The Saint-Didier tower remains the best-preserved medieval fortification in Langres. Its three superimposed rooms, firing embrasures and identically restored roof give a fairly good idea of what the other medieval towers, now transformed or destroyed, might have been like. Its main purpose was to defend the immediate vicinity of the Boulière gate, with which it was linked. Under the Ancien Régime, the top floor was used as a court for the four mace captains, who had to judge offences committed on the sentry walk.
Facing the Bonnelle valley, a niche houses a statue of Saint Didier, bishop of Langres in the mid-fourth century and martyred, according to legend, by the Vandals.
A little background information:
The legend of Saint Didier recounts that this bishop had his head chopped off by Chrocus, king of the Vandals, because of the city's resistance. Saint Didier took his head in his hands, returned to the city and died there, where a church was dedicated to him.
His executioner went mad and smashed his head against a gate in the town, which has remained walled up ever since (the Gallo-Roman gate?).
This pathetic legend is a compilation of historical events and imaginary tales from outside Langres, which have been put together to "prove" the diocese's age and prestige.
It was the bell of the priory of Saint-Didier that rang the curfew - 8 p.m. in winter, 9 p.m. in summer - "in order to make everyone withdraw to their homes by way of pollice".
Tour Saint-Didier
