Richard Coeur de Lion: you see signs for the route of Richard the Lion Heart all over this area. He was king of England although I think he only spent about six months of his reign in England (and didn’t really even speak English, he was the son of Eleanor of Aquitaine of France). He is famous as a medieval warrior and his exploits in the third crusade are legendary. When he returned to Europe from the crusades, he spent his time in France. He fought and died near here, in the castle town of Châlus, in April 1199. There was a large festival this week celebrating the history of Richard and the area. There were three parades of knights on horseback and others which retraced some of his routes across this part of France. Each group marched for five days and finally converged in the town of Châlus on August 5th. there was a celebration, with costumed ‘King Richard’ and his mother ‘Aliénor d’Aquitaine’ (who is an even more interesting character in history), complete with jousting, swordplay, music and other knightly recreations. It was really fun!
Holy cow! I am obsessed with the whole Aliénor d'Aquitaine world and the Plantagenets -- I teach a big unit about it in French 3 (you know, The Lion In Winter, and all of that). I knew that Châlus rang a bell when you mentioned it before-- didn't at all remember that it was where Richard died. Great post!
ReplyDeleteAre you going to come back to Maine at the end of the summer (which ends for me starting this coming Monday, the 13th!), or have you retired and moved to France?
Judy
Hi Jane, I have the same questions as Judy!
ReplyDeleteKen in Saint-Aignan