Originally,
Saumur was a fortified monastery founded by Charles the Bald during
the 4th century to display Saint Florent's relics. It was destroyed
during the Norman invasions.
Like the whole of the Loire Valley, Saumur was, during the 11th
century, in the middle of a conflict between the Counts of Blois
and the Counts of Anjou.
In 1203, King Philip II Augustus, who had begun a policy of reconquest
of his fortified towns, seized Saumur. The castle continued to
suffer destruction followed by reconstruction over the centuries.
Saumur
saw its climax during the 17th century as it became one of the
centres of Protestantism.
Henry III gave Saumur to his cousin and heir, Henri de Navarre
who was head of the Protestant party. The future Henry IV placed
in this safe town the governor Duplessis-Mornay, a fervent Protestant
who founded a renowned Protestant Academy in Saumur.
In 1611, after Henry IV's death, a general assembly gathered the
Protestant Churches to reinforce their organisation.
In 1623, Louis XIII, who was worried about the danger the Protestants
represented for his power, ordered the demolition of the town's
walls and in 1685, the revocation of the Nantes edict tolled the
knell of Saumur's glory: the Protestant church was demolished
and many Protestants left the country.
In
1763, a crack corps of the army settled in Saumur; it was the
carabineer regiment of the Duke of Choiseul, King Louis XV's brother,
whose men were recruited from the best cavaliers of the army.
To accommodate the military riding school, a building was constructed
and is still used nowadays as an academy for the French cavalry
officers.
With the military academy, the National Riding School was established
near here, in Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Florent, making Saumur a definitely
equestrian town. The prestigious equestrian training "Cadre
Noir" has its headquarters in the National Riding School.
Tourist
office : everything you need to organise your stay in Saumur
- places to visit, accommodation, information, photographs and
news.
Saumur
: the town's history, places and monuments to visit, the town's
surroundings and a biography of the main historical characters
of the region.
