Or at least it used to be.
For over a thousand years, geography affected the course of Poitiers’ history more than any other factor. Astride one of the most important travel corridors in western Europe, at its narrowest point, Poitiers was time and again a meeting ground for north and south. Only with the development of faster travel technologies – first, a modern road system, and then the railroad – did the importance of the city’s location fade.
With the topography of this part of France, mountains not far to the east (the Massif Central) and the sea to the west, the land around Poitiers formed a natural corridor between northern France, including the Benelux countries, and the southwest. Passage to the West was further narrowed by the mountains of Brittany. This geography was central to Poitiers development and history: it is not by random coincidence that three of the major battles in French history up through the late Middle Ages all took place around here. The First Battle of Poitiers, in 507, changed control of Gaul from the Wisigoths to the Franks (for more on this episode, see “Clovis’ Globe of Fire and the Creation of France”). The Second Battle of Poitiers, in 732, stopped the seemingly irresistible expansion of the Islamic Empire, and heralded the advent of Charlemagne’s dynasty. The Third Battle of Poitiers, in 1356, marked a major shift in military power from France to England, with the King of France captured and the Hundred Years’ War in full swing. Poitiers had in effect a monopoly over north-to-southwest transportation and travel. This natural position helped Poitiers develop a strong textile and trading economy in the medieval period, with its fairs being nearly as renowned as those of Champagne (which stood astride the main north-southeast corridor), and its drapery being sold internationally. Poitiers also was major center of production of weaponry and armor in the early Middle Ages, again abetted by its geography which made it both an important trade corridor and a focal point of armed conflicts. The wealth of the Counts of Poitiers derived similarly from this situation, and helped them position themselves as the dominant powers of the entire southwest for some three centuries, recognized by their being also Dukes of Aquitaine.
This natural advantage was not, however, permanent. By the 17th century, the centralizing tendencies of the Bourbon Kings, Louis XIII (with his chief Minister Richelieu) and Louis XIV, and their more frequent use of larger armies which had to be moved around, led to the development of a more efficient national road system. Goods and travelers moved faster, with networks of horse-drawn carriages, and Poitiers became less of a necessary stop. The arrival of the railway, in 1851, while bringing various benefits, also further undermined Poitiers’ “bottleneck” position, and enabled goods and people to get from Paris to Bordeaux in a single day. Poitiers was no longer the vital frontier, the impassable stop, the “hub of the western France universe.” For the tourist today, it is a marvelous turn of events: Poitiers is reachable in less than three hours by train from Paris. But they come to see a small city, attractive for its setting, its monuments, its history – no longer the giant which boasted the largest arena in Gaul, the longest medieval fortified walls, and where history was repeatedly made.
Geography isn’t what it used to be.