Rouen, It's History and Monuments - A Guide to Strangers by Théodore Licquet
page 9 of 114 (07%)
page 9 of 114 (07%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
porte Cauchoise farther out. On the east, the town was enlarged by the
quarter of the Marequerie. It is not probably to Rollo, the first duke that we owe the institution of the exchequer. The first trace of it, is only found under William-the-Conqueror. Perhaps even, it was only known under his son Henry Ist «the King Duke.» Ancient writers have thought that an exchequer existed in England before the conquest. The learned Madox, on the contrary, (vol. 1st page 177 and following) declares, that he has not found in any document prior to William's expedition, the word scaccarium (or exchequer). But he finds it shortly after that time, from which it would appear natural to conclude that, that institution had been carried over by that prince. The exchequer was removed sometimes to Rouen, at other times to Caen, and sometimes to Falaise. Louis XIIth fixed this sovereign court at Rouen, in 1449, and opened it on the 1st october of the same year. Francis Ist raised the exchequer into a parliament in the year 1515. It was interdicted in the month of August 1540, but the 7th January 1541, was reinstated. Thick walls, deep ditches, and formidable towers, a great many turrets, bastions, casemates, and fortified gates, made Rouen an important place, before the revolution: omitting the different sieges, which it had to sustain from the Normans, we must notice in 949 those by Otho, emperor of Germany, Louis IVth, king of France, and Arnould count of Flanders; that in 1204 by Philip-Augustus, 1418, by Henry Vth king of England; that in 1449, after which, Charles VIIth retook the town from the English; lastly, that of 1591, by Henry IVth. In all these sieges, and many more which I have not mentioned, the inhabitants of Rouen always gave proofs of great valour and sometimes of a resignation without example. |
|