Description
Vallée du Loir – Cycle Route
Bonneval
is the start of the Vallée du Loir Cycle Route
The Benedictine abbey at Bonneval was founded in 857 by a knight called Foulques under the auspices of Charles of Provence, great-grandson of Charlemagne.
(The town of the same name subsequently grew up around the monastery).
Originally dedicated to the Roman martyrs Saints Marcellinus and Peter, the abbey took the name of Florentinus after the transfer here of relics of the more local Saints Florentinus and Hilarius, martyred in Burgundy, in thanks for services rendered by the monks of Bonneval to abbot Aurelian of Ainay Abbey.
During the monks’ return trip from Roanne to Orléans so many miracles occurred and the saints became so popular that the abbey was known from then on by their names, and later by that of Florentinus only.
Hundred years war
In 911, Bonneval Abbey was attacked by invading Normans and burnt down. It was not until 50 years later that it was rebuilt, with the support of Eudes, son of Thibaut the Cheat (Thibaut le Tricheur).
In 1110, Louis VI, King of France, took the abbey under royal protection for political reasons.
The 12th and 13th centuries were the high period of Bonneval Abbey.
The Hundred Years’ War had a very damaging effect on the monastery. In 1420, Henry V, King of England, attacked it and once again it was pillaged and burnt down.
It was not rebuilt until the end of the 15th century, under René d’Illiers, Bishop of Chartres, who among other things rebuilt the abbots’ lodging over the sub-basements of the 13th century.
In 1568, the Grand Condé, at the head of the Protestants, attacked the abbey, which was largely burnt down again.
At the French Revolution the abbey’s property and premises were declared a national asset and the remaining buildings sold to a businessman who installed a thread-making factory and later a carpet factory.
In 1845 it was turned into an agricultural settlement for abandoned children, and in 1861 the lunatic asylum of the department of Eure-et-Loir.
The abbots’ lodging was restored at the end of the 19th century to its original Early Renaissance style under the leadership of the director, Dr Vincent Bigot.
The abbey buildings now accommodate a psychiatric hospital, the Centre Hospitalier Henry Ey, named for the distinguished psychiatrist Henry Ey (1900–1977), for many years its director.
Two large pictures formerly in the monastery refectory are now in the parish church of Notre-Dame in Bonneval, depicting the miracle of the loaves and the fishes and Jesus healing Simon the Leper, a copy of an original by Nicolas Poussin.
Chateaudun is a beautiful town to explore on Continuing on the Vallée du Loir cycle Route.
Continuing on the Vallée du Loir cycle Route, next town is:
Châteaudun is a French municipality with 13,195 inhabitants (as of 2017) in the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region; it is the administrative seat of the arrondissement of Châteaudun and the capital of the canton of Châteaudun, the inhabitants are called “Dunois”.
History
Châteaudun was in the Middle Ages as the capital of the county of Châteaudun in the possession of the Counts of Blois, who had appointed the Vicecount of Châteaudun here.
Fire !
In the 15th In the 19th century, Châteaudun was the capital of the county of Dunois, which had emerged from the vicecounty.
After a fire in 1723, the new town around the town hall square was newly created by Jules Hardouin-Mansart.
In the Franco-Prussian War, the city was attacked in the Battle of Châteaudun. On the 18th October 1870, Prussian troops of the 22nd conquered Division the city.
In the subsequent house fight with the Franc-tireurs, it was significantly damaged. Many houses were deliberately set on fire even after the fights were over.
Montigny-le-Gannelon
Continuing on the Vallée du Loir cycle Route, next town is:
Montigny-le-Gannelon is a village and a former French municipality with 459 inhabitants (as of 2017) in the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region. It belonged to the canton of Brou in the arrondissement of Châteaudun.
Montigny-le-Gannelon was already in the 12th. Century a fortified town, whose fortress was completely demolished during the Hundred Years’ War.
Vendome
Continuing on the Vallée du Loir cycle Route, next town is:
Vendôme (French pronunciation: [vɑ̃dom]) is a town in central France and is a subprefecture of the department of Loir-et-Cher. It is also the department’s third biggest town.
It is one of the main towns along the river Loir.
The river divides itself at the entrance of Vendôme, intersecting it into numerous different arms.
The town has a rich medieval history and many historical monuments.
History
Vendôme appears originally to have been a Gallic oppidum, replaced later by a feudal castle, around which the modern town arose.
Christianity was introduced by Saint Bienheuré in the 5th century, and the important abbey of the Trinity was founded about 1030.
When the reign of the House of Capet began, Vendôme formed the chief town of a county belonging to Bouchard, called “the Venerable”, who died in the monastery of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés in 1007.
The succession passed by various marriages to the houses of Nevers, Preuilly and Montoire. Bouchard VI, Count of Vendôme and Castres (died c. 1374), left as his heiress his sister Catherine, the wife of John of Bourbon, count of La Marche.
Government
The county of Vendôme was raised to the rank of a duchy and a peerage of France for Charles of Bourbon (1515); his son Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, was the father of Henry IV, who gave the duchy of Vendôme in 1598 to his illegitimate son César de Bourbon (1594–1665).
César, duke of Vendôme, took part in the disturbances which went on in France under the government of Cardinal Richelieu and of Cardinal Mazarin; he was the father of Louis, Duke of Vendôme, who married a niece of Mazarin, and François de Vendôme, Duc de Beaufort.
The last of his family in the male line was Louis XIV’s famous general, Louis Joseph, duc de Vendôme (1645–1712).
Lavardin
Lavardin is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France. It is located on the banks of the Loir River.
Lavardin is classified as one of the most beautiful villages of France thanks to the ruins of its mediaeval castle the Chateau de Laverdin, its Gothic church and frescoes, its houses and the ancient bridge.
The village has been frequented by renowned painters since about 1900, most notably Busson and Sauvage.
Le Lude
The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire valley (Vallée de la Loire) in France.
The château is situated in the commune of Le Lude in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays-de-la-Loire and stands at the crossroads of Anjou, Maine and Touraine.
Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years.
The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century.
The monument is located in the valley of le Loir.
Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries. It is a harmonious combination of French design and an English-style landscape, with a rose garden, topiaries, a labyrinth and a botanical walk.
The original fortress was built between the 10th and 11th centuries on the banks of the river Loir in order to defend Anjou from the incursions of the Normans and then the English during the Hundred Years War.
Louis XI’s chamberlain, Jehan de Daillon, took possession of the Lude estates at the end of the 15th century. He employed Italian artists to convert the fortress into a residence.
In 1751, Le Lude became the property of Joseph Duvelaër, head of the Council of The French East India Company.
His niece, the Marquise de la Vieuville, built the classical wing in the style of Louis XVI and defended the château during the French Revolution.
Her descendants, the Talhouët-Roy, carried out extensive works of restoration throughout the 19th century. Le Lude has been passed down to the current occupants Count and Countess Louis-Jean de Nicolaÿ, who have carried on its tradition of restoration and decoration.
Durtal
Durtal, an old county seat, is a French municipality with 3387 inhabitants (as of 2017) in the department of Maine-et-Loire in the Pays de la Loire region.
Due to its fortress from the 11th In the 19th century, Durtal considers itself the historic northern gateway to Anjou. The impressive castle was the seat of an influential count family until the French Revolution.
The original name was probably Durum Stallum (German fixed storage space).
Around 1050, a castle is first associated with this exposed geographical location. In 1096, Hubert de Champagne initiated the expansion of the place, which was already a market town at the time.
Before his departure as a crusader into the Holy Land, he commissioned the monks of Angers to build the church and settlement Saint Léonard to the left of the river, opposite the castle.
He also left land to the monks on both sides of the Loirbrücke, which already existed at that time.
In 1114, the name Turestal can be found for Durtal.
Auld Alliance
In the 12th In the 19th century, the castle came into the possession of the de Parthenay family.
The hundred-year war of the English against the Auld Alliance in the 14th and 15th In the 19th century, Durtal was affected several times.
The plague also raged several times over the centuries.
In the 16th In the 19th century, Durtal received significant impulses through the rise of François de Scépeaux to Marshal of France and became the seat of a county in 1564.
The castle complex was extensively renovated and expanded and became the meeting place of the high nobility up to King Charles IX and Catherine of Medici.
Durtal became an important station between Angers and Le Mans.
In 1571, de Scépeaux died in the forest of Chambiers during a carriage ride with King Charles at the place now called la table au Roy.
Tradition speaks of poisoning.
Angers, a gem of exploration on the Vallée du Loir cycle Route,
The Château d’Angers is a castle in the city of Angers in theLoire Valley in the départementof Maine-et-Loire, in France.
Founded in the 9th century by the Counts of Anjou, was expanded to its current size in the 13th century.
It is located on a rocky ridge overhanging the river Maine.
Now open to the public, the Château d’Angers is home of the Apocalypse Tapestry.
Originally, this castle was built as a fortress at one of the sites inhabited by the Romans because of its strategic defensive location.
13th Century
In 1204, the region was conquered and an enormous castle was built in the early part of the 13th century.
The castle was modified, and in 1373 the famous Apocalypse Tapestry has been commissioned.
Between 1405/12 a chapel and royal apartments were added to the complex.
The chapel is a sainte chapelle, the name given to churches which enshrined a relic of the Passion. The relic at Angers was a splinter of the fragment of the True Cross which had been acquired by Louis IX.
In 1562, Catherine de’ Medici had the castle restored as a powerful fortress, but, her son, Henry III, reduced the height of the towers and had the towers and walls stripped of their embattlements.
Nonetheless, under threat of attacks from theHuguenots, the king maintained the castle’s defensive capabilities by making it a military outpost and by installing artillery on the château’s upper terraces.
At the end of the 18th century, as a military garrison.
Unable to do anything else, the invaders simply gave up.
Today, owned by the City of Angers, the massive, austere castle has been converted to a museum housing the oldest and largest collection of medieval tapestries in the world.
As a tribute to its fortitude, the castle has never been taken by any invading force in history.
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