Boulogne is the ancient Bononia or Gesoriacum, “a naval place,” says Ptolemæus, “of the Morini,” and distant from the British coast, according to Pliny, about fifty millia passuum. Pliny probably measured from Boulogne to Rutupiæ (or Richborough), where the Romans had a fortified port, and which was their usual landing-place from Gallia. His measurement, however, exaggerates the actual distance between these places.
It was from Boulogne the Emperor Claudius embarked on his expedition to Britain; and it was at Boulogne the Emperor Caligula bade his soldiers collect the shells as spoils of ocean, and decreed himself a triumph for victories he had only won in imagination. As a more durable monument of his achievements, he erected, according to Suetonius, a lofty tower; the extraordinary structure which, under the name of the Tour d’Ordre, for centuries extorted the admiration of men.
Built as a memorial of imperial vain-gloriousness, when was it first converted into a work of public utility? When did the triumphal tower become a lighthouse? To these questions we can offer no authoritative reply. But it seems probable that in A.D. 191 a light was blazing from its summit; for a bronze medal of Commodus—on which he is entitled Britannicus, in memory of his lieutenant’s victories over the Britons—represents the pharos and its fire, and the departure of a Roman fleet.
Planted at the usual point of embarkation for Britain, the tower of Boulogne was carefully preserved so long as the Roman sway endured. In 811 it was repaired, according to Eginhard, by the great Western emperor, Charles, who was then preparing an expedition against the Norman pirates. As late as the seventeenth century it seems to have been employed as a lighthouse; and thence, according to a popular but certainly erroneous etymology, its ancient name of Turris ardens became, by corruption, Tour d’Ordre. It also served as a fortress, for which it was well adapted by its admirable position and extraordinary massiveness.
In the sixteenth century, while Boulogne was occupied by an English garrison—that is, from 1554 to 1559—the Tour d’Ordre was enclosed by two ramparts, one of brick, the other of earth, and both furnished with artillery. This point was felicitously chosen for the attack or defence of Boulogne, inasmuch as it dominated over the whole town, and commanded both banks of the Liane. Yet the Tour d’Ordre suffered little from the ravages of war, except that its lantern was several times destroyed; and its ruin is wholly due to the neglect of successive magistrates of Boulogne. Shaken at first by the waves, which in high tides dashed furiously against the cliff—then by the subterranean action of springs and watercourses—and, finally, by the imprudent excavation of the adjoining quarries, both the fort and the tower fell down—twice, according to some authorities—thrice, according to others—between 1640 and 1645—along with the portion of the cliff on which they were erected.
In the interval between these sad events, says Egger, nothing was attempted in preservation of the remains of our precious monument, which, however, in its ruined condition, still served as a night-beacon for ships entering the port. When at length it perished utterly, the municipality of Boulogne considered themselves released from the dues which, for this portion of their territory, they had paid, in virtue of an ancient right, to the Seigneur de Bainethun. As the soil no longer existed, the tenants thought themselves freed from all obligations towards its proprietor. The latter resorted to legal proceedings, and judgment was given in his favour, July the 1st, 1656. Inasmuch as the wise men of Boulogne had by their own negligence caused the loss which they put forward as an excuse for denying their debt, they were condemned to pay, as before, two thousand herrings, fresh and dry, to be delivered at Arras, Amiens, and other towns, according to the seigneur’s pleasure—or to restore the ground to its ancient condition, and abandon to the Seigneur de Bainethun the toll which they levy from all fishermen entering the harbour. And there is reason to believe that this tribute of two thousand herrings was paid by the corporation of Boulogne down to the epoch of the French Revolution.
