read moreHISTORY OF MONTREUIL-SUR-MER
Montreuil-sur-Mer – La Carcassonne du Nord (nicknamed after the walled town on Carcassonne in the South of France)
Early History
Montreuil-sur-Mer dates back to 887AD when the original rampart walls of the city were built under the reign of Count Helgault II.
It then came into the possession of Hugues Capet, the first real King of the French Kingdom (which at the time was small, comprising Montreuil, Abbeville, Paris and Bourges) The town was surrounded by enemies with Bolougne at the time under the control of Allies of the English King. The rampart walls that encircle the town were erected in the 9th and 10th Century and consisted of a 2.5 kilometre stretch surrounding the upper town and the Citadel, and a second section of 6 kilometres or outer circle to protect the lower town and armoury.
Montreuil gains its name from the French word Monasterium. It was originally a Monastry and became important as many valuable relics were brought to and stored in the town by nuns and monks through the centuries. These came from as far afield as Egypt and Israel.
The Staff of St Austraberthe is considered one of the most valuable of these relics.
The staff contains a piece of the Saint's bone and was exhibited in Paris in 2005. This among many other interesting and important relics can be viewed in the Church "Abbaye St Saulve" - but only with special permission from the Bureau au Patrimone of Montreuil OR in September during the Journee de Patrimone (on the 16th and 17th September in 2006).
This decree created an early tourism industry with visitors travelling far and wide to view the famous Montreuil relics needing to be fed and watered.
Montreuil was surrounded by marshes and was renowned for its abundant fresh food and produce including fish, venison and poultry.
From as far back as the 10th Century, one of the delicacies offered to travellers coming to Montreuil was frog's-legs, hence the reputation amongst the English and other neighbour countries for the French being frog eaters or FROGGIES.
967AD – 1205AD
Montreuil-sur-Mer was a major trading port known as "the Port of the 1000 Pulleys" (this describes the pulley systems used as early cranes to load and offload the ships).
Intense trade was the order of the day with wool from London being shipped to Montreuil to be dyed and woven before being shipped back to London. 
This dyed woven wool material was a unique green colour and was known as the "Drap de Montreuilloise" (Montreuil cloth). Folklore has it that this green garb was the very same worn and immortalised by Robin Hood.
Montreuil-sur-Mer, the Ville Bas (lower town), was also a centre for the manufacture of Pewter tankards and cutlery which was shipped back to London for use in London taverns. This was a major boom period for Montreuil-sur-Mer which once had 5,500 inhabitants due to the prevalence of industry. Now Montreuil has a population of around 2,500, with industry comprising only Agriculture and Tourism.
Following on from this period came the annexation of Montreuil to the English Crown by Edward the Confessor. The justification for this was to protect Isabelle de Valloire his daughter-in-law's heritage and resulted in ownership passing into English hands for a period of six years.
THE SECRET SOCIETY OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS: (11th AND 12th Century)
Situated in Montreuil-sur-Mer, the Knights Templars had a section of the "Port of 1000 Pulleys" concealed so that the general public could not see what it was that they loaded and offloaded from their ships to protect their lucrative trading empire.
The Templars were a very wealthy sect, very knowledgeable, widely read and well travelled but the source of their wealth was never identified and their eventual demise shrouded in mystery.
1537 - Saw the Siege and raising of Montreuil-sur-Mer by Henry VIII and Charles V (Emperor of Spain, Germany and Flanders). 
This was successful due to the superior technology they had at their disposal (cannons vs the bows and arrows of the Montreuilloise).
At this stage the Citadelle fort had not yet been constructed and the fortification on the rampart walls consisted of a Royal Castle comprising two towers (still seen as part of the present Citadelle) built by Garnier for King Philippe Auguste. This was to defend the town and the passage to the sea.
1544 - Saw the Second Siege of the town. This was unsuccessful as the Castle fortification had been modified and upgraded by Italian engineers using the "systeme bastione".
RAMPART WALLS
Subsequently the rampart walls were modified and improved over the years, most notably in:
1605 by Jean Erard de Bar Le Duc under Henry IV of France
1634 – 1635 Antoine de Ville under Louis XIII
1672 -1674 Vauban – This was minimal with the Arsenal and arch to the Citadelle being the only real additions.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE: Late 1700 and early 1800
Napoleon Bonaparte prepared for the invasion of England in Boulogne, basing himself
and his generals in Montreuil-sur-Mer. He is reported to have overnighted at the Hôtel de France and to have enjoyed a meal at Le Relais du Roy.
An interesting anecdote to Napoleon's time in the area is his influence in the naming of three towns between Etaples and Montreuil.
Napoleons and his Empress Josephine had been apart for some time. The Empress joined him to journey from Etaples to Montreuil and to make up for the time they had been apart and to while away the journey time they became amorous and the stages of their lovemaking where immortalised in the naming of passing towns.
The first village named: Le Catleyage
The Second: La Culbute
And the Third: Attin la paix Faite
1765 - LAWRENCE STERNE
Lawrence Sterne discovered Montreuil-sur-Mer, the Hôtel de France and Le Relais du Roy during his journey and the writing of "A Sentimental Journey". A mural commemorating his visit takes pride of place in the Hotel de France courtyard. The mural originally depicted Yorick, the hero of his novel, beside his coach dispensing arms to the beggars, poor and homeless. However in the early 1800’s this was overpainted to depict a more interesting scene of Lawrence Sternes valet "La Fleur" fondly parting from his many mistresses in Montreuil. A famous quote from Lawrence Sterne for the Hotel de France and Relais du Roy restaurant is "a convivial atmosphere/ambience cures the soul of spleen"
1845 - Bunkers were built in the Citadelle to defend Montreuil-sur-Mer against the Prussians
1916 - FIELD MARSHALL DOUGLAS HAIG established his headquarters in Montreuil-sur-Mer to control the British Commonwealth forces and defend the Somme.
He used the very same bunkers built in 1845 as his communications centre and the housing for his telegraph wires can still be seen.
The first people to use the Theatre of Montreuil were British troops and an English theatre group called the Queerios. This group comprised men dressed in drag and the English tradition going back to Shakespeare of male actors playing female parts.
Douglas Haig's statue still stands outside the theatre on the Place Charles de Gaulle. It was sculpted by Landowski who sculpted the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro.
The Germans pulled the statue down in 1940 but the shopkeepers of Montreuil put it on wheels and hid it.
The statue, not the original, was re-erected in 1950 after the war and remains to this day.
During Haig's time at the Hôtel de France, he is reputed to have chosen the body of the unknown soldier which was transported to England and placed in the cenotaph.
Both George V and Winston Churchill came to Montreuil during the war to confer with Field Marshall Haig.
1837 - VICTOR HUGO
Victor Hugo had lunch at the Relais du Roy with his mistress Juliet Drouet and wrote a letter to his 
wife about the ramparts of the town.
Thirty years later he published Les Miserables with the whole first part of the book set in Montreuil and the characters in Montreuil at the time. The Mayor of Montreuil called himself Monsieur Madeleine after the area of Sous Madeleine situated below the rampart walls but his real name was Jean Valjean.
The Hôtel de France was the inspiration for the Inn, the Inn Keeper and his wife and Cosette. The scene of the runaway cart rolling down the hill on the cobblestones and pinning a pedestrian is set on the main cobbled road passing and leading into the Coaching Inn courtyard.
Every year, Victor Hugo’s visit to Montreuil and the Hôtel de France is re-enacted in full costume of the time by the local theatre group of Montreuil-sur-Mer.
Victor Hugo stayed in room 12b of the Hôtel at the top of the stairs overlooking the courtyard.
To find out more about the history of Montreuil-sur-Mer during your hotel stay, please see our Guided Tours page.