Saint-Amand-Montrond City of Art and Heritage

In 1266, Ebbes VI de Charenton granted a charter of franchise to the inhabitants, establishing the free movement of the town’s burghers, and founded the free town of Saint-Amand. This charter of franchise, confirmed in the 14th century, marked the real start of the town, with its advantages attracting the surrounding population. But by 1208, a different lord was known on the Montrond hill. We don’t know when fortification began, but as early as the 13th century, mention is made of a citadel already powerfully organized, dependent on the House of Albret, whose constable apparently lived in his château d’Orval, on the other bank of the Cher.

Captured and destroyed at the start of the Hundred Years’ War, Montrond was rebuilt stronger and more powerful. The work was completed when the English came to plunder and burn Orval in 1412. This sacking of the neighboring town had two important consequences for the town of Saint-Amand. The first was that the inhabitants of Orval, who had taken refuge on the right bank of the Cher under the protection of Montrond, brought their businesses with them. Adding them to those of Saint-Amand-le-Chastel, they gave new vigor to the local economy. Secondly, this new population settled in the new districts founded to the west of Saint-Amand-le-Chastel, which had become cramped within its too-small walls.

Thus was born, in the 15th century, the new town of Saint-Amand, built on land belonging to Montrond and soon to be known as Saint-Amand-sous-Montrond. Linked to its parent town by a short, still-existing rue Entre-les-Deux-Villes, this second city was walled from 1431 onwards.

Trade, made easy by bridges(three over the Marmande and one over the Cher), became prosperous. In the early 16th century, there were six fairs in Saint-Amand-sous-Montrond alone, the most important of which, in October, is still known today as the ” Foires d’Orval “.