Semur-en-Auxois

Semur-en-Auxois rises on a rocky spur above a loop of the Armançon. Its natural defences were reinforced during the Hundred Years' War by Duke Philip the Bold, who added walls flanked by towers, while a fortified enclosure separated the castle quarter from the town around the church of Notre-Dame. The towers gave the Burgundian stronghold a striking commanding silhouette above the river.

In the later sixteenth century Semur was drawn into the Wars of Religion. After the conflicts, Henry IV ordered the fortifications dismantled in 1602. Though the fortress lost its former military function as a stronghold, substantial stone towers and stretches of walls remained, preserving the outline of the medieval defences that had once divided and protected the Burgundian town.