Troyes

Troyes, on the Seine, was the capital of the counts of Champagne and one of the towns in their cycle of fairs, with the Saint-Jean fair in summer and the Saint-Rémi fair in autumn. Canals cut from the river powered its mills and served tanners, dyers and papermakers, and the merchants' houses rose in the quarter around the church of Saint-Jean-au-Marché. Once Champagne joined the French crown in 1285 the town kept many of its privileges.

During the Hundred Years' War Troyes was held by John the Fearless of Burgundy, who in 1417 planned to make it the seat of a rival royal court. The treaty signed here on 21 May 1420 recognised Henry V of England as heir to Charles VI, passing over the Dauphin; Henry married Catherine of Valois in Saint-Jean-au-Marché on 2 June. In July 1429 Troyes opened its gates to Joan of Arc and Charles VII on their way to Reims. A great fire in 1524 destroyed much of the medieval town, and its rebuilding in the quarter of Saint-Jean left a large number of half-timbered Renaissance houses, while the stained glass in its churches marks the artistic workshops of sixteenth-century Troyes.