The town of les Andelys is actually composed of two townships, le Petit Andely to the west, and le Grand Andely to the east (hence the plural name). Le Grand Andely was the site of a monastery founded in the 6th century by Clothilde, wife of Clovis who, in turn, was mass-murderer of all who declined to follow his particular brand of Christianity (nothing much changes, does it?).
In the town centre is the church of St Sauveur in the 12th century Gothic style which would have been so repugnant to Clovis and Clothilde (the early Goths preferred Biblical Christianity to Catholoic Dogma).
Dominating the town on a hill to the south is King Richard's Château Gaillard, reminding us that this was the border town in 1196. France lay southeast and the only way to the sea lay under the walls of this massive fortress. Phillippe-Auguste did not dare challenge Richard during his short lifetime but he was able, at great cost, to wrench it from King John on 6th March 1204.
It is a long hard climb to the castle which has been extremely well preserved and the views from it are magnificent. Richard, of course, spent most of his adult life in fruitless crusades and is best known as the most active anti-semitist prior to Adolf Hitler. Our highly distorted Robin Hood legends conjure up an image of this brave king who fought for right when, in effect, he was a bloodthirsty sadist who spoke no English at all and made but two very short visits to Britain in which he had not the slightest interest (except those interests raised by exorbitant taxes to finance his pillaging expeditions in the Middle East). The much-maligned King John was probably a saint by comparison.
