"Non procul hinc vicum populosâ genta superbum, Divitiis plenum variis, famâque celebrem, Rure situm piano, munitum triplice muro, Deliciosa nimis speciosaque vallis habebat. Nomine GORNACUM, situ inexpugnabilis ipso, Etsi nullus ei defensor ab intus adesset; Cui multisque aliis præerat Gornacius HUGO. Fossæ cujus erant amplæ nimis atque profundae Quas sic Epta suo repleret flumine, posset Nullus ut ad muros per eas accessus haberi. Arte tamen sibi REX tali pessundedit ipsum. Haud procul a muris stagnum pergrande tumebat, Cujus aquam, pelagi stagnantis more, refusam Urget stare lacu sinuoso terreus agger, Quadris compactus saxis et cespite multo. Hunc REX obrumpi medium facit, effluit inde Diluvium immensum, subitâque voragine tota Vallis abit maris in speciem, ruit impete vasto Eluvies damnosa satis, damnosa colonis. * * * * * Municipes fugiunt ne submergantur, et omnis Se populus villâ viduat, vacuamque relinquit. * * * * * Armis villa potens, muris munita virisque, Arte capi nullâ metuens aut viribus ullis, Diluvio capitur inopino............... * * * * * REX ubi GORNACUM sic in sua jura redegit, Indigenas omnes revocans ad propria, pacem Indicit populis libertatemque priorem; Deinde re-ædificat muros............. In 1350, after the death of Philip of Valois, Gournay was again separated from France, and given as a dower to Blanche of Navarre, the widow of that prince, who held it forty-eight years, when, after her death, it reverted to the crown. At the commencement of the following century, the town fell, with the rest of the kingdom, into the possession of the English; and once more, upon the demise of our sovereign, Henry Vth, formed part of the dower of the widowed queen. On her decease, it devolved upon her son; but a period of eleven years had scarcely elapsed, when the laws of conquest united it for a third time to the crown of France, in 1449.--From that period to the revolution, it was constantly in the possession of different noble families of the kingdom.