Tour of Protestant Churches in Northern France

     The French Reformed Church at Leuze dates to 1842. It's the last church in the area that hasn't yet been electrified. Services are held here only two times a year.

Landouzy-la-Ville (front)

     The French Reformed Church at Landouzy-la-Ville (1861) is now the largest of the remaining functioning churches in Upper Picardy. Apparently the first protestants in Upper Picardy were Landouzien farm workers who were converted around 1530 while harvesting crops in Meaux (near Paris).

Reumont (front)

      Originally a French Reformed Church, then Baptist, then "Irvingien," it now serves as a barn on what used to be the Méresse farm.

Lemé

     Although the French Reformed Church at Lemé is one of the oldest (1820) and largest churches in the area, it no longer serves a religious function. It has been turned into a museum on the Reformation and protestantism in the Thièrache (Upper Picardy).

Important figures in the Reformation. Possibly owned by Elisée Méresse.

Charleville and the Four Sons of Aymon

     There is a chanson de geste from the time of Charlemagne concerning the adventures of the four sons of Aymon, named Renaud, Allard, Guichard, and Richard. The four are presented by their father at the court of Charlemagne. Renaud is such a promising warrior that Charlemagne gives him a magic horse, Bayard, to help him fight better. Unfortunately, Renaud kills one of Charlemagne's nephews in a dispute over a game of chess, and from then on, the brothers and Charlemagne are constantly at odds.
     The story is quite long. Here, I reproduce only the part that takes place in the Ardennes region, where I am at the moment.
     "All four of the sons of Aymon are first driven from Dordonne by their father, because of his vassalage to Charlemagne. Maugis, who hates Charlemagne, welcomes them with joy and helps them to build the fortress of Montessor on a rock overlooking the Meuse. In this castle, they choose the wild boar as their heraldic device. After seven years, Charlemagne tracked them down and began to lay siege to the castle Montessor. Despite heroic resistance, the castle finally fell because of the treachery of Hervé de Lausanne. The four brothers and their followers still manage to escape through a tunnel. They hide in the forest for several months and are forced to live by plunder. Then half-dead from hunger, they finally decide to go home to their mother at Dordonne Castle, profiting from the absence of their father to recover."
     The brothers continue to be hounded by Charlemagne. Renaud eventually agrees to hand over the magic horse, Bayard, to Charlemagne and to make a pilgrimage to Palestine. Charlemagne attempts to kill Bayard by hanging a millstone around its neck and throwing it into the Meuse River, but the fairy horse escapes into the Ardennes. Renaud ends up as a construction worker on the Cathedral of Cologne. He works for food, and the other workers, perceiving him as a wage-depresser, kill him.
   

A clock at the Puppet Museum. Every hour a scene from "The Four Sons of Aymon" is shown. 

The puppet on the right is Charlemagne.

     Demand for women's hats has declined since the end of WWII. However, in Charleville, Nathalie Génin maintains this French tradition.

Nathalie Génin, modiste [milliner].

          Climbing trees is regarded in France as an outdoor recreational activity. Various kinds of climbing situations are created using ropes and guy wires. The climbers are equipped with carabiners and pulleys. The leading company in this market is called "Accrobranche."

Prune likes swinging through the trees.

Some of the steps appear to be rotten.

Place Ducale in Charleville

An old mill on the Meuse River

Nicolas Magneron, osteopath, outside his office

Lusignan and the Legend of Mélusine the Fay

"While walking in the forest, Elynas, King of Albany (another name for Scotland), met a beautiful stranger. Her name was Pressyne and her beauty was such that Elynas immediately fell madly in love. The woman agreed to marry the king at once, but on the condition that he never see her while she was sleeping. Elynas promised, and for some time, the young couple were happy.
     But one day the king betrayed his oath. The fay Pressyne then went back to the island of Avalon with Mélusine, Mélior and Palatyne, three new-born girls. After they grew up, the three sisters learned of their father's betrayal. To avenge their mother, they entombed Elynas in the heart of Mt. Brumborenlion. When she discovered what they had done, Pressyne punished her daughters for their disrespect to their father. Mélusine was sentenced to change into a serpent from her navel down every Saturday. Mélior kept a marvelous hawk in a castle in Armenia. Finally, Palatyne was to be enclosed in Mt. Canigou with the treasure of her father until such time as a passing knight should rescue her.
     Meanwhile, far from Avalon, a young knight was preparing to experience an extraordinary destiny. His name was Raymondin and he lived at the court of his uncle, Count Ameyri of Poitiers. However, during a boar-hunt, the young man accidentally killed his uncle. The latter, just before his death, had read in the stars that the vassal who would kill his lord that evening was destined to be the founder of the most glorious of lineages. The prophecy of Ameyri was soon realized. After the accident, Raymondin didn't know what to do. He wandered helplessly in the forest of Coulombiers. Suddenly, at the Fountain of Soif, he met a marvelously beautiful young woman. The beautiful stranger offered him her hand, riches, and magnificent prosperity as long as he respected one prohibition: he must never try to look at her on Saturday.
     Raymondin accepted the offer and became thenceforward the most powerful lord in Poitou. He reigned from the fortress of Lusignan and from other castles constructed by his fabled wife. He was also the father of ten sons. But his children, born of the union of a fay and a mortal, were afflicted with blemishes, a reminder of their kinship with the Other World. Urien, the eldest, had a short, broad face, one red eye and the other light blue, and gigantic ears. Eudes had one ear larger than the other. Guyon had one eye higher than the other. Antoine had a lion's paw on his cheek. Renaud had only one eye. Fromont had a furry little spot on his nose. Horrible had three eyes. Finally, a terrifying boar's tusk stuck out of the mouth of Geoffroy, the most illustrious of the ten brothers. Only the last two brothers, Thierry and Raymonnet, seemed completely normal. Urien and Guyon became respectively kings of Cyprus and Armenia. Antoine and Renaud became respectively Duke of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia. Eudes became Count of Marche, and Geoffroy, Lord of Lusignan after the death of his father. Thierry and Raymonnet became respectively Lord of Parthenay and Count of Forez. Fromont became a monk. Horrible was so ferocious that by the age of four he had killed two of his nurses. His mother had him executed.
     Raymondin had everything a man could want: power, riches, prosperity. Nevertheless, one day, he defied the prohibition. In fact, his brother, the Count of Forez, succeeded in persuading him that Mélusine must have been taking advantage of her Saturdays to deceive him or to indulge in some kind of satanic rite. Worried, Raymondin made a hole in the wall and was surprised to see his half-serpent wife taking a bath. In despair, he kept it to himself in order not to lose the fay. Nevertheless, a little while later, when he learned that Geoffroy had burned the abbey of Maillezais, killing his brother Fromont in the process, Raymondin cursed his wife. He publicly accused her of being a 'very false serpent.' The secret was revealed; Mélusine had to go back to the Other World.
     Transformed into a dragon, she flew away. In the world of men, there remained nothing of her except the memory of a life of brief happiness. Forever, she would fly around the towers of Lusignan. Her cry resounding throughout eternity, announces an impending death."
     
     The legend is probably Breton in origin, but subsequently spread to various places in Europe, also being confounded/combined with other local legends concerning water sprites, river deities, mermaids, sirens, etc.
     

The castle of Lusignan, traditionally said to be guarded by Mélusine.

The train station in Lusignan

High relief of Mélusine on the wall of the train station in Lusignan.

Some buildings in downtown Lusignan date back to the 15th century.

Eglise St. Hilaire

This is the Catholic church in Rouillé, as seen from my window.

À table, 2

You find the darnedest things in a French supermarket chain store. For instance, canned petit salé and lentils. Who'd've ever thought of that? Why I haven't had petit salé and lentils since . . . the last time I was in Paris! 

     Accompanying a petit salé is not such a straightforward proposition as accompanying a cassoulet. In the interests of not over-taxing my diminishing memory, I've narrowed my choices down to reds from the Loire or Beaujolais. However, other reds or even Chardonnays could be appropriate.

     Loire reds are harder to come by than Beaujolais, so I chose a representative of the former:  Bourgeuil. Bourgueil is a cabernet franc wine which may have up to 10% cabernet sauvignon.

     Price for wine and canned good: $8.50.

À table

A can of cassoulet, posed
with its alliance classique

     This is what's for dinner: a can of cassoulet with a bottle of Cahors (the alliance classique, or perfect accompaniment) available at any supermarket for about $7.00 US. By the way, this can 'o' cassoulet, not to mention 750 mL of wine, will last me for three meals.

     Cahors, for those of you whose mind it may have slipped, is the French version of what is called "Malbec" in the U.S.---actually 70% malbec and 30% something else, in this case Merlot. I won't go into all the interesting details about this wine which can be found at Wikipedia "Cahors wine" anyway, but suffice it to say that a representative Cahors should be "mâche"---a man's wine, very tannic.

     Cassoulet, if I need to explain, is the celebrated traditional bean stew of southwestern France. Disclaimer: the can 'o' cassoulet tasted pretty much like a can of baked beans, but thankfully without the sugar.

     Fortunately or unfortunately, we aren't allowed to make a meal only of can 'o' cassoulet in this country, so I decided to take advantage of the mâche-ness of the wine to have some maroilles, the cheese of the country of my ancestors (Haute Picardie and Nord). Probably, the taste of this cheese is too strong to be paired with any wine, but Cahors holds up better than most.

A quarter of a maroilles

Pont-Neuf

     The name means "New Bridge," which was literally true at the time it was constructed (from 1578 to 1607). But now it's actually the oldest bridge in Paris. At the time it was built, it was the longest such structure in the world.

     Many writers in the past referred to the Pont-Neuf as the center of the city. Apparently, it was both a dangerous and interesting place. Benjamin Franklin said that he had not understood Parisians until he crossed the Pont-Neuf.

     But nowadays, it's pretty much just a way to get across the river.

    The bridge is associated with Henri IV (of Navarre), since it was completed during his reign (1589-1610). There is an equestrian statue of him on the south side of the bridge.