Quartier Battant, Besancon

Battant is one of the oldest parts of Besançon, Doubs, France, and has been under architectural protection since 1964. It is situated on the right bank of the river Doubs, north of the ox-bow that encircles the center of the city. A bridge across the Doubs joins the two quarters, Battant and the La Boucle (The Oxbow), via the Vauban quay and Jouffroy d'Abbans Place.Today, Battant has become a popular district with a diverse population, numbering about 4,200 people. It is one of the more lively quarters of the city because of its numerous small shops, its nightlife, and its market.The quarter's name appears to have come from the Mouillère, a small brook also known as the fons batenti (river of the beater) because the water from the brook drove a cloth-beating device. The name came to be applied to a nearby street, and then by extension to the entire quarter. The inhabitants of Battant are known as Bousbots, which recalls the resistance that the grape growers of the district gave to the attempted seizure of the city by the Hugenots of Montbéliard on the night of 20–21 June 1575.HistoryFor centuries, a Roman bridge between Battant and Besançon provided the only access to the city proper. Consequently, since Gallo-Roman times a faubourg developed around the Battant end of the bridge. By the twelfth century the quarter came to have its own wall. The population of the quarter consisted of grape growers, workers, and washerwomen, though grape growing remained the principal economic activity in the quarter until the end of the nineteenth century.