Tonnerre, Yonne


Tonnerre is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France.

Geography

Straddling the Canal de Bourgogne, the commune is situated at the following crossroads:

Toponymy

During the Roman era, Tonnerre was known as Tornodurum, which was derived from the Lingone word for “fortress”. It was the capital of Pagus Tornodorensis. Here, in the valley of the Armançon, the County of Tonnerre was created, which served as a point of passage between Paris and Dijon, during a time when the King of France had designs on the Duchy of Burgundy.
Three etymologies of Tonnerre are rooted in the Celtic era: it is derived from Torn an obscure local deity; others claim it is from Douros, meaning fortress; yet others say it is connected to a place near the torrent. It is equally likely that the three solutions are one:

Antiquity

In 2005, research at a place called Les Petits Ovis revealed that the site was occupied by a necropolis dating to the end of the Bronze Age. At a place called Terre de Vauplaine burials and cremations from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age have been found.
An oppidum dating to the La Tène period developed on the high part of the City of Tonnerre. Later, a rural Roman Gaul settlement was built whose boundaries are not well-established.

Medieval county

During this period many tanneries appeared along the banks of the Armançon or near the Fosse Dionne.

Dynasty of the native counts

Tonnerre was the seat of a County starting in the 10th century. They administered the western edge of the vast bishopric of Langres. Several members of this family rose to rule this bishopric. Its seat may have been in the Bar-sur-Seine area. The counts, known by the charters of the Abbey of Saint-Michel, bear the name Miles. Succession in the 11th century was more chaotic.
A viscount of Tonnerre appeared at the beginning of this century. Under the law, this meant that the owner of the county had rights to other land as well, which imposes the establishment of a viscount. This viscount was the origin of the Rougemont family.
The last heir to this dynasty was the wife of Guillaume the 11th-century Count of Nevers and Auxerre. Guillaume had great difficulty surviving under the tutelage of his uncle, the Duke of Burgundy who killed his father. The marriage of his younger sister to a son of the Count of Brienne provoked the definitive separation of Tonnerre from the County of Bar-sur-Seine.

Dynasty of Nevers-Auxerre (1045–1193)

Guillaume de Nevers ruled the county for a long period of time. A provost became the representative of the administration to the Tonnerrois. The tendency of heredity in comital succession is an admitted weakness. The younger son of Guillaume nearly caused an autonomous county to emerge. The county frequently served as dower to dowager countesses. Some families wield great power in the county; especially the Argenteuil and Rougemont families. Some of them were bestowed with the title of viscount due to profitable commercial ventures in Ligny-le-Chatel. This phenomenon touched other parts of the county as well. The lords of Noyers-sur-Serein evaded comital authority and established an independent hold on the border of Auxerre County and former county of Avallon. Feudalism had reached its peak. By the end of this period the city of Tonnerre had grown considerably. The city had two parishes: Notre-Dame and Saint-Pierre. Around 1170, the counts attempted to reassert control of their powerful feudal lords, but only had limited success: they imposed an inheritance tax. Feudalism was deeply entrenched.

Dynasty of Courtenay

From the late 12th to middle of the 13th century, the city of Tonnerre was the most important community in the County of Nevers-Auxerre and Tonnerre. This period came to an end after the count's business misadventures in the Byzantine Empire. Copying an institution in place in royal domains since 1184, the count divided his dominion into two bailiwicks, both administered by the same bailey. The bailey was largely ineffectual. It could not reign in the powerful local feudal lords, clashed with the bishop of Auxerre and lead to the revolt of Hervé de Donz; all which humiliated Count Pierre de Courtenay.
The head of a junior branch of the de Courtenay came to rule the seigniory of Tanlay.

Dynasty of Chalon (1308–1463)

In the middle of the 13th century, a countess of Tonnerre married the King of Sicily. She founded the Grand Hotel-Dieu: the largest civil monument in Burgundy.
After participating in the division of the County of Nevers-Auxerre and Tonnerre, the Chalon family was given the County of Tonnerre.
As a prelude to the second phase of the Hundred Years' War, the Count of Tonnerre removed a lady-in-waiting from the court of the Duchess of Burgundy. Jean Sans Peur used this as a pretext to wage war against the Count of Tonnerre. Despite the vast difference in the size of their armies, the count managed to delay his ruin. This desperate struggle had a price: the Tonnerrois region was ravaged. The estates of the feudal lords who followed their natural suzerain into battle were plundered by Burgundian nobles. The war between Armagnacs and Burgundians occurred soon afterwards. Tonnerre remained under the control of the Duchy of Burgundy. During the 15th century, the city received new tax institutions: Aids and the Election.

French Revolution

It was the capital of the Tonnerre District from 1790 to 1795 and the Arrondissement of Tonnerre from 1800 to 1826.

World War II

The city was the victim of German bombing in June 1940 and Anglo-American bombing on 25 May 1944, which killed 14 people when a church was hit.

Heraldry

List of mayors

TermNamePartyDescription
17??-17??...––
1791-1791. Percheron–Abbot
about 1780-????Claude Bazile–Warrant Officer
18??-18??...––
Apr 1800–????Jacques-François Barbuat of the Maisons-Rouges of Boisgérard–Brigadier General, appointed
18??-18??...––
Jan 1856–????. Hardy––
18??-18??...––
18??-Sep 1870. Montreuil––
1870–1872Jules-François Hardy–Judge, appointed, acting
1872–187?...––
1881–188?.Gaupillat––
188?–1899...––
1899–1927Edmond Jacob––
1927–1929Catherine––
1929–1945Maurice Cerceau––
1945–1965Roger Ricand–Auctioneer
1965–1971Rene Gérard–Pharmacist
1971–1975Jacques Suisse–Surgeon
1975–1977Jean Cadieu–Physician
1977–1989Georges Roze, former member of the French Resistance–Executive,
Electricité de France
1989–1998Henri NalletSocialist Party Deputy
Minister of State
1998–2001André FourcadeSocialist Party Primary School Teacher
2001–2008Raymond Hardy–Auditor
2008–2014André FourcadeSocialist Party Primary School Teacher
2014–PresentDominique AguilarUnion of Democrats and IndependentsPublic Finance Officer

Demographics

The changes in the number of inhabitants are documented using census data collected since 1793. Starting in the first decade of the 21st century, the official population of every commune has been published annually. The census is now based on information collected annually, over a five-year period. For communes with fewer than 10,000 people, a census is taken every five years. The official population of the intervening years is determined by interpolation or extrapolation. For this community, this procedure was originally used in 2004.
In 2014, the commune had 4,759 inhabitants, a change of −9.28% from 2009.

Population change
179318001806182118311836184118461851
401242614190402342424271418444274672

185618611866187218761881188618911896
469247895429533255365681509547344749

190119061911192119261931193619461954
468545224384437344634484443342374345

196219681975198219901999200420092014
559558346336600760085979544052464759

From 1962 to 1999: Population without double counting; For the dates afterword: municipal population.

Histogram of the population change

Economy

2 Flowers out of 4.
Communities obtain the label of Blooming City or Blooming Village by participating in the Competition for Cities and Villages in Bloom which aims to promote quality of life through community greening across France.

Historical sites and monuments

Notable personalities

Paintings

Tonnerre served as the setting for several paintings by painter Émile Bernard, including La Famille à Tonnerre between 1908 and 1910, Tonnerre les deux églises in 1904, Paysage près de Tonnerre and Chemin de l'église Saint-Pierre à Tonnerre.

Click images to enlarge.

Movies

Filmmaker Guillaume Brac shot his homonymic film Tonnerre in 2013, starring Vincent Macaigne, Solène Rigot and Bernard Menez. Among the various places filmed in the commune, many of the scenes were shot at the Fosse Dionne.

Twin towns