Mouzon

Mouzon stands on the Meuse at an ancient river crossing of the road from Reims to Trier. Its Gothic abbey church and fortifications mark the town's long importance on the river. For centuries its position near the frontier exposed it to armies moving between France and the neighbouring lands to the east.

Charles V besieged Mouzon in 1521, and Spanish forces attacked it again in 1639 and 1650. Turenne recovered the town, badly damaged by its successive sieges, for France in 1653. The Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 moved the frontier some twenty kilometres farther east, beyond Carignan, reducing Mouzon's military importance. Its old walls and castle were subsequently abandoned and demolished, although the Burgundy Gate remained as a reminder of the old defences.