#beaugency

[artdecoandmodernist]

1926 Gerda Wegener (Danish, 1885-1940) On the banks of the Loire (the artists’ colony at Beaugency), Paris

[gillesvalery]

BEAUGENCY (Bateau de Loire, quai Dunois) (2)

[postcard-from-the-past]

Banks of the Loire river in Beaugency, Orléanais region of France

French vintage postcard

[folichonneries]

Quand le XIIe rencontre le XXIe..

[ingeborgd]

Siste dag i Beaugency

[marianaillust]

"Malheureusement les qualités de ce cheval étaient si bien cachées sur son poil étrange et son allure incongrue que, dans un temps où tout le monde se connaissait en chevaux, l'apparition du susdit bidet à Meung, où il était entré il y avait un quart d'heure à peu près par Laporte de Beaugency, produisit une sensation dont la défaveur rejaillit jusqu'à son cavalier."

- Les trois présents de M. D'artagnan père, Les Trois Mousquetaires

[ardenrosegarden]

"Powerful in eloquence, shrewd in counsel" was how Bishop Marbode of Rennes described Countess Ermengarde of Brittany in a poem he dedicated to her around 1096. Ermengarde's mother, also named Ermengarde, was Ralph I's sister and daughter of Lancelin II. Her father was Count Fulk IV of Anjou and Ermengarde was raised at his court. Count Fulk IV was one of the most powerful men of his day and established a thriving intellectual center at his court in Angers. It was here that Ermengarde learned the rudiments of lordship, but also encountered many of the important intellectuals and clergy of the time. She married Count Alan IV of Brittany around 1093. Three years later, she found herself solely in charge of the county as he departed on crusade (likely in the company of Ermengarde's uncle, Ralph). Ermengarde ruled Brittany in his absence and did an admirable job of maintaining political stability of a county which was often plagued with internal fighting. Once Alan returned in 1101, they ruled the county together. Ermengarde appears in virtually every comital act from the period 1101 to 1112. Like countesses in other regions, she was present at law courts, settled disputes, oversaw vassals and made gifts to the church. Nor was Ermengarde a mere spectator to these events. The verbs used to describe these rulings and actions are plural verbs indicating that Ermengarde and Alan ruled together. In particular, Ermengarde was valuable in helping Alan maintain cordial relationships with the church. As we know from the Beaugency lords, counts and lords alike depended upon the church to help them provide stability but also to support their authority.

-Amy Livingstone, Medieval Lives c. 1000-1292: The World of the Beaugency Family

[amphibious-thing]

[Cupid and Psyche, before 1927, by Gerda Wegener via issuu]

Psyche is Gerda, Cupid is probably Lili. Lili once dressed as Cupid during a festival in Beaugency on the Loire river. She recalls in her autobiography*:

There was to be a procession of boats decorated with flowers. The first was to be Cupid's boat and this Grete was to organise. Monsieur René made his wine cellar and an old barge available to the festival, and Grete really succeeded in transforming the barge into a splendid love gondola with a heart-shaped red sail swelling in the wind ...... The river is very beautiful at Balgencie, but there are whirlwinds that make sailing quite dangerous. Therefore Cupid had to be able to swim for safety's sake, and as since childhood I had been a very good swimmer, I had to represent Cupid – that is, it was Lili who took over the role of Cupid ...... Claude Lejeune, who in the meantime had become our close friend and who could also swim, became Cupid's gondolier.

That is how it came about that Lili, disguised as Cupid and surrounded by applause, sailed through the old city where Joan of Arc had made her entry several centuries ago, surrounded by steel-clad warriors. In the bright sunshine Cupid fired his golden arrows at the many people who were lined up along the bank, and several of them recognised Lili from the charity performance.

*Lili changed many names in her autobiography. Grete is Gerda, Claude Lejeune is Claude Prévost, and Balgencie is Beaugency.

[e--u--r--o--p--a]

Picturesque old town of Beaugency in Loire Valley, France

[paulinedorchester]

The High Holy Days, 1944: Scenes from the liberation of Europe: France

Top, First Lt. Arthur H. Saffe leads Yom Kippur services at the synagogue in Verdun. (He doesn't appear to have been a chaplain, which is perfectly fine; in the end, we don't need no stinkin' chaplain! Also, I really love this photo. The women, whatever their charge may have been, are front and center!)

Below, 329th Infantry personnel at a Rosh Hashanah service held somewhere between Beaugency and Orleans.

From The Jewish Chronicle, September 29th:

("It is estimated that of the 400,000 Jews in France 100,000 have been killed." What no one ever seems to mention is that this is a considerably higher survival rate than was the case in most occupied countries, and that this was accomplished with the help of thousands of non-Jews who took tremendous risks in order to protect their Jewish fellow citizens.)

From the biographical sketch in the finding aid to the Morris N. Kertzer Papers at the American Jewish Archives:

Rabbi Morris Kertzer was born on October 18, 1910 in Cochrane, Ontario. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and his master’s degree from the University of Illinois. He then studied under Mordecai Kaplan at the Jewish Theological Seminary where he earned a doctorate in Hebrew literature and he was ordained in 1934. Rabbi Kertzer would eventually separate from the Jewish Conservative movement to join the Reform rabbinate. Kertzer served congregations in Illinois, Alabama, and Iowa before joining the army to serve as a Jewish Chaplain in World War II. During World War II Rabbi Kertzer was the only Jewish Chaplain at the Anzio beachhead, earning a bronze star for his services there. He entered Rome shortly after the liberation and spoke at the liberation ceremonies. He also served in Africa as well as Southern and Central France before returning home in 1945. Rabbi Kertzer was active in Jewish-Christian relations, earning the International University of Rome’s Pro Deo Medal for promoting understanding between Catholics and Jews. He traveled internationally lecturing in Italy, Rumania, Japan, Turkey, India, Thailand and Israel. Rabbi Kertzer authored several books including With an “H” on my Dog Tag, his memoirs as military chaplain in World War II, What is a Jew?, (which went into more than 30 printings), Today’s American Jew, Tell me Rabbi, and The Art of Being a Jew. He also published numerous articles. Rabbi Kertzer led the first Jewish delegation to the Soviet Union in 1956 and subsequently won the George Washington Medal for his analysis of the Soviet Union’s anti-Semitism. He served as the national president of the Jewish Military Chaplains Association, he was the national chaplain of Amvets and was the chairman of the social action commission of the Synagogue Council of America (1950’s), secretary of the New York Board of Rabbis (1957-1959), member of the executive board of the CCAR (1964-1966), and trustee of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (1962-1967). He served as Rabbi in Larchmont, then in Riverdale, New York in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He retired in Scottsdale, Arizona where he taught at Mesa Community College, and was a member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. He passed away on December 29, 1983.

[scotianostra]

December 4th 1423  saw Treaty of London, releasing James I from his 18 years captivity in England.

Not so much a treaty, the actually treaty releasing James was The Treaty of Durham,the following March. 

James had been captive in England since pirates boarded the ship carrying him to, what was meant to be the safety of France in 1406, his father Robert III, decided to send wee Jamesie to France – for his own protection, not from the English, but from his uncle Robert, Duke of Albany who was already involved in the death of James brother, David, Duke of Rothesay. So this “treaty” was merely the negotiation of the marriage of James I, King of Scots, to Miss Jane (or Joan) Beaufort, daughter of the Earl of Somerset.

That’s not so say there isn’t a lot to say about it, the background is a great insight into the politics of the time.

James’s progressively increasing importance in England from 1420 accelerated rapidly after Henry V’s death at Vincennes outside Paris on 31st  August 1422. James, who had remained with the English king after the successful capture of Dreux and foray to Beaugency, was in the escort of honour that conveyed the the body back to England for burial at Westminster.

In England, the regents for the child-king, Henry VI, were increasingly concerned for the security of the English grip on their French conquests and news that the earls of Douglas and Buchan were planning further campaigns was deeply worrying. Taking James on campaign to France had clearly done little to deter the Scots from fighting against the English army there, so they looked to a new strategy to neutralise this threat. From early in 1423, they were actively seeking to open negotiations with the Scots to arrange his release. Having James home in Scotland was surely the most effective way to end active Scottish participation in the French wars.

Initially, the Scots seemed little inclined to engage in meaningful negotiations, especially since control of the administration was exercised by James’s cousin, Murdock Stewart, 2nd duke of Albany. Like his father, Duke Robert, before him, Murdock had no reason to hand his rule in Scotland over to James. Unfortunately for him, as political relationships within the kingdom began to shift, with senior nobles ranging from Archibald, 4th earl of Douglas, to Donald MacDonald, lord of the Isles and his son (and from 1423 new lord), Alexander, in direct communication with James and building support at home for a serious diplomatic effort to negotiate his release. In August 1423, they secured agreement in a general council held at Inverkeithing for the appointment of envoys. It was now no longer a question of if but when James would be released.

Back in England, the powerful Beaufort family was manoeuvring to make the maximum from the negotiations. The family’s most influential figures, Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester and chancellor of England, and Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, played a leading part in framing the treaty which led to James’s release and secured within it provision for the Scottish king’s marriage to an English bride. It was no accident, of course, that the bride should come from within the Beaufort family.

The choice fell on Bishop Henry and Duke Thomas’s niece, Joan, the daughter of their late brother John, earl of Somerset, and his wife Margaret Holland. It is likely that Joan, who had been born in 1404, was well known to James from his recent years of life at court, but he might well have known her earlier, if she was indeed the muse who inspired his love poem, The Kingis Quair. James seems to have agreed readily to the marriage, no doubt partly because of her Beaufort connections, which he knew would give him a degree of influence within England or, at least, an ear amongst those in power there, but she was also reckoned to be of great beauty and accomplishment, so a catch in many ways.

On 12th February 1424, the couple were married in a splendid ceremony in the priory-church of St Mary Overie, the Beauforts ensured that all expense was spared on the marriage, for rather than provide their niece with a dowry to set her up in style as queen in Scotland, they instead arranged for a discounting of £6,666 of the £40,000 agreed as the cost of James’s release.

Within weeks of the marriage ceremony, James and Joan were heading north for the final negotiations for the king’s return to Scotland. On 28th March at Durham, the treaty – with its dowry deduction – was finally ratified and sealed personally by James. Just eight days later at Melrose Abbey, near the border between Scottish territory and the still English-occupied district around Roxburgh and Jedburgh, the king and queen at last entered their kingdom.

[gillesvalery]

BEAUGENCY-Loiret (la maison des Marmouzets)

[wolfman75]

Gilles de Montmorency-Laval, conosciuto principalmente con l'appellativo di Gilles de Rais[1] (Champtocé-sur-Loire, 1404[2] – Nantes, 26 ottobre 1440), è stato un generale, criminale e nobile francese che fu barone di Rais, signore di varie località in Bretagna, Angiò e Poitou, capitano dell'esercito francese e compagno d'armi di Giovanna d'Arco. È conosciuto per l'accusa di essere stato coinvolto in pratiche alchemiche e occulte, in cui avrebbe torturato, stuprato e ucciso almeno 140 bambini e adolescenti.

Dal 1427 al 1435 servì come comandante nell'esercito reale francese e combatté contro gli inglesi durante la guerra dei cent'anni; fu nominato maresciallo di Francia nel 1429. Accusato di praticare l'occulto, dopo il 1432 venne implicato in una serie di omicidi di bambini. Nel 1440 una violenta controversia con un religioso aprì un'indagine ecclesiastica che lo portò a essere accusato dei reati sopra citati. Durante il processo i genitori dei bambini scomparsi e i servi di Gilles testimoniarono contro di lui, facendolo condannare a morte per una vasta serie di reati. Venne impiccato a Nantes il 26 ottobre 1440.

Si pensa che Gilles de Rais abbia ispirato lo scrittore francese Charles Perrault per la fiaba del 1697 Barbablù (Barbe bleue). La storia narra infatti di un crudele signorotto che uccide brutalmente le proprie mogli e ne nasconde i cadaveri in una stanza segreta del proprio castello.

Di nobile casato (i Montmorency-Laval erano due fra le più potenti famiglie di Francia, imparentate con il connestabile Bertrand du Guesclin), a soli undici anni rimase orfano di entrambi i genitori (la madre morì di malattia ed il padre ucciso da un cinghiale durante una battuta di caccia), e fu allevato dal nonno materno, Jean de Craòn.

Jean de Craòn lo fidanzò a tredici anni con Jeanne Peynel, una ricca ereditiera, poi con Beatrice de Rohan, nipote del duca Giovanni IV di Bretagna. La morte prematura di entrambe le giovani impedì il matrimonio. Sposò infine un'altra ereditiera, Catherine de Thouars (1409-1462), il 30 novembre 1420.

Nel 1427, agli ordini di Arturo III di Bretagna, entrò al servizio di Carlo VII di Francia combattendo alla testa di un proprio contingente in svariati episodi della guerra dei cent'anni e finanziando il futuro re nelle sue campagne militari. Grazie alla parentela con Georges de La Trémoille, gran ciambellano di Francia, entrò nelle grazie del sovrano combattendo poi contro gli inglesi al fianco di Giovanna d'Arco, ad Orléans, a Jargeau, a Meung-sur-Loire e a Beaugency.

Divenuto pari di Francia, consigliere e ciambellano di re Carlo VII, presenziò alla consacrazione di quest'ultimo, avvenuta a Reims il 17 luglio 1429, dopo essere stato elevato al titolo di maresciallo di Francia il precedente 21 aprile. Continuò a combattere prima sulla Loira quindi in Normandia, alla testa di un piccolo esercito personale da lui stesso mantenuto.

Morto il nonno, nel 1432 ereditò un'immensa fortuna, consistente soprattutto in proprietà terriere in Bretagna, nel Maine e nell'Angiò, cui si aggiungevano le ricchezze dei de Rais e quelle della moglie, ritrovandosi così ad essere uno degli uomini più ricchi del suo tempo.

Grazie a questa fortuna finanziò Carlo VII nelle sue campagne, con denaro che non gli venne mai restituito.

Ritiratosi dal servizio militare (l'ultima azione cui prese parte ebbe luogo nell'estate 1432 a Lagny-sur-Marne, assediata dalle truppe di Giovanni Plantageneto, I duca di Bedford), iniziò a condurre una vita dispendiosa e raffinata, circondandosi di manoscritti preziosi e finanziando sfarzosi spettacoli teatrali.

Si sa che nel corso di una visita ad Orléans il suo seguito di 200 persone occupò tutte le locande della città, e in pochi mesi la spesa arrivò a 80 000 corone d'oro. Non mancò di interessarsi di religione, costruendo una sfarzosa cappella privata e finanziando opere caritatevoli.

Dissipò così in breve tempo il patrimonio di famiglia, fino ad essere costretto a ricorrere a prestiti e a svendere i propri possedimenti per somme irrisorie.

In seguito agli sperperi, fra il 1434 e il 1436 la moglie lo abbandonò, il fratello prese possesso dell'avito castello di Champtocé e Carlo VII giunse su richiesta dei familiari a emanare nei suoi confronti un atto di interdizione, dichiarando nulle ulteriori vendite. Giovanni V di Bretagna non rese nota tuttavia l'interdizione nei propri domini e con il vescovo di Nantes Jean de Malestroit, ansiosi entrambi di opporsi alla politica del sovrano e soprattutto interessati all'acquisto dei terreni, nominò de Rais luogotenente generale di Bretagna.

Fu probabilmente in quel periodo che, per cercare di ritrovare la perduta fortuna, Gilles de Rais cominciò a interessarsi alla creazione della pietra filosofale, motivo per cui affidò al suo cappellano Eustache Blanchet il compito di procacciargli alchimisti. Fu proprio Blanchet a recarsi a Firenze e a incontrare, nel 1439, Francesco Prelati, un giovane monaco spretato toscano dedito all'occultismo, che assoldò e portò con sé nel castello di Tiffauges.

Prelati, impegnato nel tentativo di ottenere la pietra filosofale, disse a de Rais di avere al proprio servizio un demone personale, di nome "Barron". Davanti all'inquisizione Prelati dichiarò che, non essendo in grado di soddisfare i desideri del suo mecenate, ogni giorno più bisognoso di denaro, richiese a nome del demone il sacrificio di un bambino.

Il 15 maggio 1440 de Rais riprese armi alla mano il castello di Saint-Étienne de Mermorte, che egli stesso aveva venduto al tesoriere di Bretagna Guillaume Le Ferron (prestanome del duca). Ciò facendo non solo violò un contratto, ma infranse anche le leggi della Chiesa entrando in armi in un luogo sacro e prendendo in ostaggio il canonico Jean Le Ferron (fratello del proprietario), che stava celebrando la messa. Il fatto indusse il vescovo di Nantes, competente sul territorio, ad aprire un'indagine.

Dopo la liberazione di Le Ferron, nel settembre dello stesso anno de Rais fu arrestato insieme a servitori e amici, e il 28 settembre cominciò il processo inquisitoriale di fronte al vescovo e al viceinquisitore di Nantes, Jean Blouyn. Quel giorno deposero otto testimoni a suo carico, seguiti poi da altri due, tutti lamentando la scomparsa di bambini e attribuendone il rapimento a una serva di Gilles de Rais, Perrine Martin soprannominata "la Meffraye", all'epoca in prigione a Nantes.

Il 13 ottobre il processo riprese; nel frattempo furono stilati 49 capi d'imputazione: de Rais fu accusato di avere, con l'aiuto di complici, rapito numerosi bambini, averli uccisi nei modi più perversi, smembrati, bruciati, averli offerti in sacrificio ai demoni, di aver condotto con Prelati pratiche stregonesche, ecc.

Il vescovo e l'inquisitore lo minacciarono di scomunica, e gli diedero 48 ore di tempo per preparare una difesa.

Il 15 ottobre Gilles de Rais ricomparve davanti al tribunale, mentre il 16 e il 17 furono raccolte le deposizioni dei presunti complici.

Gilles de Rais inizialmente si scagliò con violenza contro i giudici, accusandoli apertamente di volerlo processare per sottrargli le sue ricchezze (de Rais si era già distinto in precedenza per l'atteggiamento polemico o apertamente violento nei confronti del clero); quindi, sotto tortura, confessò nei giorni successivi una quantità enorme di crimini di incredibile efferatezza.

Il 25 ottobre fu emessa la sentenza: in nome del vescovo e dell'inquisitore, Gilles de Rais fu dichiarato colpevole di apostasia e invocazione demoniaca; a nome del solo vescovo fu dichiarato colpevole di sodomia, sacrilegio e violazione dell'immunità della Chiesa e quindi condannato a morte per impiccagione e al rogo post mortem.

Il 26 ottobre de Rais, insieme ai due servitori e complici, Henriet Griart e "Poitou", fu quindi impiccato, ma poiché restava il membro di una famiglia potente, aveva chiesto e ottenuto che il suo corpo, dopo la morte per impiccagione, non venisse arso, bensì tumulato nella cappella dei Carmelitani di Nantes, luogo di sepoltura dei duchi di Bretagna.

La vicenda giudiziaria non si estinse con l'esecuzione: in due lettere scritte da Carlo VII nel 1442 è riportato che Gilles de Rais aveva inoltrato appello al re e al Parlamento di Parigi, senza che ciò fosse stato considerato dai giudici, ragion per cui, su istanza dei familiari, Pierre de l'Hôpital, presidente del tribunale di Bretagna, e gli altri giudici, erano chiamati a comparire davanti al Parlamento, e il sovrano chiamava il Parlamento e i balivi di Maine, Angiò e Turenna all'apertura di un'inchiesta sulle circostanze della condanna. Le due lettere, tuttavia, non furono mai spedite per motivi ignoti, anche se è significativo il solo fatto - per quel che concerne le accuse a Gilles de Rais - che Carlo VII le abbia scritte.

Dal matrimonio con Catherine de Thouars nacque una figlia, Marie (1433 o 1434-1457) sposata con l'ammiraglio Prigent de Coëtivy, e in seconde nozze con il cugino maresciallo André de Lohéac.

La sua vedova, un anno dopo la morte di Gilles, contrasse nuovo matrimonio con Jean de Vendôme. La famiglia si estinse nel 1502.

Fonte: https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais

[folichonneries]

[ingeborgd]

Beaugency, Loire og Paris!

[fukushi-france]

🔷🔹 Et si on se présentait ?

Pour la plupart, vous me connaissez. Mais pour les p’tits nouveaux ici, c’est parti ! 🤗

👉🏻 Je suis Céline, une épicurienne passionnée par le bien-être et l'art de vivre. En 2017, à 45 ans, j’ai pris la décision de concrétiser ma passion en créant mon propre concept de spa urbain. 🗓

Mon parcours dans le domaine du bien-être m'a permis d'explorer différentes facettes de la relaxation et de la détente. 🌿 J'ai développé un amour pour les expériences sensorielles, cherchant à offrir à mes clients un sanctuaire où ils peuvent échapper au stress quotidien. ✨☀️

❤️ Merci de faire partie de cette belle aventure de bien-être et de partager avec moi ces moments de détente et de transformation.

_______________

Fukushi ⎮ Bien-être

📍 Beaugency (45)

✨ www.fukushi.fr