Château de Gisors

The castle ruins Gisors is in the French town of Gisors in Eure, Haute -Normandie region and dates from the 11th century. Your defense tower ( donjon ) is set to a moth, a man-made mound in 1097. From 1106, the castle was built in 1113 it is completed.

Construction phase

The castle had a unique strategic location on the border of Normandy and controlled access between England and France. As a builder of " Castrum Gisortis " to Robert II de Bellême on behalf of William II of England, 1101 assumes Thibaud Pagan which is under construction castle, which can develop it further. In finishing 1113 here the Peace of Gisors was closed. 1119 received here King Henry I of England Pope Calixtus II, who was to mediate between the two Christian kings. Because of ongoing border problems between France and England, the castle is taken over in 1158 by the Knights Templar, they managed to Henry the Younger ( son of Henry II of England) and his wife Margaret of France ( Marriage 1161 ) during their minority. By an act of treason provided the Templars in 1164, the castle Henry II of England who could boost the castle. On April 11, 1165 Henry II had been negotiating with the French king Louis VII at the castle. 1191 it is again owned by France, which provides for the establishment of the prisoners tower.

Rumors about the Templars treasure

Particularly well known it was because to have been hidden in it, the Templar treasure, according to legend, after the French king Philip IV had arrested the leaders of the Order on 13 October 1307. In particular, Gérard de Sède has claimed in his book The Templars are among us in 1963. It is based on an imaginative interpretation of a statement of a Templar knight in the interrogations after their arrest, that the day before the arrest high Templar under Gerard de Villers and Hugo von Chalons had left the Paris Templar headquarters with three carts with 50 horses which he saw the three carts as encrypted reference to Gisors, which he called the castle of the three cars based on a constellation of stars in foundation of the castle. They wanted to go to de Sède the treasure originally ship ( in port after Eu de Sède ), but had been prevented by locking up. Gisors was on an old Roman road between Paris and Eu. He saw a further support in the testimony of the former gardener and leader of the castle Roger Lhomoy, the 1946 illegal excavations, starting from the ancient well of the castle carried out ( see below).

After Demurger the four highest representatives of the Knights Templar (Jacques de Molay, Hugues de Pairaud, Geoffroy de Charnay and de Godefroi Gonneville ) had been detained in the period between 1310 and the final judgment in March 1314 as a prisoner of the king on Gisors. During this time, there are no documented the news of them. After Hersan Philipp let the Beautiful 1314 imprison a stranger in the tower of Gisors, with which no one was allowed to speak.

Further development

As of January 9, 1419 she came during a siege by Henry V to 1449 again in English possession, until August 16, 1449 becomes the permanent French state-owned. Gisors itself had capitulated on September 24, 1419. In 1591 the castle was decommissioned, in 1862, it is declared a historic monument.

Excavations

Since 1929 Roger Lhomoy worked as a steward in the castle Gisors. He did not escape the alleged legendary Templar treasure. 1941 undertook Lhomoy therefore various excavations on his own, until he allegedly found one of Saint Catherine of Alexandria consecrated Romanesque chapel in March 1946 in the moth of the castle. To this end, he had pushed forward the old well from the rubble exempt (up to 30 m depth) and transverse tunnels from the well floor. He found claims to a Romanesque chapel with grave stone sarcophagi and metal chests. When he reported the find among authorities said but further investigation ( the dug of Lhomoy transitions were strong danger of collapse ) and poured the fountain again .. The called for Mayor not checked the Fund, but let Lhomoys fill in adventurous self- construction tunnel because of the great danger of collapse by German prisoners of war. Lhomoy was ridiculed, so he and a few years later unnerved broken left Gisors.

Excavation shaft

Published in 1962 the French journalist Gérard de Sède, had worked at the Lhomoy as hostler, his book The Templars are among us or The Count of Gisors. De Sede based his thesis on the reports Lhomoys and own research. The book became a bestseller and attracted the attention of the public to the castle. A wave of excavations by amateurs broke into over the castle. Lhomoy could achieve a resumption of excavations officially the French President Charles de Gaulle, but lacked in the agreement of the castle owner, the citizens most of Gisors. De Gaulle appointed Minister of Culture André Malraux with the excavation activities at the castle in February 1964. At its instigation, the military detained for months the castle and began the work. However, this destabilized the moth, and the tower of the castle threatened to collapse. The excavations had to then be set inconclusive in March 1964. Since then, further excavations are prohibited. Trap the Donjon for further excavation and support would require a considerable effort, which still would not be sure that further excavations this not still would bring to collapse.