Bar-le-Duc from the Earliest Time to the Present Day

Archaeological vestiges show that the area was inhabited long time ago, but the settlement of a city was not mentioned before the 1st century AD. It was then a stopover town called Caturiges and situated on the road between Rheims and Toul. That village, located on the Ornain River, was the building place of the current city.

Soon before 1000 AD, Frederic of Ardennes, duke of Upper Lorraine, built a castle on a headland overhanging the Ornain Valley, thus boosting the development of the city.
When Duke Frederic III died in 1033, his two sisters Beatrice and Sophie shared the duchy, but none of them could lay claim to the title of duchess. The Earls of Bar’s lineage started with Sophie (1033-1093). Her descendants succeeded in founding a large and powerful principality whose capital was Bar-le-Duc from the 13th century.
Two new boroughs were created at the time. The Earl encouraged his employees and friends to settle in the upper city, and in the meantime new boroughs were created in the lower city.
In 1354, the county became a duchy and Robert I (1352-1411) was given the title of Duke of Bar. In 1420, the Duke of Bar, René of Anjou, married Isabelle, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine. The seeds of the union between these two duchies were planted, but the union only became effective sixty years later when the grandson of René of Anjou and of Isabelle, René II, Duke of Lorraine since 1473, took the legacy of his forbears in 1480. Since then, the two duchies - though distinct - depended on the same landlord.

With the reign of René II began the most prosperous period of Bar-le-Duc’s history. It lasted about one century and a half. The favourable economic situation and the clever policy of the Dukes, who benefited from the benevolence of the French Kings and after that of the French Empire, were both profitable to Bar-le-Duc.
Some members of the French royal family were born in the castle and the Dukes gave sumptuous parties there from time to time. The Dukes were surrounded by a fastuous Court that attracted artists and writers. Several buildings made of freestones and decorated in a remarkable way were built during that period in the upper city and in the Rue du Bourg.

The 17th century was a rough period for the city, since it passed through the Thirty Years’ War and the famine. Moreover Bar-le-Duc also suffered from the disastrous consequences of the policy followed by Duke Charles IV against the French. The city was occupied several times by the French troops until Louis XIV ordered the dismantling of the fortifications and the destruction of the castle in 1670.
The French takeover was even pushed to the gift of the duchies of Lorraine and Bar to Stanislaw Leszczinski, Louis XV’s father–in-law. The reign of this Duke was synonymous of prosperity for Bar-le-Duc: the former gates of the city were modified, new buildings appeared and boulevards were built.
When Stanislaw died, the duchy was ceded back to France for good.
During the French Revolution, the city was given the name of Bar-sur-Ornain, which sounded then more Republican, and also became the prefecture of the county of Meuse.

There were two axes of development in Bar-le-Duc in the 19th century: the canal going from the Marne to the Rhine and the railways between Paris and Strasbourg.
On the industrial level, the city became an important metallurgical pole because of its forging mills, and its breweries were prosperous and famous. Even if Bar-le-Duc’s textile factories have been gradually disappearing - threatened by more modern companies - “Bergère de France” now holds a leading position in the knitting sector.

Bar-le-Duc was not much affected by the battles of the First World War though it was a border city after the defeat of 1870. However, the city came to play a major strategic role during the war thanks to the Varinot railroad and the Sacred Road (“Voie Sacrée”), which both started from Bar-le-Duc and provided supplies to Verdun.
A rehabilitation plan started in the 1960s and the Saint Catherine Hill’s district was built. Today, Bar-le-Duc rediscovers its rich heritage with much pride, and more particularly the upper city, which became listed in 1973.