The history of Champagnole certainly began in very ancient times, but its origin is unknown.
It seems to us who live here to be linked with Mont Rivel. Champagnole is situated on the right bank of the Ain and at the foot of Mont Rivel (800m), occupying an area of the valley crossed by the Paris-Geneva road created as "Route Impériale no 5" between 1760 and 1764.
The nearby villages
at the foot of Mont Rivel still keep the vestiges of a Roman
road. Numerous well-preserved remains on the upper parts of the
rock-surfaces show evidence of a religions centre with dwellings,
discovered during excavations carried out about 15 years a go
by "La Vouivre Champagnolaise".
The coins date from the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D.
For centuries we have little or no knowledge of what happened here. The barbarian invasions of the middle of the 3rd century probably caused problems for the transmission of information. It is probable also that ancient historians of ten did not know the proper name of the place, Campagnola; Adson, a monk of Luxeuil, mentions the place in a document entitled "The Life of St. Valbert", written in the 10 th century. Authors differ as to the date of the first historical documents, some giving 1105, others 1293.
During the Middle Ages, one the lords of Commercy, Simon, husband of Nicolette of Salins, daughter and heiress of the most powerful of the local barons was to establish his dynasty over Champagnole and the surrounding villages and it was thus that the Chalon-Arlay family came to reign as masters of the town.Champagnole was granted a charter of freedom in 1320.
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Champagnole suffered terribly from battles and other disasters for some centuries. It was destroyed in 1479 by the armies of Louis XI. In 1637 the Duke of Longueville captured the town and set fire to it, and its wooden buildings were consumed by the successive fires which resulted. In 1580, everything was destroyed; in 1742, 37 houses burned. In the night of 6-7 September 1792 fire completely destroyed the mills of the "rue du pont de l'Epée", and then on the 25 April 1798 came the terrible fire which ravaged Champagnole in two hours, leaving 280 families totally destitute. From 1633 to 1636, the plague decimated the population which had already suffered badly from leprosy until the 12th century. The fire of 1798 provoked the construction of the "Château d'eau", a water-tower for distributing water to the various fountains of the town. The church dedicated to St. Cyr and Ste. Julitte, built between 1750 and 1757, was blessed on 16th June 1955 and consecrated on 10th July 1957. It was in 1793, thanks to the generosity of the citizens, that the retable dating from 1600 or so was bought from the Convent of the Ursulines at Poligny. The organ also comes from Poligny, from the Convent of the Jacobins. These two pieces feature on the supplementary list of Historical Monuments. |
The river Ain is the
origin of Champagnole's industries : sawmills, mills, steel works.
The Forges of Champagnole were founded in 1788 by the Muller
family. In 1845; these factories united to become Foundries and
Forges of Franche Comté. At the present time only the
Forges de Syam still exist, founded in 1813 by the Jobez family,
by virtue of an imperial decree; this concern is classed as an
historical monument.
For further information on the history of Champagnole, you may with to consult the work "Champagnole d' hier et d'aujourd' hui".