Butte féodale de La Ferté-Saint-Samson
Place research page generated from the structured place spine and the companion place markdown.
Motte / castle site of the La Ferté fortress locality. The official La Ferté-Saint-Samson history page states that the castle occupied the butte, existed by 981, and sat in a naturally strategic marsh-bordered position. This fortress context explains the place-name La Ferté and the site’s importance within the Gournay / La Ferté frontier network.
Linked ancestors
- G35 Renaud de Gournay father of Gautier de La Ferté / cadet-line context
- G34 Hugh de Gournay II senior-line brother / charter consent context
- G32 Gerard de Gournay castle delivered in Gournay-La Ferté-Gaillefontaine triad
The Butte féodale is the fortress-place behind the historic name La Ferté. It should be represented separately from both the La Ferté locality and the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul priory/church.
Why this place matters
La Ferté was not only a priory foundation site. It was a fortified place in the Gournay / La Ferté frontier network. The official commune history states that the castle was already on the butte by 981 and that the site was naturally strategic, bordered by marshes and nearly impregnable. That description fits the wider Gournay geography: fortified places controlling the eastern Norman frontier.
Gournay and La Ferté connection
Gautier de La Ferté, younger son of Renaud de Gournay, founded the priory nearby around 990. La Ferté then became the cadet-line place connected to the Gournay house. Later, Gerard de Gournay delivered Gournay, La Ferté, and Gaillefontaine to William Rufus, making the place part of the documented frontier triad.
What remains from the fortified place
The castle is gone, but the butte / motte remains. This should be represented as landscape survival rather than architectural survival.
The official history of La Ferté-Saint-Samson says the château historically occupied the butte, that a castle was already present there by 981, and that the site was naturally strategic because it was bordered by marshes and almost impregnable. Cirkwi / the Office de Tourisme des 4 Rivières gives a precise mapped point for the Butte féodale at Place de l’Église. Seine-Maritime Tourisme describes the surviving “bels” as raised earthworks with large ditches that functioned as fortified points.
Interpretation
For the Gournay project, this is the fortification half of the La Ferté story. It is where the place-name and frontier military function live. The church / priory record should carry the charter and documentary-genealogy story.
Sources
- La Ferté-Saint-Samson official history page
- Cirkwi / Office de Tourisme des 4 Rivières, “Butte féodale de La Ferté-Saint-Samson”
Crosslinks
research/places/la-ferte-en-bray.mdresearch/places/priory-saint-pierre-saint-paul-la-ferte.mdresearch/places/gaillefontaine.mdresearch/places/gournay-en-bray.mdresearch/people/g35-renaud-de-gournay-fact-sheet.research.mdresearch/people/g32-gerard-de-gournay-fact-sheet.research.md