The first ramparts

The only remaining thirteenth century rampart fragment to be seen in the open air is located near the intersection of rue Joseph Vernet and rue Saint-Charles. Archaeological investigations have revealed remains of underground portions that are better preserved. Like the current disposition of streets in Avignon, this fragment presents evidence of fortifications prior to the fourteenth century ramparts. It seems that during an eleven-century period of economic development Avignon built a wall around its confines.

After the siege of 1226 these fortifications were destroyed, and the avignonnais were prohibited from rebuilding them for five years. Reconstruction began in 1234, despite the Church’s disapproval. With the end of the Commune of Avignon, and Alphonse de Poitier’s and Charles d’Anjou’s take-over of the city in 1251, the ramparts were again torn down. The ancient gates remained until the eighteenth century. Avignon’s extraordinary transformation into the Capital of Christianity in the fourteenth century did not fail to register significant effects on its urban configuration. The sudden growth in population and the sudden necessity of providing space for people to live and work led to the overflowing of its borders, the walls of which where already suffering from their dismantlement in the middle of the thirteenth century.

Actual ramparts

Admonitions against building on the fortifications were so frequent that infractions must be assumed to have been incessant. Thanks to private initiatives, new quarters developed near the monasteries and gates, outside of the main walls. However, the calm prosperity of Avignon soon occasioned new threats. Highwaymen destabilized the region, and thus in c. 1335-36 the authorities decided to erect a wall to protect the new agglomerations. Work began during Innocent VI’s pontificate in 1357, and lasted some ten years.

Motivated by immediate fears, the first step consisted in the digging of a sort of moat and the erection of a provisional wooden enclosure with gates. The new enclosed space, replaced with stone works in 1359, measured three and half times larger than the earlier city. In 1366, these were some twelve concurrent work sites. The new walls were partially financed with subsidies from the Apostolic Chamber, and with loans by Innocent VI and Urban V, but a wine tax of 1358 and a salt tax of 1363 provided the major portions.

Thus the citizens and the courtiers of Avignon financed their own defence. An army was organized, and arms and equipment were ordered from foreign states. Fortification and artillery experts were recruited to Avignon. And, even though the fortifications were nearly complete in 1372, work continued during the pontificates of Clement VII and Benedict XIII.

The ramparts were more than four kilometres long and eight meters high, with rampart walks and a large water-filled moat below. In c. 1373 there were some twelve gates at the bottom of square towers, accessible by draw bridges; thirty-six towers (open on the city-side) ; and fifty-six watchtowers. During the modern period modification of this medieval fortification was incessant : gates were sealed, added and moved, moats filled, and curtain walls heavily reinforced on the city-side.

In 1860, Viollet-le-Duc, as architect for the Monuments Historiques, began restoring these long and famous walls. Today, despite the absence of water-filled moats, of drawbridge towers, and iron-rigged wood doors – which differentiate – it is still one of the greatest fortifications of the fifteenth century in France.