Walls of Avignon

The walls of Avignon (Les Remparts d'Avignon) are a series of defensive stone walls that surround the city of Avignon in the south of France. They were built in the 14th century during the Avignon papacy and have been continually rebuilt and repaired throughout their subsequent history.

The current walls replaced an earlier double set of defensive walls that had been completed in the first two decades of the 13th century. During the Albigensian Crusade the town sided with the Count of Toulouse, Raymond VII but in 1226, after a three-month siege by Louis VIII of France, Avignon capitulated and was forced to dismantle the early walls and fill in the moats. Beginning in around 1231, the defences were rebuilt. Although these early walls have not survived, their path is preserved in the street plan of the city.

In 1309 Pope Clement V moved to Avignon and under the papacy the town expanded outside the limits of the earlier city walls. From the 1350s during the Hundred Years' War the town became vulnerable to pillage by marauding bands of mercenaries and in 1357 under Innocent VI, the fifth Avignon pope, work began on the construction of a new set of city walls to enclose the expanded town. The walls took nearly 20 years to complete.

The walls stretch for 4.3 km and enclose an area of 150 ha. There were originally twelve gates controlling access to the city but this number was reduced to seven when the fortifications were modified between 1481 and 1487 during the French Wars of Religion. There are now 15 vehicular entrances and 11 pedestrian entrances.

Early fortifications
Historians had assumed that during the Roman period Avignon would have been defended by a wall, but this is now considered unlikely. A large amount of rescue archaeology has taken place in Avignon since the 1960s, especially around the Place de l'Horloge. This has revealed many details of the Roman town but no evidence has been found for a defensive wall.

In late antiquity a rudimentary wall was erected by reusing material from Roman monuments. It was centred on the Rocher des Doms and enclosed a much smaller area than the Roman town. This wall is mentioned by the Gallo-Roman historian Gregory of Tours when describing the siege of the town by the Frankish king, Clovis I, in around 500 AD.

13th century double walls
In the 12th century the town enjoyed a degree of independence and became very prosperous. A bridge was built across the Rhône, the Pont Saint-Bénézet whose construction is traditionally dated to between 1177 and 1185. There are no surviving records of when the first city wall was built but historians have suggested dates between 1060 and 1176.

In the first two decades of the 13th century the town added a second wall with a second moat outside the earlier wall. The two walls were parallel and separated by around 30 m. Built into the outer wall were a series semi-circular towers. Access to the town was provided by twelve pairs of gates, each pair consisting of a gate in the inner wall and another in the outer. Water for the moats came from the Sorgue through the Canal de Vaucluse. After 1229, additional water was also provided from the Durance by the Canal de l'Hôpital (La Durançole). The double walls extended around a perimeter of approximately 3 km and enclosed an area of around 45 ha.

During the Albigensian Crusade the town sided with the Count of Toulouse, Raymond VII. In 1226 the French king, Louis VIII, descended the Rhône valley with a papal legate and a large army en route to a new campaign against the Albigensians. Avignon refused to open its gates but after a siege lasting three months (10 June until 12 September) the city was forced by famine to capitulate. One of the conditions imposed on the town was the dismantling of the city walls. The town rebuilt the defences between 1234 and 1237, presumably on the same plan, but in 1251 Avignon lost its independence when the two younger brothers of King Louis IX, Alphonse of Poitiers and Charles of Anjou (Charles I of Naples) took back control and appointed a viguier (magistrate) to administer the town.

The only surviving piece of the 13th century fortifications is a small fragment of the outer wall at the junction of rue Joseph-Vernet with rue Saint-Charles. Much of the path of the double defence is preserved in the city plan as modern streets follow what was once the gap between the two city walls. Working clockwise from the northeast the walls followed the rue des Trois-Colombes, the rue Campane, the rue Paul-Saïn, the rue Philonarde, the rue des Lices, the rue Henri-Farbe, the rue Joseph-Vernet and the rue Grande-Fusterie. The path of early walls in northwest corner of the town near the Pont Saint-Bénézet is obscure due to the subsequent changes to the fortifications in this important area.

The pairs of arched gateways were retained long after the double set of walls had been demolished and are depicted on 16th and 17th century maps of the town. Many of the old gates were removed in the 18th century but the Portail de Pertuis was not demolished until 1847. The appearance of these gates is unknown as they are not depicted on any print or lithograph. The names of some gates have survived in the modern street names: rue Portail Biensen, rue du Portail Magnanen, rue Portail Matheron and Planet du Portail Peint.

Water from the Sorgue joined the outer moat near the Portail Imbert, flowed around the walls to the Portail l'Êveque and then flowed away to join the Rhône. With the development of the town the moat was vaulted over although the river remained visible along the rue des Teinturiers. In the covered section of the moat, which now serves as a main sewer, the external surfaces of the 13th century walls are clearly visible as are the lower portions the semi-circular towers. The towers average 6.2 m in diameter and are spaced about 34 m apart. The façades of the buildings on the south side of the rue des Lice, rue Henri Fabre and rue Joseph Vernet are aligned with the remains of the outer city wall below ground.

Avignon papacy and the 14th century city walls
[[File:Map showing entrances to the walled centre of Avignon.png|thumb|right|upright=1.4|Modern entrances. Those dating from the end of the 15th century are indicated by red disks, other vehicular entrances by orange disks and pedestrian entrances are indicated by green disks.

1. Poterne Banasterie 2. Porte de la Ligne

3. Porte Saint-Joseph 4. Poterne Saint-Lazare

5. Porte Saint-Lazare 6. Porte de l'Université

7. Poterne Chabran 8. Porte Thiers

9. Poterne des Teinturiers 10. Porte Limbert

11. Portail Magnanen 12. Porte Saint-Michel

13. Poterne Monclar 14. Porte de la République

15. Porte Saint-Charles 16. Porte Saint-Roch

17. Poterne Raspail 18. Porte Saint-Dominique

19. Poterne de l'Oratoire 20. Porte de l'Oulle

21. Poterne Georges Pompidou 22. Porte du Rhône

23. Le Châtelet 24. Tour Polygonale

25. Porte du Rocher]]

Pope Clement V moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon in 1309. This led to a large expansion of the town so that the free space within the double walls was soon exhausted and church officials began building outside the old walls, joining the mendicant orders that had established monasteries outside the city gates in the previous century. The residents of these new suburbs lacked the protection provided by the walls but were exempt from paying the city taxes.

In 1348 Pope Clement VI purchased the town of Avignon from Joanna I of Naples, the Queen of Naples and Countess of Provence, for 80,000 gold florins. Prompted by the threat from the bands of marauding mercenaries (free companies) that were roaming elsewhere in France, sometime between 1355 and 1357 Pope Innocent VI decided to protect the expanded town with a new set of walls. The walls were to enclose a large lozenge shaped area that included the Chapelle Notre-Dame-des-Miracles in the southwest that had been founded by the second Avignon pope John XXII and the Hôpital Sainte-Marthe to the east that had recently been founded by the legal expert Bernard Rascas and his wife. The area of the town would increase by more than three-fold to 151.7 ha. The pope may have initially provided small sums for the project but from January 1358 the construction costs were paid for by a tax (gabelle) on wine brought into the town. Additional taxes were introduced on salt and general merchandise in 1363. The papacy also lent money to the town to allow the work to proceed more rapidly.

While work on the wall was progressing the town came under attack from unemployed mercenaries whose numbers increased when a truce in the Hundred Years' War was agreed in Bordeaux between the English and French forces in March 1357. In 1358 Pope Innocent VI bought off a group of mercenaries led by Arnaud de Cervole (known as the Archpriest) with a ransom of 1,000 gold florins.

The new suburbs were protected with temporary wooden structures while the stone walls were being built. Limestone for the walls and towers came from a quarry on the other side of the Rhône above Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, wood came from Savoy, lime for the mortar came from Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and sand came from islands in the Rhône. By 1372 the new walls were sufficiently advanced to protect the town against a band of mercenaries en route to Italy. Work continued and in 1381 the merlons near the Dominican monastery (Porte des Prêcheurs) were rebuilt.

The walls extended for a length of 4.33 km and included 12 gates, 36 large towers and around 50 small towers with blind arches. No wall was required for a stretch of 270 m at the north of the town which was protected by the steep sides of the Rocher des Doms. Except for a section near the Rhône between the Porte Saint-Jacques and the Rocher des Doms the walls were surrounded by a moat which was supplied with water from the Sorgue and the Durance. Each of the gates included a drawbridge, a portcullis and a pair of heavy wooden doors. The walls were crowned with a battlement which protected a walkway (chemin de ronde). The towers had tiled roofs and may have originally been fitted with wooded hoarding which were later replaced with stone.

15th century modifications
During the western schism (1378 to 1417) that followed the Avignon papacy, Aragonese troops paid by the antipope Benedict XIII defended the papal palace complex against attacks by people from the town. The walls near the bridge were damaged and in 1410 the tower controlling access to the bridge collapsed. It was rebuilt in 1414. Between 1479 and 1488 the walls were repaired and remodelled with the reduction in the number of gates from twelve to seven. The work was initiated by the papal legate Archbishop Giuliano della Rovere who subsequently became Pope Julius II.

16th century and the Wars of Religion
In the first half of the 16th century the crumbling towers were repaired and between 1524 and 1538 extra loopholes were pierced for the newly acquired cannons. In 1561 Pope Pius IV sent his cousin, Fabrizio Serbelloni, to organise the defence of the town against the Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598). The walls were repaired, and three of the gates were walled up. These were Porte Saint-Roch, Porte de l'Oulle and Porte de la Ligne. The remaining four gates were strengthened by the addition of protective fortifications (ravelins) outside the gates themselves.

From the second half of the 17th century some of the defensive structures were dismantled. Beginning in 1661 the three gates that had been walled up during the Wars of Religion were reopened, and a few years later all the drawbridges were removed. In 1679 some of the exterior fortifications protecting the Porte Saint Michel were transformed into a triumphal arch dedicated to Pope Innocent XI (in post 1676–1689).

18th century and the Revolution
In the 18th century the walls continued to be maintained up to the time of the French Revolution and three of the seven gates were rebuilt. The Porte de la Ligne at the north of the town was judged to be too narrow. In 1755–1757 a new gatehouse designed by the architect Jean-Pierre Franque was built 50 metres west of the old gate at the end of Rue Palapharnerie. The new gate replaced a small tower. The old gatehouse was demolished and replaced by another small tower. In 1760 the Porte du Rhône, to the south of the Saint-Bénézet bridge, was demolished and rebuilt in a classical style. The new gate was again designed by Franque. In 1783 the Porte de l'Oulle, to the west side of the town, was demolished and rebuilt 20 metres to the north of its original position, opposite La Comédie theatre on the other side of the Place Crillon. Vestiges of the arch of the original gate are still visible on the interior surface of the wall. The design was by the architect Jean-Baptiste Péru. The new gate no longer survives: it was demolished in 1900. During this period the battlements were repaired between Porte Saint Roch and Porte d'Oulle as well as between Porte de la Ligne and Porte Saint-Lazare.

All work on the walls ceased during the French Revolution (1789-1799) and on 24 September 1791 Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin were declared part of France and ceased to be Papal States.

19th century
After the Revolution, medieval ruins were considered an obstacle to effective town planning and in the first half of the 19th century the walls around most of the towns and villages in the Vaucluse were pulled down. The walls surrounding Avignon were spared a similar fate although they were threatened with partial demolition on several occasions.

Between 1796 and 1816-1818, the walls around the town were safeguarded as they were considered to be of military significance and were placed under the control of the French military. For the city of Avignon, an advantage of keeping the walls intact was that with only seven entrances it made collecting the octroi easier. The octoi was a tax payable on goods brought into the town. The system was abolished in 1793 during the Revolution but was reintroduced in 1800.

To facilitate easier access to the southwest part of the town, Porte Saint-Dominique was created in 1839 by opening a gap in the wall at the end of Rue Victor Hugo (formerly Rue Saint-Dominique). This was the first new entrance since three gates had been re-opened in the second half of the 17th century. It increased the number of entrances from seven to eight.

Walls as a flood barrier
The town had always been subject to flooding by the Rhône. In November 1840 the river reached a height of 8.32 m, the highest that has ever been recorded. It caused severe flooding in the town with most streets under water. In some areas the water reached the first floor level of the houses. The flooding lasted for over three weeks and deposited large quantities of mud in the streets. Following this event the town decided to make better use of the town walls as a flood barrier and to install sluice gates on all the canals and drains. Each of the city gates was modified to facilitate the construction of a temporary cofferdam to prevent the river water entering the town. A pair of vertical slots were cut into the limestone blocks on either side of the opening. The slots were separated by a distance of between 0.5 m to 1 m and were designed to accommodate wooden planks which could be placed across the gate entrance. The gap between the sets of planks was filled with a mixture of earth and straw to create a dam.

The town was again flooded by the Rhône at the end of May 1856. A rapid thaw of snow in the Alps led to the river rising to a height of 7.83 m, only 0.49 m lower than in 1840. A sluice gate on a small sewer failed at the end of Rue Conduit Perrot near Porte Saint-Lazare at the northeast corner of the town. Almost at the same time a 30 m section of the medieval wall collapsed at the opposite corner of the town between Port Saint-Dominique and Port Saint-Roch. The collapse sent a wave of water 1.5 m high sweeping along the streets and flooded three quarters of the town.

Between 1860 and 1870 the base of the walls on the inside were strengthened by the addition of a retaining wall. This was a large project and required the demolition of buildings that had been constructed against the medieval wall. The reinforcement was clad with marble from Tavel, Gard, a denser stone that is more resistant to the humidity.

Hastily constructed cotterdams prevented water flowing through the gates into the town when the Rhône flooded in December 2003. Outside the walls to the west of town, the Allées de l'Oulle were completely under water. Within the walls, some areas to the east of the centre were flooded to a depth of a few tens of centimeters due to the high level of the water table.

List of modern entrances
There are now around 25 entrances through the city walls. Of these, ten are restricted to pedestrians. The list below begins at the north of the town to the east of the Rocher des Doms and progresses in a clockwise direction.