Last modified: 2025-11-15 by olivier touzeau
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![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-93-gm.gif)
Flag of Gournay-sur-Marne - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 09 November 2025
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Gournay-sur-Marne (7,101 inhabitants, 168 ha) is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France, in the Seine-Saint-Denis department.
Recent archaeological excavations have uncovered a village of artisans
dating back to the 1st century BC and have revealed continuous
occupation during the Merovingian and Carolingian periods
Aymon I of Corbeil, a descendant of the Counts of Paris, married
Elisabeth the Rich, Lady of Sceaux-en-Gâtinais and Larchant, in 946 or
947. On the occasion of his marriage, Aymon I of Corbeil was invested
with the County of Corbeil and the Lordship of Gournay-sur-Marne by
Hugh the Great (897-956), Duke of the Franks. Hugh the Great was the
father of Hugh Capet, founder of the Capetian dynasty.
Around 1063, Guy II of Montlhéry, known as "the Red" (1055-July 1108),
became Lord of Gournay. He founded a priory there, which he donated
around 1079 to the monastery of Saint-Martin-des-Champs in Paris. To
this donation, he added the castle chapel, which would later become
the parish church of Saint-Arnoult, and the mill. In 1114, Hugh of
Crécy, son of Guy II the Red, was accused of plundering merchants
crossing the ford and storing his loot in the castle. King Louis VI
the Fat laid siege to it and, after fierce fighting, captured it. He
confiscated it and granted it to Anseau I of Garlande (1069-1117),
son-in-law of Guy II of Montlhéry, with the title of seneschal. In
1330, Queen Jeanne of Évreux (1310-1371), widow of Charles IV the Fair
since 1328, purchased the seigneury. Their daughter, Blanche of France
(1328-1393), gave it in 1376 to King Charles V the Wise. Gournay then
became crown property and was entrusted to the king's inner circle.
During the Hundred Years' War, the fortified castle was captured by
the English. As Joan of Arc was arriving from Lagny to liberate it,
the English fled. The Maid of Orléans turned back before reaching
Gournay.
During the Wars of Religion, King Henry IV had a fort built there to
prevent supplies from reaching besieged Paris. The daughter of LordÉtienne Levassor, married to Louis Ancelin, son of Perrette Ancelin
née Dufour, Louis XIV's wet nurse, had the Château de Gournay (now the
town hall) built around 1680.
In 1720, Sieur Paul Poisson de Bourvallais, a wealthy financier who
had just built the Château de Champs, bought the seigneury of Gournay
from Dame Ancelin. Convicted of fraud, he was imprisoned in the
Bastille and his property confiscated in 1716. The seigneury then
passed to Marie Anne de Bourbon, Princess of Conti, the illegitimate
daughter of Louis XIV and Louise de La Vallière. She immediately sold
the Château de Gournay to Claude Elisée de Court de La Bruyère, who
surrounded it with a lovely park.
At the time of the French Revolution, Anne-Henriette-Françoise Michel,
Marquise de Marbeuf, Lady of Champs, owned the château and the Gournay
farm. During the Reign of Terror, she was tried for opposing the
revolution and guillotined. The château, the farm, the church, and the
priory, which took the name Château Blanc, were sold as national
property.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the population of Gournay was
evacuated to Torcy. The buildings were badly damaged by French
artillery fire and the pillaging by German troops who occupied Gournay
until 1873.
At the end of the 19th century, riverside taverns sprang up along the
Marne: initially rather elegant on the right bank, becoming more
popular on the opposite bank from 1930 onward with the development of
the housing estate and the beach. There were 65 taverns along 6
kilometers of the river. Around 1970, silence returned to the
riverbanks, deserted due to pollution, but the banks of the Marne have
been revitalized since the 2000s.
Olivier Touzeau, 09 November 2025
Azure, a bridge Or, set upon a wavy base Argent charged with a fish
Azure, the bridge surmounted by an escutcheon Argent, two bends Azure,
in chief two fleurs-de-lis Or.
The shield, surmounted by a mural crown with three crenellated towers
Or, masoned and open Sable, is supported by two oak branches Or,
holding a scroll also Or charged with the motto "PER PONTEM AD
FORTUNAM" in Roman letters Sable and issuing from thistles Argent
flowered Azure, placed in base, and overall a shuttle Or.
The two fleurs-de-lis mark the seat of a former royal provostship and
also its belonging to the Île-de-France. The escutcheon in the center
bears the arms of Jacques Pylle, one of the lords of Gournay. The
bridge evokes the famous bridge of Gournay-sur-Marne, and the fish
represents the Marne river.
Olivier Touzeau, 09 November 2025
The version of the coat of arms shown on the official website has an
Azure field, as it should be:
https://ville-gournay-sur-marne.fr/fr/rb/167611/bienvenue-a-gournay
The current flag has this official version of the arms with the name of
the commune below: a design which corresponds to the logo in use from
2014 to 2020 by the municipality:
photo (2025), photo (2024), photo (2024).
Olivier Touzeau, 09 November 2025
Former flag
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-93-g1.gif)
Former flag of Gournay-sur-Marne - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 09 November 2025
Formerly a common but erroneous representation of the coat of arms had a white
(Argent) field, which is impossible with the Or fleurs-de-lis and
bridge.
This version was observed on the flag on the town hall some years ago: photo (2018).
Olivier Touzeau, 09 November 2025