Vitry-en-Perthois

Vitry-en-Perthois was an old centre of the Perthois in Champagne. Its castle passed to the counts of Champagne in 1077, and the settlement became the seat of a count's castellany, later a prévôté and bailiwick. The fortified town had suburbs, and in 1230 Count Thibaud IV granted its inhabitants a charter of liberties. Crafts and trade, including baking, shoemaking and textiles, were recorded there.

Fire destroyed Vitry in 1143, and imperial troops burned it again in 1544, giving it the name Vitry-le-Brûlé. King Francis I ordered a replacement town at nearby Maucourt; Vitry-le-François was founded there in 1545, while Vitry-en-Perthois remained on its original site. The two settlements thus preserve the memory of a major shift in the area's urban centre.