And if you were wondering what the women were doing.....

Judith De Bretange, wife of Richard the II.

A Benedictine Abbey was founded at Bernay in the beginning of the 11th century By Judith De Bretange, wife of Richard the II. Bernay was founded in 1025 on the lands which Richard II gave to his wife Judith of Brittany when they married. On her death the Duke recalled that she had dedicated her dower for the construction of the Abbey and he wished to continue her work, entrusting the new community directly to William of Dijon abbot of Fecamp, and his successors.

Constructed in stone, the abbey church included a nave, seven bays with aisles, a transept, a choir of two bays that culminated in a cul-de-sac four(vaulting formed by a semi cupola). Fragments from Gallo-Roman construction were used in the foundation. Despite modifications and attempts at deconstruction and reconstruction, this Abbey Church is one of the most interesting monuments of Romanesque architecture in Normandy.

The abbey-church, the nave of which is remarkable for its severe simplicity and unadorned elegance, is now used as a corn and linen market. In the abbey-building3 the sub prefect and the mayor reside, and the courts of justice are held. The other important buildings are the churches of Sainte-Croix and De-laCouture, the college and the hospital.

The town was fortified in the 13th century, and was then a place of importance for its market, its fairs, and its woollen manufactures. It was often taken in the wars between the French and English. The fortifications were demolished in 1589.

 The chief manufactures of Bernay are woolen-cloth; but flannels, tape, linen, leather, &c, are made. There are also dye-houses and bleaching establishments, and a good trade in corn, cider, iron, paper, hides, and cattle. One of the greatest horse-fairs in France is held here during the fifth week of Lent. Beaumont-lc-Roger, on the right bank of the Rille, and near the fine forest of Beaumont, was formerly defended by a castle, which was for centuries an object of contention with the Normans, French, and English, but which is now in ruins. The town has cloth-factories, bleach-works, glass-works, and 2063 inhabitants.

Of the castle, which was originally built about 1040, there are scarcely any remains; but on the summit of the rocky height on which it stood are the picturesque ruins of an ancient abbey. Brionnc, N.E. of Bernay, an ancient town on though right bank of the Rille, has 3098 inhabitants, who manufacture broad-cloth, oil, and cotton-yarn.

Four Roman roads met at Brionne: some Roman remains are seen in the adjacent forest. The Norman castle that formerly commanded the town is now in ruins.