Antiquity man, from Évreux, 250-275 AD In
late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century AD, was named
Mediolanum Aulercorum, "the central town of the
Aulerci", the Gallic tribe then inhabiting the area. Mediolanum was a small regional centre of the Roman province of
Gallia Lugdunensis.
Julius Caesar wintered eight legions in this area after his third campaigning season in the battle for Gaul (56-55 BC): Legiones VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII and XIV.
Middle Ages The first known members of the family of the counts of
Évreux were descended from an illegitimate son of
Richard I,
duke of
Normandy. These counts became extinct in the male line with the death of
Count William in 1118 AD. The county passed by right of Agnes, William's sister and wife of
Simon I de Montfort (died 1087 AD) to the house of the lords of
Montfort-l'Amaury.
Amaury VI de Montfort-Évreux ceded the title in 1200 to
King Philip II.
Philip IV presented it in 1307 to his brother
Louis d'Évreux, for whose benefit
Philip the Tall raised the county of Évreux into the
peerage of France in 1317.
Philip d'Évreux, son of Louis, became king of
Navarre by his marriage to
Joan II of Navarre, daughter of
Louis the Headstrong, and their son
Charles the Bad and their grandson
Charles the Noble were also
kings of Navarre. The latter ceded his counties of Évreux,
Champagne and
Brie to King
Charles VI of France in 1404. In 1427 the county of Évreux was bestowed by
King Charles VII on Sir
John Stewart of Darnley (c. 1365–1429), the commander of his Scottish bodyguard, who in 1423 had received the seigniory of
Aubigny, and in February 1427 or 1428 he was granted the right to quarter the royal arms of France for his victories over the English. On Stuart's death before Orléans, during an attack on an English convoy, the county reverted to the crown.
Modernity The countship was again temporarily alienated (1569–1584) as an appanage for Duke
François of
Anjou, and in 1651 was finally given to
Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon, in exchange for the
Principality of Sedan. The most famous holder of the title is
Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, son of
Marie Anne Mancini. Évreux was heavily damaged during the
Second World War, and most of its centre was rebuilt. The nearby
Évreux-Fauville Air Base was used by the
United States Air Force until 1967, and since then by the
French Air Force. ==Name==