Provins

Sister cities

• Bendorf
• Waldenbuch
• Pingyao

History

There are signs of human occupation in the area as early as the Paleolithic era. Provins was at the crossroads of two major regional corridors in Roman Gaul: one from Soissons to Troyes, and one towards Sens in the south. As proof of its growing importance, by the 9th century, Provins was minting its own coin, the denier provinois, and Charlemagne had sent his missi dominici to the town. Under the protection of the Counts of Champagne, Provins hosted one of the largest Champagne fairs, an agricultural and trade fair crucial to the medieval economy. The Church of Saint-Ayoul [fr] was built to house relics discovered in 996 that were attributed to the saint. Initially, a crypt was built in the Saint-Médard chapel to secure the relics. By the mid-11th century, the chapel was unable to accommodate the crowds of pilgrims who came to pray there, and so Count Thibaut I of Champagne replaced it with a parish church and a priory of Benedictine monks. Due to long-term conflict between the parish and the priory, in 1527 the building was divided in two with a wall; the nave and aisles were given to the parish, while the priory retained the apse. King Philip IV visited Provins several times in the late 13th century, devastating it with harsh taxes that ended its period of prosperity and caused residents to flee. The town was besieged numerous times and changed hands frequently in the 14th through 16th centuries. This political and economic instability reduced the importance of Provins. In one of the most famous events in Provins’ history, the recently crowned King Charles VII attended Mass at Saint-Quiriace along with his royal court and Saint Joan of Arc on August 3, 1429. Being largely unaffected by the Industrial Revolution, Provins remained a small market town through…