ABSTRACT
The town of Abbeville (Somme) was an important center on the Somme River that became the seat of the county of Ponthieu. In 1184, the count recognized a commune that the townspeople had organized some years earlier. The heiress to the county married Ferdinand III of Castile in 1257, and Ponthieu became the dowry of their daughter Eleanor when she married Edward of England. Abbeville passed back and forth between France and England during the Hundred Years' War and was one of the strategic towns along the Somme. The sole remaining medieval monument in Abbeville is the large church of Saint-Vulfran, whose most notable feature is its Flamboyant façade. The building, which was badly damaged in 1940, was constructed in two periods: the nave and transept from 1488 to 1539; the chevet from 1661 to 1691. In contrast to the lavishly decorated façade with its full complement of sculptures, the post–World War II restorations robbed the interior of any interest.
