Montargis () is a
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Loiret
Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434. department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
,
Centre-Val de Loire
Centre-Val de Loire (, , ,In isolation, ''Centre'' is pronounced . ) or Centre Region (french: région Centre, link=no, ), as it was known until 2015, is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valley ...
, France.
Montargis is the seventh most populous commune in the Loiret, after
Orléans
Orléans (;["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [light industry
Light industry are industries that usually are less capital-intensive than heavy industry and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consumer goods. Most light industry products are produced for ...]
and farming, including
saffron
Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...
. Due to its numerous canals and bridges, Montargis sometimes bills itself as the "Venice of the Gâtinais." Though quite modern, it retains a medieval charm in its downtown area.
Geography
Montargis lies on both banks of the river
Loing
The Loing () is a long river in central France, a left tributary of the Seine.
Its source is in Sainte-Colombe-sur-Loing, in the southwestern of the department of Yonne, and it flows into the Seine in Saint-Mammès, near Moret-sur-Loing.
Its ma ...
and the
Briare Canal
The Briare Canal (french: Canal de Briare, ) is one of the oldest canals in France. Its construction started in 1604. It was the first summit level canal in Europe that was built using pound locks, connecting the Rhone-Saône and Seine valleys. ...
, in the
Gâtinais
Gâtinais () or Gâtine () was a province of France, containing the area around the valley of the Loing, corresponding roughly to the northeastern part of the département of Loiret, and the south of the present department of Seine-et-Marne. Unde ...
region. The town is about south of
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and east of
Orléans
Orléans (;["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [Montargis station
Montargis is a railway station in Montargis, Centre-Val de Loire, France. The station is located on the Moret-Lyon railway. The station is served by Intercités (long distance) services operated by SNCF between Paris and Nevers, and by Transili ...]
has rail connections to Nevers, Melun and Paris. The
A77 autoroute
The A77 autoroute is a motorway in central France. The road starts at the hamlet of Rosiers in Seine-et-Marne and finishes to the south of Nevers in Nièvre. It is also known as the ''l'Arbre'' - the motorway of the Tree.
It has been designed to ...
(Montargis–Nevers) passes west of the town.
History
Though the town is known to date to ancient times, during the Renaissance, fanciful etymologies were invented to account for the place name ''Montargis'', whether as ''mons argi'', Mount of Argus, the place where the jealous goddess
Juno
Juno commonly refers to:
*Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods
*Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007
Juno may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
*Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno''
*Ju ...
charged
Argus Panoptes
Argus or Argos Panoptes ( grc, Ἄργος Πανόπτης, All-seeing Argos) is a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology.
Mythology
Argus Panoptes (), guardian of the heifer-nymph Io and son of Arestor and probably Mycene (in other version so ...
with guarding her rival Io, or connected with the chieftain Moritas mentioned by
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
, in his
Gallic Wars
The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland). Gallic, Germanic, and British tribes fought to defend their homela ...
.
Origins and Middle Ages
Numerous
Gallo-Roman
Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...
artifacts have been found in the area and many are in the town's Gâtinais Museum.
Later the town was a stronghold of the
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages
* Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany
* East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
king
Clovis I
Clovis ( la, Chlodovechus; reconstructed Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first king of the Franks to unite all of the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a single kin ...
.
Montargis was originally a seat of the house of
Courtenay, which fortified a château on a hill overlooking the town. The town was ceded to the king of France in 1188.
Eleanor Plantagenet, second daughter of King John of England and wife of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester (killed at the Battle of Evesham), died here on 13 April 1275. In the 14th and 15th centuries it was a royal residence.
Hundred Years' War
In 1427, during the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
,
the Earl of Warwick besieged the town with artillery, beginning bombardment on 15 July. During the siege the residents of Montargis sabotaged the dikes of numerous ponds in the district, causing flooding and drowning many of the besieging Plantagenets. On 5 September a French force of 1600 men led by
Jean de Dunois
Jean d'Orléans, Count of Dunois (23 November 1402 – 24 November 1468), known as the "Bastard of Orléans" (french: bâtard d'Orléans) or simply Jean de Dunois, was a French military leader during the Hundred Years' War who participated in m ...
and
La Hire
Étienne de Vignolles, Sieur de Montmorillon, Chatelain de Longueville (), also known as La Hire (; 1390 – 11 January 1443), was a French military commander during the Hundred Years' War.
Nickname
One explanation for his nickname of La ...
, commanders who would go on to lead the army of
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...
, broke the siege. It was the first important victory by the army of King
Charles VII in the war, gratefully remembered by Charles later.
After being wounded in an unsuccessful attempt to besiege Paris in September 1429, Joan of Arc passed through Montargis on her way to
Gien
Gien () is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.
Gien is on the river Loire, from Orléans. Gien station has rail connections to Montargis, Nevers and Paris. The town was bought for the royal domain by Philip II of Franc ...
.
After the war Charles VII rewarded the town for its valour by granting it various privileges. In 1490
Charles VIII officially declared the town ''Montargis Le Franc'' ("Montargis the tax-free"). This title is abbreviated to MLF in the official coat of arms (seen in the seal shown here). This privilege was renewed by his successors and Montargis remained free of taxes for three centuries until it was revoked during the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
.
Legend of the Dog of Montargis
The best-known legend of Montargis is that of the "Dog of Montargis." In the story, Aubry de Montdidier, a courtier of King
Charles V of France
Charles V (21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380), called the Wise (french: le Sage; la, Sapiens), was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380. His reign marked an early high point for France during the Hundred Years' War, with his armi ...
, was murdered around 1400 in a forest near Montargis by
Robert Macaire
Robert Macaire is a fictional character, an unscrupulous swindler, who appears in a number of French plays, films, and other works of art. In French culture he represents an archetypal villain. He was principally the creation of an actor, Frédér ...
, an envious knight. After his death, Mondidier's dog showed a remarkable hostility to Macaire. King Charles decreed a
trial by combat
Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the ...
in the town between the dog and Macaire, who was armed with only a
cudgel
A club (also known as a cudgel, baton, bludgeon, truncheon, cosh, nightstick, or impact weapon) is a short staff or stick, usually made of wood, wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times. There are several examples of blunt-force trauma caused ...
. After the dog won the battle, Macaire confessed to the crime and was hanged. A dramatic bronze statue of this fight is in the courtyard of the Girodet Museum in central Montargis, and the contest is depicted in a stained glass window in a local church as well. The story was the subject of a 19th-century melodrama, ''
The Dog of Montarges'' (french: Le Chien de Montargis, ou la Forêt de Bondy), that held the stage for years in Paris and was performed in English and German translations.
Sixteenth century
In 1528 King
Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to:
* Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407)
* Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450
* Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547
* Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...
granted the town to his sister-in-law,
Renée of France
Renée of France (25 October 1510 – 12 June 1574), was List of Ferrarese consorts, Duchess of Ferrara from 31 October 1534 until 3 October 1559 by marriage to Ercole II d'Este, grandson of Pope Alexander VI. She was the younger surviving ch ...
, Duchess of
Ferrara
Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...
and daughter of King
Louis XII
Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...
. After her husband,
Ercole II
Ercole II d'Este (5 April 1508 – 3 October 1559) was Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio from 1534 to 1559. He was the eldest son of Alfonso I d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia.
Biography
Through his mother, Ercole was a grandson of Pope Alexander ...
, the
Duke of Ferrara
Emperor Frederick III conferred Borso d'Este, Lord of Ferrara, with the Duchy of Modena and Reggio in 1452, while Pope Paul II formally elevated him in 1471 as Duke of Ferrara, over which the family had in fact long presided. This latter territ ...
, died in 1559, Renée resided at Montargis. She sheltered there Protestant
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
s fleeing from persecutions in Paris and elsewhere during the 16th century
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estim ...
.
Industrial development
In the 1880s,
Hutchinson SA
Hutchinson is a manufacturer with its headquarters located in Paris, France. It is a subsidiary of TotalEnergies. In 1853, the company was founded by Hiram Hutchinson in the city of Châlette-sur-Loing, in Central France. It has more than 44,000 ...
built a rubber factory in
Châlette-sur-Loing
Châlette-sur-Loing () is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.
Geography
The commune is crossed by two rivers, the Loing and the Solin, and three canals, the Canal du Loing, the Canal de Briare and the Canal d'Orléans.
...
near Montargis. It today employs 2000 workers to produce tires and parts for vehicles and appliances.
Chinese connections
Montargis was a hub of Chinese expatriate political activity in the 1910s and early 1920s. A significant share of participants in the
Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement
The Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement, often referred to as the Work-Study Movement (; French: ''Mouvement Travail-Études''), was a series of work-study programs which brought Chinese students to France and Belgium to work in factories as a way ...
(french: mouvement travail-études) stayed there. The most famous of them,
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...
, was a worker producing rubber
galoshes
Galoshes, also known as dickersons, gumshoes, rubbers, or overshoes, are a type of rubber boot that is slipped over shoes to keep them from getting muddy or wet. In the United States, the word ''galoshes'' may be used interchangeably with boot ...
in the
Hutchinson factory of Châlette-sur-Loing for eight months from mid-February to mid-October 1922.
This history became a matter for commemoration a century later. In 2014 the square in front of
Montargis railway station was renamed in honour of Deng Xiaoping. In 2016 the
Hunan
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
provincial government opened the
Historical Museum of French-Chinese Friendship
Montargis () is a commune in the Loiret department, Centre-Val de Loire, France.
Montargis is the seventh most populous commune in the Loiret, after Orléans and its suburbs. It is near a large forest, and contains light industry and farming, i ...
in an old house in the town centre. On 4 May 2019, for the 100th anniversary of China's
May Fourth Movement
The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chinese ...
, a bronze memorial to the Work-Study Movement by Chinese sculptor
Wu Weishan
Wu Weishan (; born: January 1962) is Curator of the National Art Museum of China, Vice-Chairman of the China Artists Association, President of the Chinese Academy of Sculpture and Director of the Academy of Fine Arts at Nanjing University. He ha ...
was inaugurated in front of the railway station.
Population
Culture
Pralines, the crunchy confection made from almonds and caramelised sugar, were first made in Montargis during the reign of
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
. The original shop is still in business on Place Mirabeau.
Baron Palamède de Charlus relates among his many other blandishments that he is the “Damoiseau de Montargis” in
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...
's .
On 4 July 2006 residents of Montargis competed in and won the
Intervilles
''Intervilles'' is a French comedy game show first broadcast in 1962. The show was based on a previous Italian programme. It featured teams representing towns in France competing in a series of games, some of which involved live cows and bulls ( ...
game show against opponent town Moulins.
The and are among the town's main sights.
Notable people
*
Eleanor of Leicester
Eleanor of England (also called Eleanor Plantagenet and Eleanor of Leicester) (1215 – 13 April 1275) was the youngest child of John, King of England and Isabella of Angoulême.
Early life
At the time of Eleanor's birth at Gloucester, King Joh ...
lived in exile as a nun at the abbey in Montargis and died there in 1275.
*
Denis Jamet Denis Jamet, O.M.R., (or ''Denis Jamay'') (died February 26, 1625 in Montargis, France) was a French Recollect friar and Catholic priest and the first superior of the Canadian mission (1615).
Jamet, Provincial Superior of the Order in the Provinc ...
died there in 1625.
*
Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon was born there in 1648.
*
Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson
Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (or ''de Roucy''), also known as Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson or simply Girodet (29 January 17679 December 1824),Long, George. (1851) ''The Supplement to the Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of ...
was born there in 1767 and the town's art gallery is named after him.
*
Charles-Etienne Gudin (1768-1812), French general during the
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
and
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
*
Madeleine de Roybon d'Allonne (1646-1718), early settler of
New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...
*
Louis-Jacques Bresnier (1814–1869), 19th-century orientalist, was born in Montargis.
*
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...
and
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...
lived in the town's Chinese community in the 1920s.
*
Patricia Petibon
Patricia Petibon (born 27 February 1970) is a French soprano.
Life
Born in Montargis, Petibon's parents were both teachers. She initially studied the visual arts, including painting and subsequently changed her academic focus and earned a ba ...
was born here in 1970.
*
Louis Pierre Manuel
Louis Pierre Manuel (July 1751 – 14 November 1793) was a republican French writer, municipal administrator of the police, and public prosecutor during the French Revolution who was arrested, trialled and guillotined.
Life
Revolutionary
...
(1751 – 17 November 1793), a French writer and political figure of the Revolution
*
Françoise Delord (1940 – 2021), zookeeper.
Twin towns
Montargis is twinned with:
*
Greven
Greven (; Westphalian: ''Graiwen'') is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia and close to the city of Münster.
Geography
Greven is situated on the river Ems, approx. 25&n ...
, Germany
*
Crowborough
Crowborough is a town and civil parish in East Sussex, England, in the Weald at the edge of Ashdown Forest in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 33 miles (53 ...
, United Kingdom
References
External links
*
Official website*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Communes of Loiret
Subprefectures in France
Burial sites of the House of Valois-Orléans
Orléanais