Re: Castle in St. Clair sur-Epte, France

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@quarterman.org>]

>Hello!
>
>       When my husband and I visited St. Clair sur-Epte in June 2002, the 
>mayor told us that the ruins were of a castle.  We spoke to him in French as 
>no one there speaks English.  Just across the Place Rollon from the church is 
>a butcher shop "La Boucherie."  If you face this shop, you will see to the 
>left a small road between two buildings. If you walk down this road less than 
>1/4 of a mile you will see two different ruins of the castle.  A sign in 
>French on the wall (it is high up on the wall) on the street says "To the 
>castle."

In French that would be a la château, where the word château
does not translate one to one to the English word castle;
it can also mean fort or a certain type of big house.
Most of the famous châteaux of France are not castles.

>       In the book "A Genealogical History of the St. Clair Family" by L.A. 
>de St. Clair, published in France in 1905 states that around 984 A.D. a king 
>of France built the castle and that it was here in the castle that Rollo the 
>Viking and King Charles the Simple of France signed the Treaty of St. 
>Clair-sur-Epte in 911 A.D.

What sources did this book use?

Andrew Sinclair's book, The Sword and the Grail, also says it is a castle,
but, as we have seen from other postings, that is apparently not the case.

>Sincerely,
>
>Susan M. Grady

John S. Quarterman <jsq@quarterman.org>
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