the 11th century, successions became more chaotic.
A viscount of Tonnerre appeared at the beginning of this century. In legal terms, this meant that the holder of the county had a county right other than that of Tonnerre, which required the establishment of a viscount (the same problem as in Joigny in 1080).
This viscount was at the origin of the de Rougemont family.
The last heiress of this first dynasty married Guillaume, Count of Nevers and Auxerre, in the mid-11th century, when he was struggling to recover from the guardianship of his uncle, the Duke of Burgundy, who had killed his father. His younger sister, by marrying a son of the Count of Brienne, caused the definitive separation of Tonnerre from the county of Bar-sur-Seine.
The Comtale de Nevers-Auxerre dynasty (1045-1193)
Guillaume de Nevers administers the county for a long time. A provost became the representative of his administration for the Tonnerrois region. The tendency towards heredity is an admission of the county's weakness.
William's youngest son came close to re-establishing an autonomous county. The county frequently served as a dower for dowager countesses. Feudal lords spread their power throughout the county: Argenteuil, Rougemont.
Some rose to the rank of viscount when princes created viscounties on trade routes joining their principalities (Ligny-le-Châtel around 1120). This phenomenon also affected other parts of the principality.
The Sires of Noyers-sur-Serein escaped countal authority early on, and built a powerful independent seigneury in Franc-alleu, on the edge of the county of Auxerre and the former county of Avallon.
Feudalization reached its classical fullness. Nevertheless, the town of Tonnerre continued to develop. Two parishes were created: Notre-Dame and Saint-Pierre. The Abbey of Saint-Michel faces the castle on the other side of the valley.
The Counts made belated and relatively unsuccessful attempts to regain control over their great feudal lords. They only succeeded in imposing a division of inheritance (Toucy, circa 1170). The Tonnerrois region was deeply and durably feudalized.
The Comtale Courtenay dynasty
From the end of the 12th to the middle of the 13th century, Tonnerre was part of the county of Nevers-Auxerre and Tonnerre. This vast ensemble was effectively abandoned when the head of the lineage ventured unprofitably to the East (Constantinople Empire). Copying an institution set up in 1184 in the royal domain, this count instituted a bailiff. But as in Champagne, this new agent was far less efficient than his counterpart in Sens. He managed both the Auxerre and Tonnerre baillies. He did not antagonize the local feudal lords. Clashes with the bishop of Auxerre and the revolt of Hervé de Donzy humiliated Count Pierre de Courtenay.
A younger member of the de Courtenay family took over the seigneury of Tanlay.
The Comtale des Châlons dynasty (1308-1463)
In the mid-13th century, a Countess of Tonnerre married the King of Sicily. She founded the Grand Hôtel-Dieu: Burgundy's greatest civil monument.
The de Chalon family succeeded in participating in the division of the principality and received the County of Tonnerre.
As a prelude to the second phase of the Hundred Years' War, the Count of Tonnerre kidnapped an honorary daughter of the Duchess of Burgundy. John the Fearless jumped on this pretext to wage all-out war against the Count of Tonnerre. Despite the disproportion of forces, the Comte de Tonnerre managed to delay his downfall. But this desperate struggle came at a price: the Tonnerrois region was ravaged. The feudal lords who had followed their natural overlord were robbed by Burgundian nobles who had come to the rescue. The war between the Armagnacs and the Burgundians followed shortly afterwards (1411). Tonnerre remained in the hands of the Duke of Burgundy. During the 15th century, the town gained fiscal institutions: the recette des Aides and the Élection.
The Revolution
It was the administrative center of the Tonnerre district from 1790 to 1795, and of the Tonnerre arrondissement from 1800 to 1926.
World War II
The town was bombed by the Germans in June 1940, then by the Anglo-Americans on May 25, 1944, who killed fourteen people when they hit Notre-Dame church.
Presentation and history of Tonnerre
Tonnerre first appeared in Roman times as Tornodurum, meaning "fortress". For the Lingons, it was the capital of the Pagus tornodorensis. Here, in the Armançon valley, the County of Tonnerre was created, and served as a crossing point between Paris and Dijon, at a time when the King of France had designs on the Duchy of Burgundy. [read more]
Tonnerre Town Hall
Social networking
Qrcode reader