Epte

The Epte is a river in Seine-Maritime and Eure, in Normandy, France. It is a tributary of the river Seine. It begins in Seine-Maritime department in the Pays de Bray, near Forges-les-Eaux. The river empties into the Seine not far from Giverny.^[1]

A landscape by Claude Monet, Poplars on the Banks of the Epte.

In 911, the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte established the river as the historical boundary between Normandy and Île-de-France. This divided the traditional county of the Vexin into two parts. The Norman Vexin became a part of Normandy while the French Vexin remained a part of the Île-de-France. A series of castles were built on both banks of the Epte to guard this frontier.^[2]

Claude Monet lived at Giverny near the river for more than forty years.^[3] In his garden, by diverting a branch of the Epte, he established a water garden with its famous water-lily pond and a Japanese-style bridge. The river appears in several of his works, including Peupliers au bord de l'Epte (Poplars on the Banks of the Epte).