Perche () (French: ''le Perche'') is a former

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

of France, known historically for its forests and, for the past two centuries, for the

Percheron The Percheron is a breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne river valley in western France, part of the former Perche province from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray or black in color, Percherons are well muscled, and k ...

draft horse breed. Until 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 conside ...

, Perche was bounded by four ancient territories of northwestern France: the provinces of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, and Orléanais, and the region of Beauce. Afterwards it was absorbed into the present-day

departments 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, ...

of Orne and

Toponymy

''Perche'' is known by the following ancient Latin and French toponymic designations: ''saltus Particus'', ''silva Perticus'' before the 6th century, ''pagus quem Pert cnsem vocant'' and ''pagus pertensis'' in the 6th century, ''pagus Perticus'' no date and c. 815, ''Particus saltus'' in the 11th century, ''silva Perticus'' in 1045, '' ePerche'' in 1160 - 1174 and in 1308, ''Perche'' in1238, ''foresta de Pertico'' in1246,Nègre, Ernest (1990). ''

Toponymie générale de la France ''Toponymie générale de la France'' (''General Toponymy of France'', ''TGF'' for short), subtitled ''Étymologie de 35.000 noms de lieux'' (''Etymology of 35,000 place names''), is a book in four volumes about the origins of place names througho ...

'', Volume I, Librairie Droz. Dominique Fournier, « Notes de toponymie normande : Promenons-nous dans les bois… (au sujet de quelques noms de bois et de forêts en Normandie) » in ''Histoire et Traditions Populaires'' (mars 2017), where the names starting by ''Pert'' or ''Part'' denote ''Perche'', the terms ''silva'' and ''foresta'' mean forest, '' Saltus'' designates a wooded mountainous region, frontier, wildlife refuge, ''

pagus In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geogra ...

'' means country, and ''silva pertica'' refers to a tall-treed forest. An hypothesis put forth by the linguist Guy Villette based on the name ''Perche'' having initially designated the forest region, and not the province, would have ''Perche'' represent the pre-Celtic name of indo-european origin *''perkʷ-ik-ā'' « (forest) with long trees », dissimilated into *pertika, and transmitted as such in the Gallic language, even though the initial ''p-'' was foreign to this language.Villette, abbé Guy (1988 / 1994). « Le nom du Perche » in ''Noms de lieux — Noms de vie'', Actes du 2e colloque de la Lubinière, mai 1988, ''Cahiers percherons'', 1994, n° 2-3, pp. 7-21 (see especially pp. 14-15) The indo-european radical *''perkʷu-'', "large tree: oak, pine, fir, beech . . ." is also the origin of the Latin word ''quercus'' « oak » and the common Germanic word *''furhu-'', source of the English and German words ''fir'' and ''Föhre'' « pine ». Until about the 11th or 12th century, such terms as ''pagus Perticus'' or ''pagus Pertecensis'' used in connection with Perche's ancient forest are accordingly understood to refer to a frontier region without precise geographical limits and thus not to a clearly defined political or administrative territory.

Geography

Before the

, Perche was bounded by the following ancient provinces:

to the north and west, Maine to the west, Beauce to the east and Orléanais to the south. Perche is dominated by four topographical-featured arcs: *An outer arc marked by the high edge of a flat high plateau to the west and south of the Perche's eastern and northern limits *An inner arc, concentric to the high plateau edge arc, defined by the Huisne River, a tributary of the

Sarthe River The Sarthe () is a river in western France. Together with the river Mayenne it forms the river Maine, which is a tributary to the river Loire. Its source is in the Orne department, near Moulins-la-Marche. It flows generally southwest, through t ...

, situated in Perche's irregular lowlands. *Forest arcs in ''les collines du Perche'' (the Perche hills) on either side of the Huisne, consisting of a main forest arc off the Huisne's left bank stretching from

Moulins-la-Marche Moulins-la-Marche is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Orne department The following is a list of the 385 communes of the Orne department of France. The communes cooperate in the f ...

to Montmirail and a secondary forest arc off the Huisne's right bank from Pervenchères to Le Thiel. Within the Huisne watershed lie the three unofficial Perche capitals:

Nogent-le-Rotrou Nogent-le-Rotrou () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture and is located on the river Huisne, 56 kilometres west of Chartres on the RN23 and 150 kilometres south west of Paris, to which it is lin ...

(economic capital), Mortagne-au-Perche (administrative capital) and

Bellême Bellême () is a commune in the Orne department in northwestern France. The musicologist Guillaume André Villoteau (1759–1839) was born in Bellême, as was Aristide Boucicaut (1810-1877), owner of ''Le'' ''Bon Marché'', the world's first depar ...

(historical capital).Orne évasions
/ref> The Perche hills are the source of numerous small tributaries of the Seine River watershed via the Eure, Avre, Iton and

Risle The Risle (; less common: ''Rille'') is a long river in Normandy, left tributary of the Seine. The river begins in the Orne department west of L'Aigle, crosses the western part of the department of Eure flowing from south to north and out i ...

rivers and the Loire River watershed via the Huisne, Loir and Sarthe rivers.

Perche's principal towns

Ayuntamiento de Mortagne-au-Perche, Normandía

The following table lists the principal towns in Perche province along with the distance of any given town to Condé-sur-Huisne, situated near Perche's geographic center:

Peripheral towns

FrancePaysDeLoireLaFerteBernardNDDesMarais

Nearby towns in the four ancient provinces along the periphery of Perche province include (starting from the north, clockwise): L'Aigle, Dreux, Chartres,

Châteaudun Châteaudun () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It was the site of the Battle of Châteaudun during the Franco-Prussian War. Geography Châteaudun is located about 45&n ...

, Le Mans, Mamers, Alençon and

Sées Sées () is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France. It lies on the river Orne from its source and north-by-northeast of Alençon. Sées station has rail connections to Argentan, Caen and Le Mans. Name The town's name derives ...

Economy

Agriculture and tourism constitute the economic focus of Perche's natural region, the largest parts of which are located within the departments of Orne and

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.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 Valle ...

, respectively. The

breed of

draft horse A draft horse (US), draught horse (UK) or dray horse (from the Old English ''dragan'' meaning "to draw or haul"; compare Dutch ''dragen'' and German ''tragen'' meaning "to carry" and Danish ''drage'' meaning "to draw" or "to fare"), less oft ...

s originated in Perche's Huisne river valley and is identified throughout the world as the Perche's most well known symbol. Apples (for hard cider) and pears are grown throughout the Perche territory. Calvados Apfel 0596

History

Prehistory

Perche's prehistory is manifested by

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

s ( dolmens, menhirs) and prehistoric tools of flint, bronze, and iron.

Middle Ages

''See also

Lords, counts and dukes of Perche The county of Perche was a medieval county lying between Normandy and Maine. It was held by an independent line of counts until 1226. One of these, Geoffroy V, would have been a leader of the Fourth Crusade had he not died before the assembled forc ...

'' Perche was essentially a region between other regions:

"''. . . the Perche was not based on an existing administratative unit, such as its neighbors, the counties of Maine and Chartres, nor was it coterminous with an ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It grew up at the margins of several larger units, and there was no major population focus nor great religious centre such as a cathedral or ancient abbey within it. It owed its existence to the ambition and energy of successive members of a lineage of warrior elite."''

The Romans found possession of the Perche forests was necessary for the conquest of the vast Armorique and Normandy territories extending from the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...

estuary off the Atlantic coast to Dieppe off the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

. Until the Viking or Norman invasions in the 9th century, Perche was a relatively remote area bounded on all sides by the following Gaul-Roman territories and

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

peoples: to the east and south the Carnutes people in Chartrain territory based in Chartres; to the northeast the Aulerques Eburoviques people in Évreux territory based in Évreux; to the southwest the Aulerques Cénomans people in Maine territory based in Le Mans; and to the northwest the Hyesmois (Essuins) people in Exmes territory based in Séez. These territories eventually became first Roman

civitates In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on t ...

, to then become the dioceses of Chartres, Evreux, Le Mans and Séez. that did not change significantly in terms of geographical limits until the Revolution. Thus Perche has traditionally been shared between three of these four dioceses as follows: *Parishes in northwest Perche such as in the town of Mortagne have been part of Séez diocese; *Parishes in eastern Perche such as in the towns of Tourouvre and Nogent-le-Rotrou have been part of Chartres diocese; *Parishes in southwest Perche such as in the town of Bellême have been part of Le Mans diocese. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the County of Perche was controlled by an independent line of counts. By the 12th century, two large families contended for control of the Perche region: the Talvas of Bellême family and the Rotrou family of Nogent-le-Rotrou. In 1114, Rotrou III annexed Bellême. In 1226, Count Geoffroy V would have been a leader of the Fourth Crusade had he not died before its departure to the Near East. This end of the Rotrou dynasty led to the region's annexation to the

Crown of France France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the fir ...

(by inheritance). At this time, the crown divided part of the region to create the county of Alençon. After 1325, both counties were generally held by a member or members of a

cadet branch In history and heraldry, a cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets— realm, t ...

of the House of Valois. During the Hundred Years War, partisans of England plundered Perche, destroyed its nobility, and burned many castles and abbeys. In 1449, free from English domination, Perche began reconstruction. Upon the death of Alençon's last duke (1525), rule returned to and remained under the French crown, and was granted only sporadically thereafter.

Modern times

In the three decades starting in 1632, a large proportion of immigrants to

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 Spa ...

came from Perche, in what has been called the Percheron immigration movement. Many Percherons were thus recruited to work in

seigneuries ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (o ...

being establishing along the Saint Lawrence valley. The Beauport seigneurie, New France's first agricultural-oriented seigneurie, was granted in 1634 to

Robert Giffard de Moncel Robert Giffard de MoncelMoncel is the name place one km south of Autheil, (c. 1587 – 14 June 1668) was a Perche-based surgeon and apothecary who became New France's first colonizing seigneur. Initial voyages As a naval surgeon, Giffard mad ...

by the Company of Hundred Associates. While the total number of emigrants was small, Perche had a much higher rate of emigration to New France than most other regions of France. Nearly all French Canadians have some ancestors from the villages of Perche. Prominent last names from Perche who came to Canada starting just before the end of Samuel de Champlain's tenure include: Côté, Boucher, Cloutier, Guyon (Dion), Tremblay and Paradis. After the French Revolution, Perche was divided into four departments: Orne, Eure-et-Loir, Sarthe, and Loir-et-Cher. At this time, national law replaced '' :FR:coûtume du Perche'' or local, customary law. In 1998, the government of France created the Perche Regional Nature Park (''Parc naturel régional du Perche'' – see :FR:Perche (région naturelle)). The park is forested mostly by beech, birch, chestnut, oak (especially sessile and pedunculate species), as well as conifers (especially Douglas fir and pine species) populated by wildlife including boar, buzzard, deer, squirrel, woodcock and woodpecker species.

Notes

References

External links

Association Perche-Canada

Centre Généalogique de l'Orne et du Perche

Parc naturel régional du Perche

*

Le Perche {{Historic Provinces of France Former provinces of France Geography of Eure Geography of Eure-et-Loir Geography of Loir-et-Cher Geography of Orne Geography of Sarthe History of Normandy History of Centre-Val de Loire History of Pays de la Loire History of Eure History of Eure-et-Loir History of Loir-et-Cher History of Orne History of Sarthe