Rocroi: The Star-Shaped Town and the Battle of 1643
Grand Est, France
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Rocroi Bastion
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200
XP
+100 France
= 300 total
1 day
Rocroi: The Star-Shaped Town and the Battle of 1643
200 + 100 XP
Henri II had Rocroi walled on a radial plan inside five star-shaped bastions with orillons — a radio-concentric town laid out by Italian military engineers and unique in France. The town withstood Spanish sieges in 1556 and 1559, and Vauban later added half-moons and faced the ramparts in stone, but the original plan survives. Under its walls, on 19 May 1643, the French army of the young duc d'Enghien — later the Grand Condé — beat the Spanish army of Francisco de Melo in the Battle of Rocroi, the victory that put France back on the international stage after a century of defeats.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Walk the full circuit of the five bastions and read the three campaigns off the work: an earth rampart with no masonry at all to start with, then the half-moons added in front and the scarps faced in stone, then Vauban's outer facing from April 1675 — finishing at the arsenal of 1692
2
of 5
Find the bastion du Roy, also called the bastion du Petit-Fort, and work out where the ditch was cut that separated it from the rest of the town to turn it into a citadel — it began as Girolamo Marini's little frontier fort, built before the star town existed round it
3
of 5
Stand in the middle of the place d'Armes and count the streets running straight out of it to the ramparts, then follow one to the end and back — this radio-concentric layout inside a five-pointed star is the only one of its kind in France
4
of 5
In the museum of the battle, housed in an old guardhouse inside the walls, work out from the plan where the two armies stood on 19 May 1643, then go up onto the rampart on that side and find the ground they fought over
5
of 5
In the church of Saint-Nicolas, built in 1844, find Victor Mottez's Le Christ au tombeau, which Napoleon III gave to the parish
Walk the full circuit of the five bastions and read the three campaigns off the work: an earth rampart with no masonry at all to start with, then the half-moons added in front and the scarps faced in stone, then Vauban's outer facing from April 1675 — finishing at the arsenal of 1692
Find the bastion du Roy, also called the bastion du Petit-Fort, and work out where the ditch was cut that separated it from the rest of the town to turn it into a citadel — it began as Girolamo Marini's little frontier fort, built before the star town existed round it
Stand in the middle of the place d'Armes and count the streets running straight out of it to the ramparts, then follow one to the end and back — this radio-concentric layout inside a five-pointed star is the only one of its kind in France
In the museum of the battle, housed in an old guardhouse inside the walls, work out from the plan where the two armies stood on 19 May 1643, then go up onto the rampart on that side and find the ground they fought over
In the church of Saint-Nicolas, built in 1844, find Victor Mottez's Le Christ au tombeau, which Napoleon III gave to the parish
Before you go
The museum of the battle opens from April to September only, afternoons apart from Sunday mornings, and is closed on Tuesdays. The ramparts, the bastions and the radial streets can be walked all year, so the rest of the challenge stands outside those months.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
200 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
300 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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