Sancerre

Sancerre crowns a hill overlooking the Loire in the old province of Berry. Its counts built a castle and walls on this naturally defensible site. During the French Wars of Religion, the town became a Huguenot stronghold: in 1572–1573 its inhabitants endured a long siege by royal Catholic forces and severe hunger. The Protestant minister Jean de Léry, who survived, recorded the ordeal. In 1621 the king ordered much of the castle and town walls destroyed to prevent renewed resistance. The departure of Protestant merchants and artisans during the seventeenth century, especially after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, damaged the local economy. Vineyards on the surrounding slopes remained an enduring feature of Sancerre's countryside.