The most beautiful medieval sites of France

Travel round the heritage sites of France and sooner or later somebody will refer to the medieval period. The architecture of a cathedral or castle perhaps; the remains of a city rampart; or maybe some personality of note from the humble to the high-born. Think Charlemagne and Joan of Arc, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Anne de Bretagne, and a lively cast of French kings.

They all lived in the period we know today as medieval, or The Middle Ages, which began in Europe during the 5^th century AD after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and carried on for roughly a thousand years to the advent of the Renaissance. And wherever you travel around the Hexagon – the French name for mainland France – you are never far away from some aspect of medieval life. Gillian Thornton explores the most beautiful medieval sites of France…

Step back in time: welcome to the Middle Ages

Vibrant villages

*La Couvertoirade © Julia Girard-Gervois, TripUSAFrance*

France is blessed with a surprising number of medieval villages, including one of the most popular for visitors – Mont-Saint-Michel, a medieval time warp off the coast of Normandy. Many villages are members of the Plus Beaux Villages Association like Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert and Rocamadour, both stopping places for pilgrims on the St James’s Way; wander amongst the golden stones of Oingt overlooking the Beaujolais vineyards; and explore the world of the Templars and Hospitallers at La Couvertoirade. Each one has its own story to tell.

As you walk, remember that many of the villages we see today were far bigger and busier than they are now. Look closely at the street names to find out more. Rue des Tanneurs would once have throbbed to the noise (and smells!) of the leather industry, whilst the heart of any local weaving industry would be found in Rue des Tisseurs. And even if a castle no longer stands in Place du Chateau, many communities still boast medieval fortifications.

Medieval soap opera

*Effigies of kings and queens at the Abbey of Fontevraud*

A remarkable number of medieval streets and buildings still exist in major French towns such as Le Mans, capital of the old province of Anjou and heartland of the Plantagenet dynasty in the 12^th and 13^th centuries.

In 1128, Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and Maine, married Matilda in Le Mans cathedral, his nickname of Plantagenet coming from the spring of broom or genet that he tucked in his hat whilst hunting. Although the granddaughter of William the Conqueror – Duke of Normandy and King of England – Matilda never wore the English crown, but their first son Henry did make top job, as well as gaining large areas of France through his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152. With its half-timbered houses and cobbled streets, Le Mans’s Cité Plantagenet is still packed with medieval atmosphere, a popular location for filmmakers.

If like me you are fascinated by the medieval soap opera of the Plantagenets with its family feuds and larger than life characters, head also to the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud in the Loire Valley to stand beside the tombs of Henry and his estranged wife Eleanor, their son Richard I of England and Isabella of Angoulême, wife of younger son King John. Eleanor spent her last years in this complex of four priories for women and one for men. Repurposed today as a regional arts centre, Fontevraud also now includes a hotel and Michelin-starred restaurant.

Trading places

*Aigues-Mortes, a superb bastide town, Gard*

The Middle Ages saw the construction of many ‘new towns’ known as bastides across south-west France. Laid out in a grid-pattern with wide streets around a central market square, they were mostly built between 1200 and 1400 with the aim of developing trade and boosting local economies in remote areas such as the old provinces of Gascony, Béarn and Languedoc.

Many remain remarkably untouched across the regions of Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Castelnau-de-Montmiral in the Tarn department and Mirepoix in Ariège have both retained glorious arcaded squares. Some bastides such as Cordes-sur-Ciel in Tarn were founded in strategic hilltop positions by local rulers, whilst Aigues-Mortes in Gard is a rare example of a bastide still completely enclosed in defensive walls.

In the north-east of France, trade flourished on an international scale in the 12^th and 13^th centuries with a series of fairs, each lasting several weeks and spaced throughout the year in towns ruled by the powerful Counts of Champagne. Here merchants from the Mediterranean to the Low Countries would trade in high value items such as fur and wool, spices, textiles and leather.

*Provins, a medieval time capsule near Paris*

Most of these towns have continued to thrive across the centuries, their medieval structures gradually swallowed up or overshadowed with new urban development. But Provins to the east of Paris is still a time capsule of its medieval heyday, bypassed as trade routes changed and largely left to slumber unnoticed.

Now inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list as the only surviving example of a merchant city from the Champagne fair era, Provins still has many underground galleries where merchants did business, a 12^th century tower, and tithe barn, plus more than 1km of imposing fortified walls. Immerse yourself in the Middle Ages with The Legend of the Knights live action show, the display of falconry on horseback, and annual medieval festival.

Armed combat

Towards the end of the Middle Ages, France and England engaged in a series of battles over who was to rule France. Later dubbed the Hundred Years’ War, the conflict kicked off in 1337 and carried on intermittently until 1453 when the final battle took place at Castillon-la-Bataille on the Dordogne river. Every bend in this picturesque waterway seems to reveal a new medieval fortress to visit such as Château de Beynac, once home to Richard the Lionheart, and nearby Castelnaud with its Museum of Medieval Warfare.

The most famous confrontation of this drawn-out conflict took place at Azincourt in Pas-de-Calais in 1415, popularised in William Shakespeare’s epic play, Henry V. The village museum brings the event zinging vividly to life and the nearby field where it all took place is largely untouched. Stand on the viewing tower listening to birdsong and see where the cream of French aristocracy floundered in the mud in heavy armour before the English archers.

*View from William the Conqueror’s castle in Caen, Normandy*

But medieval fortresses still stand across France. Walk around William the Conqueror’s ducal castle at Caen, a town that celebrates 1000 years of history in 2025; explore the imposing riverside fortresses at Angers on the Maine with its 17 towers; Chinon on the Loire, where Henry II breathed his last and Loches, where Joan of Arc persuaded the French king-in-waiting to let her lead his armies against the English.

In the shadow of the Pyrenees, close to the Spanish border, discover the many defensive additions to UNESCO-listed Carcassonne. Begun in the 12^th century by the powerful local viscount, La Cité de Carcassonne grew in importance as a military fortress, before being abandoned after the end of the Franco-Spanish war in 1659.

But in 1844, restoration work began on the orders of Prosper Mérimée, Inspector General of Historic Monuments, who entrusted the project to Viollet-le-Duc, an architect passionate about Gothic and Medieval architecture who had already supervised work on Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Purists may argue with Le-Duc’s interpretation of how he felt Carcassonne should look, but without him, 21^st century visitors may never have had the chance to explore this marvel of medieval construction.

By Gillian Thornton, one of the UK’s leading travel writers and a regular writer for The Good Life France Magazine and website.