Forterre
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Forterre | |
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Arrondissements | Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, Auxerre |
The Forterre is a small natural region on the western edge of the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
Name
The name Forterre is a contraction of forte terre, "strong earth".
Geography
The Forterre is neighbored by the Puisaye to the west and northwest, the Auxerrois to the northeast, the Yonne river valley to the east, and the hills of Nivernais to the south.
Its main town is
.It is traversed by the water divide between the respective catchment areas of the Loire and the Seine. The Loing, a significant tributary of the Seine, has its source in the Forterre, in Sainte-Colombe-sur-Loing.
Today Forterre is bypassed by major infrastructures, but that was not always the case. The local topography still has traces of the Roman road between Auxerre (Autissiodorum) and Entrains-sur-Nohain (Intaranum), and of a 19th-century railroad, the Triguères-Surgy Line , most of which was dismantled in 1943 by German occupation forces to supply rails to the Russian front.[1] The viaduct of Druyes is the railroad's most spectacular local legacy.
Forterre's terrain is comparatively dry and stands in contrast to the neighboring Puisaye with its lakes, rivers and forests.
Lying mid-way between Sancerre and Chablis, it used to be a wine-producing region. One late-medieval chronicle records a vineyard planted in the 1450s in Perreuse by Antoine de Chabannes, lord of Puisaye.[2] The Forterre's grapevines, however, were ravaged by the early-20th-century outbreak of phylloxera.[3] Recent attempts have been made to revive wine production, with grapes including Pinot noir, César, Pinot gris, Chardonnay, Pinot blanc and Sauvignon blanc.[4]
Administration
Apart from its southwestern tip (Bouhy) in the département of Nièvre, the Forterre's territory is overwhelmingly in the Yonne département, and within it in the Canton of Vincelles since the latest cantonal redistricting took effect in 2015. The same Canton also includes parts of the Puisaye to the west of the Forterre, and of the Yonne valley to its east including its seat in Vincelles.
All of Forterre lies within the Communauté de communes de Puisaye-Forterre , established on 1 January 2017, of which it constitutes the southeastern third.[5]
Together with neighboring
History
The territory of the Forterre was Christianized in late antiquity. Some villages are traditionally associated with late-Antiquity saints, e.g. Mamertinus or Mammert in Perreuse and Romanus or Romain in Druyes.[6] A Carolingian manuscript lists several Forterre parishes on the itinerary of Saint Aunarius, Bishop of Auxerre in the late 6th century, namely Courson-les-Carrières (Curcedonus), Druyes (Drogia), Bouhy (Balgiacus), Thury (Tauriacus), Levis (Livadiacus), and Ouanne (Odona).[7][8]
In 841, the Battle of Fontenoy was fought mostly in western Forterre. Memories of the battle survive in a number of local place names. One example is the wood of Roichat near Thury, named after King Charles the Bald (roi Charles) who stayed there before the battle.[9] A memorial obelisk was erected in 1860 near the village of Fontenoy at the initiative of local scholar Claude-Étienne Chaillou des Barres .[10]
In the 12th and early 13th century, the Forterre was dominated by the Capetian House of Courtenay, a branch of France's royal family. The Courtenays, several of which became Emperors of Constantinople, built the Château de Druyes in Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines, now one of the region's foremost landmarks.
The Forterre suffered severe depopulation and decline during the
The Forterre was briefly occupied by
The history of the Forterre, especially its western part, is interwoven with that of the neighboring Puisaye. In the 15th and early 16th centuries, some of its villages such as Thury belonged to the Lordship of Puisaye. In 1955, the village of Sougères-les-Simon changed its name to Sougères-en-Puisaye, despite this being a misnomer if Puisaye is taken as the distinct geographical region to the northwest.
Personalities connected to the Forterre
- Saint Mamertinus of Auxerre (d. ca. 462), monk and abbot, born in Perreuse
- Saint Romanus of Subiaco (d. ca. 550–560), monk and associate of Benedict of Nursia, who founded a monastery and died in Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines
- Audebert de Montmorillon (11th century), monk at the priory of Andryes who later became Archbishop of Bourges
- Peter II of Courtenay (d. 1219), Emperor of the Latin Empire who departed to Constantinople (which he never reached) from his castle in Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines
- Matilda I, Countess of Nevers (1188-1257), daughter of Peter II who married Hervé IV of Donzy and later Guigues IV of Forez, also often resided in the castle of Druyes
- René Lepage de Sainte-Claire (1656-1718), founder of Rimouski in Quebec, born in Ouanne
- Jean-Roch Coignet (1776-1865), soldier and memorialist from Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines
- Claude-Étienne Chaillou des Barres (1784-1857), administrator and scholar, who renovated his family's Château des Barres and cofounded the Société des sciences historiques et naturelles de l'Yonne in 1847
- Auguste Dusautoy (1810-1873), entrepreneur and politician from Courson-les-Carrières
- Jules Valton (1867-1941), sailor from Courson-les-Carrières who represented France at the 1900 Summer Olympics
- Fernand Clas (1868-1935), regionalist author from Leugny who wrote poems in the local patois
- Henri Jobier (1879-1930), fencer from Courson-les-Carrières who won a gold medal in the foil competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics
- Arthur Rennert (1904-1983), Polish-born visual artist who settled and died in Lainsecq
- Gérard Vée (1912-1986), resistant and politician from Sainpuits
- Jean Bertin (1917-1975), scientist and inventor from Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines, lead engineer for the French experimental Aérotrain mass transit system
- Yvette Szczupak-Thomas (1929-2003), painter and author from Pesselières near Sougères-en-Puisaye
- Paulette Perec (1938-2016), librarian and curator from Sougères-en-Puisaye, wife of Georges Perec
Selected sights
-
Memorial of the Battle of Fontenoy
-
The wood of Roichat, named after Charles the Bald
-
Romanesque church of Saint-Romain in Druyes
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Saint-Laurent church in Charentenay
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Saint-Pierre church inEtais-la-Sauvin
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Interior of Saint-Pierre church inEtais-la-Sauvin
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Saint-Marien church in Fontenoy
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Saint-Martin church in Lainsecq
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Saint-Menge church in Merry-Sec
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Portal of Saint-Romain church in Migé
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Notre-Dame church in Ouanne
-
Church tower in Sainpuits
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Sainte-Colombe church in Sainte-Colombe-sur-Loing
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Portal of Sainte-Geneviève-et-Saint-Pierre church in Sementron
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Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul church in Sougères-en-Puisaye
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Saint-Martin church in Taingy
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Saint-Julien church in Thury
-
Château des Barres, 18th-19th centuries
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Château de Beauvais near Lainsecq, 19th century
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Town hall of Courson-les-Carrières
-
Railway viaduct of Druyes
-
Château de Flacy near Sainpuits, 19th-20th centuries
Notes
- ^ "Viaduc". Commune de Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
- ^ Comte Henri de Chabannes (1894). Histoire de la Maison de Chabannes. Vol. II. Dijon. p. 98.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Forterre - Terroir Oublié". Domaine de Chateau Blanc. August 2020.
- ^ "Domaine de Chateau Blanc". Domaine de Chateau Blanc. August 2020.
- ^ "Le Territoire". Communauté de communes de Puisaye-Forterre. Archived from the original on 2020-08-08. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
- ^ "Saint Romain le Preux". Nominis.
- ^ "Gesta of the Bishops of Auxerre". GitLab.
- ^ Geneviève Bührer-Thierry; Charles Mériaux (2010). 481-888: La France avant la France. Paris: Belin. p. 224.
- ^ Olivier Richard (February 1, 2018). "Un autre « site historique » de la bataille de Fontenoy sur les hauteurs de Thury". L'Yonne Républicaine.
- ^ "Annuaire historique du Département de l'Yonne: recueil de documents authentiques destinés à former la statistique départementale". Auxerre. 1861. p. 220.
- ^ "Une colline refuge pour les résistants". L'Yonne républicaine. 2 January 2014.