The supporters of the
contrary opinion admit that Old Evreux was a Roman station; but they say
that, considering its size, it can have been no more than an encampment:
they also maintain, that a castle was subsequently built upon the site
of this encampment, by Richard, Count of Evreux, and that the
destruction of this castle, during the Norman wars, gave rise to the
ruins now visible, which in their turn were the cause of the name of the
village[44].
It is certain that, in the reign of William the Conqueror, the town
stood in its present situation: Ordericus Vitalis speaks in terms that
admit of no hesitation, when he states that, in the year 1080, "fides
Christi Evanticorum, id est Evroas, urbem, _super Ittonum fluvium sitam_
possidebat et salubriter illuminabat[45]."
In the times of Norman sovereignty, Evreux attained an unfortunate
independence: Duke Richard Ist severed it from the duchy, and erected it
into a distinct earldom in favor of Robert, his second son. From him the
inheritance descended to Richard and William, his son and grandson;
after whose death, it fell into the female line, and passed into the
house of Montfort d'Amaury, by the marriage of Agnes, sister of Richard
of Evreux.--Nominally independent, but really held only at the pleasure
of the Dukes of Normandy, the rank of the earldom occasioned the misery
of the inhabitants, who were continually involved in warfare, and
plundered by conflicting parties.
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