dAf 83
CANTRELLE Sylvie, GOY Corinne et Claudine MUNIER
Histoire d'un quartier de Montbéliard (Doubs)
Le bourg Saint-Martin (XIIIe-XXe s.)
The history of Montbéliard began in the late 9th century with the construction of a castle on a rocky spur overlooking the Allan and Lizaine rivers. The city developed as a result of contact with both Burgundian and Germanie culture and by the end of the 14th century had become.a commercial and religious centre. The second defensive wall, built in the 15th century, is a reflection of the city's prosperity, encircling as it does the original castle-borough as well as the two districts of
Abstract
Abstract
The origins of Montbéliard lie in the late 9th or early 10th century with the construction of a castle on a rocky spur of land, in this region where the Germanic and Burgundian worlds met. During the 11th and 12th centuries, a castle-borough, administrative centre of the earldom, grew up around this promontory, bounded at its foot by the Allan and Lizaine rivers. These natural defence systems were reinforced by fortifications and canals. Towards the end of the 12th and during the 13th century, the town - by now an important commercial and religious centre - developed as several distinct urban districts. By the dawn of the 14th century, the medieval town had reached its full size. The original castle-borough, whose plan followed the contours of the rocky outcrop, stood opposite the new town, laid out in more regular fashion in the plain below. By the 15th century, the town walls ran for over
The
In 1989, the city of
The sector examined in 1993-94 had not developed significantly in the 13th century (Period I): construction was limited to the edge of a marshy zone. At this period, an ashlar-built wall oriented north-south and interpreted as the original rampart, ran along-side a road. To the west of these structures there was a single large edifice, perhaps a public building. This portion of the
By the end of the 13th and 14th centuries (Period II) the public building had been extensively refurbished. To the south of this building (A), another construction had been erected (B), which would remain here until the second half of the 15th century although undergoing several phases of reconstruction. A third habitat (C) would later be constructed in front of Building A. On the other side of the street two parallel palisades were built in the final years of the 13th century.
In the first half of the 15th century, (Period III) the original defensive wall was demolished and the course of the street changed. A new masonry-built defensive wall was constructed to the east of the previous one. The district’s boundaries were thus pushed out approximately fifteen metres. The new space was in-filled and three houses were erected there. Of houses D and E, made of perishable materials, only vestiges of the floor and walls remain, making it impossible to reconstruct a full plan of these structures. A single room, located on the street side, is all that remains of the third house (F). On the other side of the street, Building B was enlarged during this period.
In the second half of the 15th century, or early in the 16th, (Period IV) a bulwark wall was constructed two metres outside the former ramparts, and running parallel to them, in order to adapt the defences to new artillery types. At the same period, House B was abandoned.
In the 16th century (Period V a) House D was demolished and House E was reconstructed; whilst House F was maintained. To the north, a new alley-way was cut through onto the rue de Velotte, parallel to the existing one. These two alley-ways form the boundaries of an area of land comprising a northern, a southern and a central plot and extending from the rue Velotte to the ramparts. House E, rebuilt but unchanged as to orientation, occupied almost the whole of the central plot and faced onto the southern alley-way. The other alley-way allowed access to the rear of House E and to House G on the northern plot. To the west of the street, a new structure, thought to be a barn, was erected covering the same area as the former House B.
The general layout of the area changed very little up to the end of the 16th century (Period V b). The basic function of the southern alley-way was taken away when House F was enlarged so as to cover a portion of it; the northern alley-way now provided the only access to the house. To the west of the rue de Velotte only the east-west boundary wall remained.
The beginning of the 17th century (Period V c) is illustrated by vestiges clustered to the west of the rue de Velotte, covering an area of
The village-based organisation of the area throughout the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, typified by rows of houses fronting onto the street and with fields behind, gave way to uninhabited plots (meadows, gardens, orchards) in modern times (Period VI). The fortifications still existed and probably served as property boundaries.
In the contemporary period (Period VII) older archaeological strata were disturbed during the course of two building projects : the Cuvier school, constructed in 1876-1878 to the west of the rue de Velotte, and a gendarmerie, erected in 1889 to the east of the same road.
Artefacts were rare in the excavated layers but those objects related to daily life, though few in number and incomplete, provide information on the material culture of the periods in question. Architectural fragments and objects from interior furnishings add to our understanding of the excavated houses. Use of tiles, window glass and decoration in the house-building, as well as the incorporation of latrines, point to a relatively high standard of living, as does the presence of lighting and stove-heating in the interiors. In the areas of food and hygiene, insight into the house-dwellers’ daily lives comes from culinary artefacts and organic remains (plants, fauna and parasites) which provide information on cooking methods, eating habits and even people’s digestion. Tools and plant waste discovered in excavation underline the predominantly rural nature of the inhabitants’ activities within the city walls, despite evidence for a wider social context in which trade, war, hunting, games or reading also had a place.
