Fort Saint Elme (France)

Localisation

The fort Saint-Elme is located at the top of a hill overhanging Collioure on the west and Port-Vendres on the east. One can reach the fort following a local road linking the D114 road at the north, through the Coll d'en Raixat at the south.

Toponymy

Several assumptions exist for the origins of Saint Elme: Firstly the name of Saint-Elme may come from Erasmus of Formia, an Italian martyr of the 4th century. Secondly it could have been given in honour of the Spanish saint Peter González (1190-1246). This explains why we find this name around the western Mediterranean coasts: Saint Elme in Naples, Sant Elme in St Feliu de Guixols, Sant Helme and Santem in Provence, etc… Saint Erasmus may have become the patron saint of sailors because he is said to have continued preaching even after a thunderbolt struck the ground beside him. This prompted sailors, who were in danger from sudden storms and lightning, to claim his prayers. The electrical discharges at the mastheads of ships were read as a sign of his protection and came to be called "Saint Elmo's Fire".

By decree on 3 June 1794, during the French Revolution, the city took briefly the name of Fort-du-Rocher (Rock's fort).

From the origins to the Middle-Ages

The history of Fort Saint-Elme began with the edification of the watchtower in the 8th century, i.e. either during the period when Arab-Berber troops occupied Septimania between 719 and 759. Integrated to the Marca Hispanica, the tower belonged to the independent Counts of Roussillon until the death without heirs of Girard II of Roussillon in 1172. He bequeathed his county to Alfonso II, King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona. This is during the Aragonese period that the tower took its nickname "Torre de la guardia" (Watchtower).

Between 1276 and 1344, Majorca’s kings, whose summer residence was the castle of Collioure, rebuilt this signal tower on this ideal point of view. This tower was integrated in an efficient communication system including the Massane and Madeloc towers located on the heights of Collioure and funded by James II of Aragon in the 13th century. These towers communicated through smoke signals that permitted to alert the surroundings population with smoke signals (black or white, discontinuous or continuous) according to the danger. At night, some dry wood permitted to light fires to alert garrisons until Perpignan. By day, some green wood was used to emit smoke and thus communicate with the others towers and strongholds of the region. But it was the enemy of the kingdom of Majorca, the king Peter IV of Aragon, who, once he conquered the coast in 1344, made significant military works to improve the defense of the fort.

During the second part of the 15th century, the French controlled the Roussillon. In 1462, the king Louis XI took advantage of the Catalan civil war (1462-1472) to sign the treaty of Bayonne and thus took over the counties of Roussillon and Cerdagne. The French decided to strengthen the fort which took the name of Saint Elme. A part of ramparts dates from this period. The successor of Louis XI, Charles VIII, who wanted to assure the neutrality of Spain for his ambitions over the kingdom of Naples, signed with Ferdinand II of Aragon the treaty of Barcelona in 1493. The catholic king recovered thus the lost territories.

The fortification of Charles V

In the 16th century, the Roussillon is an essential piece of the Spanish kingdom. The region had a triangular shape delimitated by the cordilleras in the north, the Albera Massif in the south and the Mediterranean Sea in the east. Perpignan was an important industrial, cultural and commercial center which got important privileged links with the wealth of Italy. Perpignan was defended in the north by the Fortress of Salses and in the south by the Fort Saint-Elme. This castle protected also the Collioure and Port-Vendres ports which assured supplies and troops helpers to the regional capital of Roussillon.

The progress of the modern artillery changed profoundly the war art and the siege technics. Architects and artillerymen were converted to new war masters and advisers of sovereigns. In 1537, the Italian architect Benedetto of Ravenna caught the emperor’s attention on the weaknesses of the Collioure position. After an inspection, Benedetto obtained the agreement of Charles V. He began the works in 1538 until 1552 and transformed the fort’s appearance which took its star-shaped aspect.

A French fort

Despite this modernisation and its adaptation to the artillery, on 13 April 1642, French troops of king Louis XIII achieved to take the fort. After the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, the Spanish threat remained. When Vauban, military architect of King Louis XIV, made a reconnaissance of the defensive structures in 1659 in the region of Collioure, he decided to build a counterscarp, which forms with the ramparts base a ten-meter pit where infantry and cannons could easily operate.

Around 1780, the fort’s facade was whitened to serve as landmark from the sea, with the Massane Tower, to better situate the port of Port-Vendres.

During the French Revolution, more precisely during the War of the Pyrenees, between 1793 and 1795, the region was the center of violent fights. The Fort Saint Elme was conquered successively by Royalists and Republicans. In 1794, the Spanish army took the fort. Six months later, the general Dugommier crushed with 11 000 cannonballs the garrison which surrendered on 25 May 1794 after a 22-day siege. After the revolutionary period, the fort, unified with the municipality of Collioure, was transformed in military warehouse.

A private museum

The Fort Saint-Elme was demilitarised in 1903 and abandoned. The tower was shattered, the (shooting place) was partly impracticable and lots of walls threatened to collapse. On 21 August 1913, the State decided to auction the fort. Several owners succeeded but none restoration was made. The fort was registered as Monument Historique by decree of 2 April 1927. A new owner decided thus to restore it. The works ended in 1936. During the WWII, the fort was occupied by the Kriegsmarine between 1942 and 1944. At their escape, some buildings were dynamited to block the progression of allied troops. Rebuilt partially in 1950, most restoration works began in 2004. Since 2008, the fort has been a museum.

Architecture

The interior of the fort Saint-Elme is composed of rooms edified around the exterior circumference of the tower. On the first floor, there were the troop’s dormitories, the weapons room, the throne’s room, the jail and the oven. Today, the floor is fit out historical objects which date from 15th century to 19th century: helmets, knights’ armours, chest, polished-stone and iron cannonballs, medieval and “Renaissance” weapons (culverin, falconet, crossbows, halberds, flails, hammers, lances, bows, swords, arquebus, 16th-century pistols), howitzer fragments.

Others rooms reveal the history of the monument: the genealogy and life of Charles V, the fortifications of Vauban, the inventory of 1770 and the attack of general Dugommier in 1794.

On the second floor, the flour and artillery warehouses were next to the guardroom and the bakery. Saint-Elme, a stronghold with an ingenious defensive system, has been conceived to support sieges and resist to assaults. Some walls reach up to eight-meters thick. The tower contained the powder. The shooting place could receive more than 20 cannons and howitzers. The undergrounds are not open to the public. Formerly, they were used as a warehouse for food and housing. They could also house all trades (corps de metier) necessary to the fight.