History
Charming
high-Saônoise village, Vauvillers is located at the borders of
3 areas, the Champagne, Lorraine and the Franche-Comté to
which it is attached.
Vaulx
Villers (the village of the valley) was in the beginning only one "
suburbs " of Montdoré, the village located 100m higher and
which was easier to defend of the hordes of invaders.
In the shade
of Montdoré, the rise of Vauvillers will begin only towards
III°and IV°centuries. We will articulate the history of the
village over 3 periods: the Middle Ages, The
return of Vauvillers to France and the
modern period.
The Average Age:
The village will be managed during many years by 2 suzerains: for the bourguignone part or comtoise according to times', on left bank of Conain (currently Coney) and for the Lorraine part, on right bank.
Gauthier I of Bauffremont (?, 1396) which inherited his/her father, Perrin, the grounds located in Bourgogne built a first fortified town there with the site of the castle of today.
The lords according to reinforce the fortified town, set up markets and Vauvillers becomes a heart of the trade in the area.
The
plague strikes the village in 1438 pennies the administration of Jean
de Bauffremont (1429-1479).
This lord,
soldier and diplomat, will be to advise of the duke of Bourgogne:
Philippe Le Bon.
In 1477,
Charles le Téméraire one dies and little of time after,
his only daughter marries Maximilien of Austria and brings to him the
duchy of Bourgogne. The portion comtoise of Vauvillers must pass in
the house of Austria and the Lorraine portion to remain with this
duchy.
The
situation is inextricable and the borders between the two areas
impossible to define; Vauvillers is issued " in suspension " and will
be until new independent command.
The
seigneurery will remain free during more than 130 years, the two
lords will act their own way, like kings. Philibert du Chatelet
(1429-1485) and Nicolas du Chatelet (1485-1519), lords of the
Lorraine part, will be sovereign of Vauvillers. Nicolas will beat
currency. 2 different parts are visible on a site of numismatics: one
1/2 carolus or small white and the black poplar with the small cross,
as well as the
text which accompanies them.
Smuggling
develops and the parts are prohibited at the same time in
Franche-Comté and France.
Nicolas II (1525-1562) was the last lord of the chatelet, gentleman of mouth of the emperor Charles Quint and gentleman of the room of the king Henri II, it exerts his regality on a very prosperous stronghold. He dies into 1562 with the battle of Dreux as a combatant the huguenots. He is buried in the church and on his tomb one carves his equestrian statue which will be destroyed with the revolution.
In 1595, Henri IV dreams to conquer the Franche-Comté, it charges with it Lorraine, Louis de Beauvau, lord of Tremblecourt. Vauvillers will be destroyed, the mercenaries burn harvests and the houses and plunder all on their passage. These massacres will not be used for nothing since the Franche-Comté will still remain in the Spanish bosom for a few years.
The markets will be rebuilt into 1595 and the church into 1605.
At that
time the forest is, already, one of the richnesses of the stronghold,
with the glassmakings and the forging mills, many in the forests of
right bank of Coney. The wood, recognized of an exceptional quality,
will be sold with the shipyards of France.
Liberalities
of the lords return the inhabitants more at ease that those of the
common neighbors.
After the mercenaries of Tremblecourt, two months after the inauguration of the church, it is the great plague of 1605 which pratiquemment strikes all the families of Vauvillers. Ennard de Livron, the lord of the moment, tackles the wizards and witches whom one showed of all these evils. Several capital executions by decapitation or on the bucher will be marked.
In 1613, François de Livron and Rene de Vienne, the two Co-lords, ask the end of the suspension and put themselves under the dependence and the protection of Spain.
In 1636, Swedish with the pay of France invades the Franche-Comté, destroying all on their passage. Vauvillers is again plundered. The markets are damaged and the destroyed church, it will be rebuilt, less beautiful into 1652.
