The forest is a
relict of the ancient forested cover, though as
deforestation progressed, this was not identified as a distinct unity until the 12th century. when it formed part of the vast tracts belonging to the
counts of Valois, an immense forested expanse that reached from
Retheuil, Chaudin and
Buzancy as far as the river
Marne, but was reduced and fragmented by increasing agricultural uses during the
Middle Ages. In 1214
Philip Augustus attached the forest to the royal domain and dictated the first ordonnances to guide its maintenance by foresters called
sergents du roi, under the governor of royal
châteaux of
Villers-Cotterêts and of
Vivières. The period of the
Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) marked depredations on the woodlands. In 1346, the Valois
King Philip VI of France promulgated the first codified forestry law, the
ordonnance de Brunoy, which gave birth to the designated
Maître des Eaux et Forêts, a member of the
Maison du Roi. The kingdom's first
Maître des Eaux et Forêts was installed at the château de Villers-Cotterêts in the Forest of Retz. In 1499, the Forest of Retz returned to a royal
apanage, held by François de Valois, soon to be
King François I. The King expressed his appreciation of this forest in numerous works and improvements that included the piercing of rides suited to the hunt now overseen by a
Capitaine de chasses, and rebuilding the château de Villers-Cotterêts, for which new sources of water were tapped, which also served the village. A more rational
forestry was established and poachers of the king's game were apprehended. On 8 January 2015, the forest became the center of an extensive manhunt for brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, who were the two main suspects of
a terrorist attack against the French
satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The following day, both suspects were found at a signage production company in
Dammartin-en-Goële. After an hours-long standoff, the Kouachi brothers were fatally shot by police. On November 16, 2019,
Elisa Pilarski, who was six months pregnant, was killed in a
dog attack in the Forest of Retz. ==See also==