--Under Henry Vth, our countrymen took the city in
1417, but we were not long allowed to hold undisturbed possession of it;
for, in 1424, it was recaptured by the French. Their success, however,
was only ephemeral: the battle of Verneuil replaced Evreux in the power
of the English before the expiration of the same year; and we kept it
till 1441, when the garrison was surprised, and the town lost, though
not without a vigorous resistance.--Towards the close of the following
century, the earldom was raised into a _Duche pairie_, by Charles IXth,
who, having taken the lordship of Gisors from his brother, the Duc
d'Alencon, better known by his subsequent title of Duc d'Anjou,
recompenced him by a grant of Evreux. Upon the death of this prince
without issue, in 1584, Evreux reverted to the crown, and the title lay
dormant till 1652, when Louis XIVth exchanged the earldom with the Duc
de Bouillon, in return for the principality of Sedan. In his family it
remained till the revolution, which, amalgamating the whole of France
into one common mass of equal rights and laws, put an end to all local
privileges and other feudal tenures.
Evreux, at present, is a town containing about eight thousand
inhabitants, a great proportion of whom are persons of independent
property, or _rentiers_, as the French call them.
Pages:
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114