The origin of this town is uncertain, and its history prior to the
Merovingian epoch obscure. Judging by the Gallo-Roman relics and graves
discovered in the neighbourhood, it seems probable that at an early date
a Pagan temple or Gallo-Roman _castrum_ stood on the rock encircled by
the two arms of the Aisne. Houses gradually arose about the fortress--an
important stronghold prior to the 5th century. During that century,
Count Sygmar held assizes in the château. Sygmar and his seven daughters
were Christians. One of the latter, Manechildis or Manehildis, being of
a religious turn of mind, devoted herself to the care of the sick and
poor, and was greatly beloved in consequence. After her death she was
honoured by the people as a saint, and the town then took her name St.
Menehould.
During the wars of Chilpéric against Sigebert the town was partly
destroyed. More than a hundred years later, towards the end of the 7th
century, Drogon, Duke of Champagne, son of Pépin of Héristal, rebuilt
the castle and surrounded the rock with ramparts. St. Menehould was
frequently besieged. In the 11th century it was attacked by troops of
the Duke of Lorraine and the Bishop of Verdun. In the 12th century the
castle fell into the hands of a robber-chief, Albert or Aubert, who
plundered the Bishoprics of Verdun and Châlons. At the end of the 12th
century St. Menehould was finally included in the County of Champagne.
It became French in the 13th century, after the union of Champagne with
France. In 1398, Charles VI. built a wall round the town proper. In
1423, the English took the town, but the Constable of Richemont
recaptured it in 1435. In 1545, Marini, an Italian engineer, built a new
line of ramparts with moats and four gates. Several years later the
town, ravaged by plague, was attacked by Antoine de Cory, the Calvinist,
who, however, failed to take it. Under the League, the Governor,
Mondreville, sided with the Guises, but could not shake the allegiance
of the burgesses to Henri III. On May 1, 1589, Antoine de Saint-Paul, a
leader of the League, pursued the royal troops as far as the gates of
the town, but the burgesses forced them to retreat after a battle
lasting two hours. In 1590 the Duke of Lorraine tried in vain to reduce
the town by force. In March, 1603, Henri IV., after renouncing the
Protestant faith, visited the faithful city, accompanied by Marie de
Médicis. In 1613, the Prince of Condé and the Duke of Nevers took the
castle by surprise and forced the burgesses to lay down their arms. In
1630, Marillac was imprisoned in the castle for several months. In
December, 1631, and January, 1632, Louis XIII. stayed in the town. In
1634, the King ordered the castle to be pulled down; by mistake the
walls of the town were also razed, and in 1635 they had to be rebuilt.
In October, 1652, during the Fronde, the Great Condé, with an army of
15,000 to 16,000 men and two guns, laid siege to the town, which
eventually capitulated, with the honours of war, after thirteen days of
trench warfare and three assaults. In October of the following year the
royal troops besieged the town in their turn and forced the garrison to
surrender. This siege of 1653 was the last to which the town was
subjected. In 1712, St. Menehould had to pay a war-levy to the Dutch
robber-chief Growenstein. On the night of August 7, 1719, the town was
almost entirely destroyed by fire. It was at St. Menehould in 1791 that
Louis XVI., while attempting to escape from France, was recognised by
Drouet, son of the postmaster of Varennes. On September 3, 1792, the
body of Beaurepaire, Military Commander of Verdun, who committed
suicide rather than surrender to the Prussians, was buried in the town
cemetery. It was before St. Menehould that Dumouriez established himself
while awaiting the arrival of Kellermann, who defeated the Prussians at
Valmy in September 20, 1792.
In 1914, the town was for a long time occupied by the enemy. Early in
August of that year, the first refugees from the neighbourhood of
Longwy, Longuyon, Audun-le-Roman, and the region of the Meuse reached
St. Menehould. On Monday, August 24, the guns in the north-east of the
Argonne were heard in the town. On the 31st the sound of the cannonade
drew nearer, and refugees from the Ardennes flocked in, terrifying the
inhabitants with stories of German pillage and atrocities. On September
1, the horizon towards Monthois was lit up by the incendiary fires, and
the next day the people were advised to leave the town. The banks
closed, and many of the inhabitants left the city, the trains in the
evening being literally taken by storm. The last train left at about ten
o’clock on the morning of the 3rd. Early in the morning of the 4th, the
last French troops marched through the town on their way to Verrières.
At 8.30 companies of a Prussian Reserve Corps, preceded by Uhlans,
entered St. Menehould by the Moiremont road and destroyed the
telegraphic and telephonic apparatus at the post-office and the station.
The Germans, exasperated by the evacuation of the inhabitants, hastened
to pillage the deserted houses and shops. The tobacco warehouse, the
Caïffa stores, and the cellars of Quesnel the wine-merchant were emptied
and the contents sent away on army waggons.
Of the population only eighty-two men had remained, twelve of whom were
obliged to present themselves each morning at six o’clock before the
Kommandantur, as surety for the order and peace of the town. Six men by
day and six by night were kept as hostages by the German sentries, first
at the Maison Viard, where the Kommandantur was housed, and then at the
Hôtel-de-Metz. The Mayor was kept busy by the German requisitions. From
Nettancourt, where the Crown Prince was reported to be, came an officer
to demand champagne, fine wines, and liqueurs. On the Mayor’s declaring
that there was nothing left the officer lost his temper and threatened
to have him shot. General von Schaeffendorf, commanding the VIth
Artillery Corps, took up his residence at the Château de la Mignonnerie.
Headquarters were established in the Maison Géraudel, Rue de la Force,
where the Duke of Wurtemberg was erroneously reported to have been
housed. The able-bodied men of the town were commandeered for
fatigue-duty and for the cleaning of the streets. A day or two before
evacuating the town, the Germans requisitioned 6,000 bottles of claret,
but left them behind in the hurry of their departure.
On September 13, a cannonade was heard from the south. On the 14th,
there was great excitement in the German garrison, regimental
baggage-trains passed through the town northwards and the Staff prepared
to leave. In the morning the enemy troops streamed along the Verrières
and Daucourt roads, soon followed by the garrison and waggon-loads of
stolen furniture. The Municipal Buildings, Savings Banks, and
Post-office were full of German sick and wounded, only part of whom
could be evacuated through lack of ambulances. There was a speeding up
of the retreat, resulting in great confusion, the bridge, Faubourg de
Verrières and Rue de Vitry being encumbered with German troops on the
way to Moiremont and Chaudefontaine. Shortly afterwards an enemy battery
of 77’s, which had taken up a position on the Verrières road, withdrew
at a gallop through the town, while the last German troops fled along
the Rue de Prés towards the Pont des Maures. Almost immediately
afterwards the French artillery occupied the ridge of Bel-Air and opened
fire on the retreating enemy columns. At about 5.30 p.m. the French
advance-guards, cyclists and light cavalry entered St. Menehould. A
Prussian laggard was shot in the Avenue Kellermann on his refusal to
surrender. At 7 p.m. General Cordonnier arrived in the town, which was
occupied by the 51st Regiment of the line, and a continuous stream of
French troops passed through, following up the pursuit in the direction
of Ville-sur-Tourbe, Vienne-la-Ville and Florent.
[Illustration: SAINTE-MENEHOULD TOWN AND CHÂTEAU (_old engraving_)]
While the trench warfare lasted the headquarters, supply-depôts and
hospitals for the Argonne front were centred in St. Menehould, and for
four years it was entirely given over to military activities. Frequently
bombarded, the first shells were fired at the station at 4.30 a.m. on
April 26, 1915, when some houses were struck and two civilians killed.
On July 20 of the same year another bombardment was directed by
aeroplanes. At 1.30 a.m. on August 28, an aeroplane dropped a few bombs.
On September 14, a heavy bombardment set fire to the evacuation
hospital, killing two civilians, one of whom, M. Bocquillon, the Deputy
Mayor (acting for the Mayor, who was ill), was struck on his way to the
Hôtel-de-Ville.
During 1918 the town was frequently bombed by enemy aeroplanes.