page_title: The Four Sons of Aymon
section_title: Locations and place names
hierarchical_section_title: The Four Sons of Aymon / Folklore / Locations and place names
caption_attribution_description: English: Plaque found at the "4 FILS AYMON" castle.
context_page_description: The Four Sons of Aymon, sometimes also referred to as Renaud de Montauban is a medieval tale spun around the four sons of Duke Aymon: the knight Renaud de Montauban, his brothers Guichard, Allard and Richardet, their magical horse Bayard, their adventures and revolt against the emperor Charlemagne. The story had a European success and echoes of the story are still found today in certain folklore traditions.
context_section_description: While the Ardennes region (divided today between France, Belgium and Luxembourg) only plays a partial role in the medieval tale, the myth of the four brothers has been very present there.
  Joseph Bédier considered the Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy as the site of the origin of the legend of the four brothers, but this has since been invalidated.
  A study by the University of Liège in 1976 found a dozen sites in the Ardennes that claimed to be the fortress Montessor (or Montfort) constructed for the brothers by Maugis. The château of Amblève is one of these. Dhuy (near Éghezée) possesses an old castle called "Bayard" in 1770, that was also called "Montessor des fils Aymon".
  In Cubzac-les-Ponts (in the Dordogne region), there is a castle named after the four brothers (see image).
  Bertem, near Louvain, claimed to possess the relics of one of the sons, Saint Aalard (or Alard), for 600 years.
  Bogny-sur-Meuse has a number of sites referencing the four brothers: four rocky crags on a mountain peak near the town are said to symbolize the four brothers on the back on Bayard, and the castle of Château-Regnault has been claimed as a possible site of Montfort/Montessor.
  According to a tale told by (among others) Claude Seignolle, the village of Francheval owes its name to a legend of the brothers: "Bayard, having shown great bravery to help Renaud and one of his brothers, the latter said to him 'Tu es un brave, Bayard, franc cheval!' ('You are a brave one, Bayard, noble horse!'), and at this site the village of Francheval was established". A similar legend is related to the creation of the village of Balan: as the brothers, upon Bayard, were being pursued, the horse made a huge leap and fell to the ground; Renaud cried out to his brothers, "Balan!", (i.e. "Get back in the saddle!"), and the village was thus named.
  In Dinant there exists the "Bayard Rock" (Rocher Bayard) that was said to have been split by the giant hoof of Bayard while carrying the four sons of Aymon on their legendary flight from Charlemagne through the Ardennes.
  The ancient County of La Marche was the fief of the lords of La Roche-Aymon who claimed to have descended from the four brothers.
caption: A plaque for the "château des quatre fils Aymon" in Cubzac-les-Ponts.
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