Prehistoric evidence found in the Troyes area suggests that the settlement may have developed as early as 600 BC.
Celtic grave-mounds have been found near the city, and Celtic artifacts have been excavated within the city grounds. In the Roman era, Troyes was known as
Augustobona Tricassium. Numerous highways intersected here, primarily the
Via Agrippa, which led north to
Reims and south to
Langres, and eventually to
Milan. Other Roman routes from Troyes led to
Poitiers,
Autun and
Orléans. It was the
civitas of the
Tricasses people, whom
Augustus separated from the
Senones. Of the
Gallo-Roman city of the early
Roman Empire, some scattered remains have been found, but no public monuments, other than traces of an
aqueduct. By the late Empire the settlement had reduced in extent. It was referred to as
Tricassium or
Tricassae, the origin of French . From the fourth century AD, the people had become Christian and the Church made the city the seat of a bishop. The legend of its bishop
Lupus (Loup), who allegedly saved the city from
Attila in 451 by offering himself as hostage, is
hagiographic rather than historical. A disciple of Saint Lupus, Aventinus (Saint Aventin of Troyes, died 537) founded a monastery at Troyes. It was several centuries before Troyes gained importance as a medieval centre of commerce. The
Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, also called the Battle of Troyes, took place nearby in 451 AD: the
Roman general
Flavius Aetius and the
Visigothic king
Theodoric I fought against
Attila. The early cathedral occupied the site of the current one. Here
Louis the Stammerer in 878 received the crown of
West Francia from
Pope John VIII. At the end of the ninth century, following depredations of the city by
Normans, the
counts of Champagne chose Troyes as their capital. It remained the capital of the
Province of Champagne until the
Revolution of the late eighteenth century. The
Abbey of Saint-Loup developed a renowned library and
scriptorium. During the
Middle Ages, Troyes functioned as an important international trading town. It was the namesake of
troy weight for gold – a standard of measurement developed here. The
Champagne cloth fairs and the revival of long-distance trade, together with new extension of coinage and credit, were the drivers of the medieval economy of Troyes. In
1040, Shlomo Yitzchaki, better known as
Rashi, was born in Troyes. The rabbi and philosopher, a prominent commentator on the
Bible and the
Talmud, established an influential school of Jewish thought in the city. In 1285, when
King Philip the Fair united Champagne to the
French royal domain, the town kept a number of its traditional privileges.
John the Fearless, Duke of
Burgundy and ally of the English during the
Hundred Years War, in 1417 worked to have Troyes designated as the capital of France. He came to an understanding with
Isabeau of Bavaria, wife of King
Charles VI of France, for the establishment at Troyes of a court, council, and
parlement with comptroller's offices. On 21 May 1420, the
Treaty of Troyes was signed in this city, still under control of the Burgundians, by which King
Henry V of England was betrothed to
Catherine, daughter of Charles VI. Under the terms of the treaty, Henry V, rather than the
Dauphin, was to succeed Charles as King of France. The high-water mark of
Plantagenet hegemony in France was reversed in 1429 when the Dauphin (afterwards
King Charles VII) and
Joan of Arc re-established French control of the town of Troyes by
armed conflict (Siege of Troyes). The great fire of 1524 destroyed much of the medieval city, although the city had numerous canals separating sections. During the
repression of January and February 1894, the police conducted raids targeting the
anarchists living there, without much success. ==Main sights==