She is beautiful. Very beautiful even. “The most beautiful inFrance"? I don't know. There are no unbeautiful villages in France. They are all sweet, flowery, clean, and you can see the attention paid to every corner of the sidewalk. But now we're talking about Rochefort-en-Terre, so let's give it the credit. Here's a little video to whet your appetite (if you don't know French, don't worry, you'll get all the important information later in the article):
Where is it?
And how to get there (fromOur castle of course):
We arrived.
A little taste before we begin:
Please note: In the parking lot at the entrance, there are two pay stations. Usually one is not working. The one closest to the entrance. There is another one further in. There are clean public toilets, near the entrance.
Most of the point, in my personal opinion, is simply to wander the streets and admire the houses. But you don't need an article for that. Anddeer Wanted an article. So here are the main sites:
- The parking lot. 2. The tourist office. 3. The castle garden. 4. The castle ruins. 5. Naya Museum. 5.5. (Because I forgot) The church 6. The laundry house. 7. The Pelican House.
The history of Rochefort
Now for history. The castle around which the village grew was probably founded around 1100 AD, and was then called Roche-Forte (“fortified rock”). I could write a little about the finds from the Stone and Bronze Ages that were discovered there, but Zvi does not share my love for the works of those who did not speak. French, so we'll leave.
About two hundred years later, Duke Jean II left us written evidence of the political division of BrittanyFrom it we know that Rochefort-en-Terre was part of the province of Vannes, and was initially attached to the Elven seigniory, but soon became an independent seigniory.
The strategic importance of the place was its control over the main road from the port of La Roche-Bernard, at the mouth of the Vilan to the ocean, inland: the cities of Malestroit and Ploërmel. Thus, what was a small village became a fairly large town. For about 300 years, until the 15th century AD, the Counts of Rochefort ruled the place.
The most famous of the Counts of Rochefort was Thébaud III de Rocheort, who fought – along with his brother Guy – alongside Charles de Blois at the Battle of Auray.
The Battle of Auray, fought – surprisingly – near the town of Auray, in 1364, was one of the decisive battles in the “Hundred Years’ War” (which lasted 116 years, from 1337 to 1453 AD). This war broke out and was fought due to the conflict between England and France, against the background of the claim of the English kings to rights, estates and even the crown in France. At its end, England was forced to give up its claims, and lost its hold on France, except for the Calais region.
The Counts of Rochefort fought alongside the King of France, against the English who supported Jean de Montfort. The Battle of Auray will be remembered in French history as one of their three greatest defeats in the Hundred Years' War, along with the Battles of Crecy and Poitiers. It was also the first defeat of the general Bertrand de Clane, and you can read about it in Zvi's article Bertrand de Gueclain – the French war hero who was actually Breton.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of these defeats, even though France seemingly won the war despite them. The defeats marked the end of the age of chivalry, and to a large extent also the end of the feudal period, which relied on the mounted knight clad in heavy armor. This could perhaps be compared to the reduction in weight of the modern tank on the contemporary battlefield, with the advent of the cheap and agile NT missiles.
I would have loved to delve deeper into my military commentary, but its connection to Rochefort-en-Terre is weakening. At any rate, I managed something.
With the death of Thébaud at the Battle of Auray, the dynasty that ruled Rochefort disappeared, because his brother Guy had no children to inherit the title.
Thus the town passed into the control of the Rieux-Rochefort family, under whom it prospered even more. One of their most famous sons was Jean II, who fought with the du Clan andClisson (Alternating, probably, because the two fought each other.) Another celebrity was Pierre Rochefort, who at the age of 28 rose to the position of Marshal (roughly equivalent to our Ogdonner) in the French army, following in his father's footsteps. He fought with Joan of Arc At the liberation of Orléans, but was subsequently ambushed by English supporters and died in captivity.
The history of the Counts of Rochefort could be extended indefinitely, but the time has come to point out that while the nobles brought honor to the town, the bread and wine were brought by the local craftsmen: the weavers, the masons, the builders, the carpenters, the watchmakers. The houses on Rochefort's main street were built in the 16th century, and now the opportunity arose to leave history and approach the terrain.
The picture I included at the beginning of the article is of a restaurant located right at the beginning of the street.
Near it, on the left side, you will see an ancient well:
A few dozen meters more, and on the left is a delicatessen that sells simply wonderful apple pastries:
In the square where the local tourist office (number 2 in the diagram) is located, there are benches:
And this is exactly where you will open the bag containing the buttery pastry containing a melt-in-your-mouth apple:
We will proceed along the main street until we reach a fork where a road branches off leading to the castle garden:
The garden (No. 3 in the diagram) is absolutely beautiful for a slow walk along the avenue leading to the castle:
Not much remains of the castle (number 4 in the diagram), in fact only the wall at the end of the avenue. The castle was first destroyed in 1594, restored, but finally destroyed during the French Revolution, before the eyes of Marie-Paul, the last Count of Rochefort.
To the right of the castle ruins is a small, unusual museum: Naia Museum (No. 5 in the diagram). It is named after a local witch, who, as far as I know, the village elders in the 20th century still remembered. In fact, the museum has a fantastic display that is difficult to describe in words. Admission is 7 euros.
We will retrace our steps and return to the main street, but this time, facing the direction from which we entered the village, we will go down to the right to the church (No. 5.5 in the diagram). The church is called Notre-Dame de la Tronchaye.
According to legend, the church was built where the (local) Little Shepherdess of the Valley found a statue of the Virgin breastfeeding Jesus, hidden inside a hollow tree trunk, after it had apparently been hidden there in the 12th century, during a Viking raid on the village. The dates don't exactly work out for me, as the Viking raids in Europe ended with William the Conqueror's victory at the Battle of Hastings (1066 AD), but let's put that aside in comparison to the miracle of finding the statue.
A beautiful stained glass window commemorates the event:
From the sacred to the secular: We will continue from the church to point 6 in the diagram: the laundry house.
Listen carefully. Gossip is constructive.
“Did you hear? They say that some American painter, Alfred Klotz, bought the castle and will rebuild it…”
“What are you saying!!! These Americans…”
Lucky we listened.
Indeed, in 1907, the painter Alfred Klotz, truly American, as the gossip girl said, purchased the ruins of the castle and restored it.
This is how it looks today:
By the way, in addition to restoring the castle, the old man is also responsible for the beauty of Rochefort. In 1911, he announced a prize-winning competition for the village's residents to decorate their houses with flowers, and we see the results today.
And now, friends, point 7 on the diagram. The Pelican House. Today it is a bar-restaurant, which has nothing to distinguish it from its counterparts in the village and anywhere else in France, except for its name, apparently: The Pelican, and even in that it is not unique.
But that's exactly the point. The name. I first encountered it when I came to write about Maltrois And I saw it hanging on the corner of a picturesque house across from the church:
Well, listen up: The pelican, or more precisely the mother pelican (in our language, a pelican), has a special status in rural France. According to legend, which originates from ancient Celtic tradition, when a mother pelican can't find food to give her chicks, she pecks at the breast meat, tears off pieces, and feeds the chicks her blood and flesh.
When Christianity broke out, its apostles embraced this legend, for obvious reasons: the idea of self-sacrifice in flesh and blood fits precisely with Jesus, whose wounds and blood redeem us (well, not us, he only brought us trouble).
Indeed, scientists have recently risen up and claimed that observations by experienced birdwatchers have shown that pelicans, both male and female, do indeed strike their huge beaks against their chests, but not to tear meat from it, but rather to clean the beaks of fish remains. But we should not listen to such nonsense, for if this were true, who would name a bar-restaurant in Rochefort after this bird?
So far, Francophiles.
Bonjour and Urbois.