The millenary history of the city of Maubeuge, from the foundation around 670 of the monastery of Malbodium by the Merovingian aristocrat Aldegonde to the construction of the fortification of Vauban from 1679, is relatively well known thanks to the work of 19th and 20th century historians. However, important areas of shade still remain, especially over the birth and evolution of the medieval town bathed by the Sambre. To illuminate these, only archaeology manages to bring back traces of this past buried deep under the post-war reconstructions.