Constance tower

CONSTANCE TOWER

Constructed to replace the former tower of Saint Louis - The Matafère - the Tour de Constance was built in 1242 to protect the port and the city. It is Aigues-Mortes’ only defensive structure. A fixed frame bridge linked the small castle with the tower which was originally surrounded by a ringed moat. In 1249, it was known as la Tour du Roi – the King’s tower. By 1254 upon the return of the seventh crusade, it’s over.

The internal defences of the tower were skilfully/expertly designed/thought out

A first door with a solid casement and a portcullis

A second door behind which is concealed the entrance to the staircase leading to the upper levels.

A final door secured by both a lock and a cross-beam.

The Ground floor : The Guardroom

In the centre of this room a large, circular aperture covered by a grill can be seen. This was the only means of access for the storeroom below. Labelled Cul de Basse-Fosse – it was a multi-purpose warehouse housing food, ammunitions and dungeons. The room measures 10m wide by 12m high. The mechanism for operating the portcullises was built into the thickness of the walls, underneath the doors.

The Guardroom is well-equipped with a bread oven, a well for drinking-water and a statue of St Louis, whilst a spiral staircase provides access to the upper level and rainwater collected from the roof is run down the tower to the water tank. The vaulted ceiling is divided into 12sections with ogival(rib) vaults, from which the central aperture of the these ribs opens into the Salle des Chevaliers.

The First Floor : The Knightsroom

With the same dimensions and architecture of the room below, the Knightsroom marries up perfectly to the Guardsroom, Regular-sized holes in the wall indicate the former presence of beams suggesting there was once a floor level here, however the windows here are so long that they extend below the floor level. Access to this room is through a vaulted vestibule which would once have served as a room where Louis IX would have granted audiences.

The Knightsroom also served as a prison on several occasions. From the beginning to the end the XIVc, 45 Knights Templar, followed by Charles d’Artois then Jean II d’Ancelonn, both of whom were accused of treason, as well as numerable protestants were imprisoned there.

The higher-level platform is mounted on an ornamental openwork cage of forged iron, which is topped by a conical roof lade of lead. This shelter was designed to protect the vigil/warning fires or lookouts, both of the watchtower and the lighthouse.

Height of the terrasse 22m

Height of the Lantern 33m

Some Important dates in the history of Aigues-Mortes

1686 Protestants from Nîmes were imprisoned in the Tour de Constance
1705 On 27 July, Abraham Mazel escaped from la Tour de Constance with sixteen of his fellow prisoners from one of the murder holes by working free one of the stone blocks.
1717 The Tour de Constance was assigned as a women’s prison for protestants, the first of whom were arrested from the congregation at Molières, near Anduze.
1719 Anne Saliège was imprisoned int eh our where she remained until 1756.
1723 Marie Béraud, a blind missionary, began her sentence which would last for forty years.
1730-(1768)
1730 Marie Durand was imprisoned. The latter is attributed with the inscription Resistance found on the edge of the aperture in the first floor room (known at the Knights Room). Originally from the Ardeche, Marie Durand was arrested at a very young age in order to exert pressure upon her Protestant minister brother Pierre Durand, in the hope that he would give himself up to the authorities. He was eventually arrested and hanged in 1732.
1737 April or May, Isabeau Menet was imprisoned along with 21 others in the Tour de Constance.
1738 Anne Soleyrol was imprisoned.
1741 On the 24 November, the Minister Amelot de Chaillon gave his response regarding the prisoners of the Tour de Constance.
1745 An estimate was drawn up by the bursar to establish the cost of converting all the Towers within Aigues-Mortes to prisons.
1746 On the 15 April, Majors Combelles made a list of the all the protestant prisoners.
1746 Isabeau Guibal died in the Tour de Constance.
1746 According to a manuscript belonging to Gauthier de Terreneuve, there were 30 prisoners within the Tour de Constance.
1750 On 3 March, Isabelle Menet, imprisoned in the Tour de Constance since 1736 was returned to her family when she became affected by the Madness.
1750 Records from 30 October show a total of 22 prisoners in the Tour de Constance.
1754 Marie Durand sent a list of prisoners to Paster Paul Rabant.
1760 Works began on the planted esplanade between the canal basin and the ramparts, at the entrance to the town, beneath the Tour de Constance.
1763 Boissy D’Anglas visited the Tour de Constance, at that time incarcerating almost 30 prisoners.
1768 A visit by the Prince de Beauvau to the Tour de Constance resulted in the liberation of 14 prisoners.
1768 After 38 years in prison, Marie Durrand was released.
1769 The liberation of the final five female, protestant prisoners from the Tour de Constance.