Poitou-Charentes myths, legends and history - la fée Mélusine

La fée Mélusine, the Donjon, Niort

Poitou-Charentes myths, legends and history

Thank you so much for the positive feedback on last week’s post about the mysterious cries through the fog, your comments put a smile on my face much like a ray of sunshine does on a cloudy day and inspired me to share more tales from the Poitou-Charentes. Before I launch into today’s post, I’d like to explain why I’m still using the old regional name of Poitou-Charentes, despite it ceasing to exist at the end of 2015.

 

France is made up of ninety-six (mainland) administrative departments, that are then grouped into thirteen regions. The old Poitou-Charentes region was made up of four departments, the Deux-Sèvres (where we live), the Vienne, the Charente and the Charente-Maritime. On 1^st January 2016 it was consumed by the new super-region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, home to twelve departments, in a geographical area that stretches from the Loire in the north to the Pyrenees in the south, making it the largest region in France. For the purposes of these tales of local myths, legends and history, it’s going to be Poitou-Charentes all the way, as most of our travels by bike fall into this area.

International Day of Tolerance 

Today is International Day of Tolerance. A day to embrace our differences and spread kindness, to create a world where everyone feels accepted and valued. Having this week commemorated the 106^th anniversary of the end of World War One, once known as the “war to end all wars”, yet with current world politics in turmoil, I can’t let this go by without a mention. 

 

We all need to be more accepting and tolerating of others, wherever in the world we live and whatever we believe in.

 

I am different, nerdy some might say, with a thirst for knowledge that often leaves my poor brain smouldering at the choice of information out there to absorb. My improved French language skills have enabled me to actively seek out interesting historical stories in the local papers or listen to podcasts in French, and I am no longer afraid to open a book written in French – if any of you have ever learned a new language you will know the difference between reading a short news article and stepping into an actual book.

 

My discoveries have sent me back in time across the centuries as well as indulging my love of a good myth, legend or fairytale. However, now there are more books available to me, full of fascinating stories, I’m going to need more time to immerse myself into them or fear a premature death as I’m crushed beneath my toppling ‘to be read’ pile.

La fée Mélusine, Lusignan

La Fée Mélusine

One of my favourite local legends is all about the fairy Mélusine, said to be one of the area’s most celebrated builders of châteaux, towers and abbeys. However, as with all fairies, Mélusine promised great riches, that came at a price and living as a fairy with a secret curse, she certainly ticks the box about being different from those she lived amongst.

 

Mélusine was the daughter of a fairy named Pressine, and as a punishment for going against her mother’s wishes, she was cursed with reverting to her fairy form every Saturday, that of half woman and from the waist down, a serpent. She would only be able to live and die like a real woman, if the man she married agreed never to see her on a Saturday. 

 

For many years, Mélusine lived in the vast Poitou forests until one day, by a fountain in a clearing, she met a young knight in a state of distress. Raymondin had been hunting wild boar with his uncle, the count of Poitiers, when the boar had turned on the men and in trying to kill the beast, he had accidently killed Aimery, his uncle. Tormented by his actions, Mélusine comforted him and assured him all would be well and if he did as she advised, he would have a rich and successful future. 

 

Lusignan, Vienne

Raymondin fell in love with the beautiful woman of the forest fountain, and they married, with him agreeing to never visit her chambers on a Saturday. By following her instructions, he was rewarded with vast areas of land on which she built a magnificent chateau she named Lusignan. Raymondin and Mélusine lived a happy life where they welcomed ten sons, although eight of them were born with mysterious facial disfigurements. They included Guy who was born with only one eye, Antoine who had the scar of a lion’s claw on his cheek, Odon with one ear larger than the other, Geoffroy with a tooth the size of a tusk and Horrible who had three eyes. All was well in their unusual family unit until one Saturday, Raymondin, provoked by his brother, peered through a hole in her door to see his wife bathing in an enormous marble bath, her long serpent’s tale splashing around in the water.

 

The spell had been broken and Mélusine is said to have flown from the window, her cries of despair ringing in the air as she fled, cursed forever to remain half woman, half serpent, with the wings of a dragon.

 

La fée Mélusine, Lusignan

It is almost impossible to find a medieval château, a ruined tower or an abbey in the Poitou-Charentes that doesn’t claim to have been built by Mélusine, and I have also fallen under her spell. I loved visiting Lusignan and its château ramparts, and it always puts a smile on my face when we come across her image on carvings, sculptures or paintings on our travels. As well as buildings, her story is also linked to many celebrated and important local families, all claiming to be her descendants, including the counts of Lusignan and La Rochefoucauld. We even found her inside the village church in Bignac, Charente, painted onto the black funeral band that shows the parish in respectful mourning for the local baron, François VI de la Rochefoucauld, in 1680.

La fée Mélusine, Bignac, Charente

 

The Rochefoucauld family also have links to the Château de Javarzay, although sadly I’ve yet to find a link between Javarzay and Mélusine, but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up looking.

Poitou-Charentes legends - the cries through the fog

A misty evening in the Deux-Sèvres

Looking back over the last twenty years, autumn days that began with a foggy start, nearly always became hot, sunny afternoons, so much so, opening the shutters to the morning mist, made me smile. This year once more, the weather has thrown a new pattern at us and there have been many days where the sun tried, but failed, to break through the foggy start. 

 

In our department of the Deux-Sèvres in western France, Meteo France reported that on average, September this year was 80% wetter than normal and October 45%, with some hillier areas (around Parthenay) recording levels of rain 150% higher than they are used to. It is no surprise that soil humidity levels have also reached record highs for this time of year, feeding the hungry fog monster that seems reluctant to share with the sunshine. All this just one year on from water restrictions that were brought in mid-October, alongside news articles reporting record low levels in the water table.

 

Foggy fields in the Deux-Sèvres

The low cloud and grey skies this year have at times made me feel quite claustrophobic, and that was before this misty phase began, so I am really hoping this won’t become a new norm thanks to climate instability. Despite my woes, we have fared better than those who live just a bit further north from us, around the Loire valley, where a local news report stated a weather station in Angers hasn’t registered one minute of sunshine in the last ten days. This week, as we celebrated a sunny start with a cycle ride into Chef-Boutonne for morning coffee with friends, we could see the dark, purple bruise of fog looming low on the horizon to our north. 

 

Ile de Ré, Charente-Maritime

Now the 2024 season at the Château de Javarzay is over, I have had more time on my hands to dive into some reading about the legends of the Poitou-Charentes and in particular, places we have visited. When I found one that talked of foggy nights, and an historical battle on Ile de Ré that took place on 8^th November, nearly four hundred years ago, I knew it needed more investigation.

 

Our area has a fascinating link to the rise of the Protestant religion, thanks mainly to the trade routes between Poitiers and the port at La Rochelle. Poitiers university is one of the oldest in France, dating from 1431 and whereas the Sorbonne in Paris had no sympathy for the new religious ideas of the Protestants, they found the academics at Poitiers to be more accommodating. The Protestants felt that the Catholic Church had become too powerful, too corrupt and was making too much money. They wanted a religion that was accessible to everyone, not just those who read Latin, and where simple prayer was more important than the worshipping of relics and paying the church for forgiveness. Their ideas began to spread, mainly with the merchants who were moving towards La Rochelle with wheat, as the limestone rich soil here produced a drier grain that was less likely to rot when loaded onto the sea-going vessels. The inevitable clashes between the supporters of the two religions led to a turbulent time.

 

Sablanceaux beach, Ile de Ré

In 1627, La Rochelle was under siege as Cardinal Richelieu and the troops of Louis XIII closed in around the Protestant stronghold. In June, the Duke of Buckingham had arrived on the Atlantic coast island of the Ile de Ré with eighty boats and around four thousand men, to support the Protestants in La Rochelle. The English landed on the beach in Sablanceaux and gained control of the island from the governor, the Count of Toiras, holding it for three months, until Richelieu sent four thousand troops over from the mainland. 

La Couarde-sur-mer with Loix in the distance, Ile de Ré

The retreating English had one objective, to head west to rejoin their boats moored near Loix. On the 8^th November, at the wooden bridge in Feneau, between La Couarde-sur-mer and Loix, a bloody battle ensued that saw the losses of over two thousand English soldiers and two hundred of their horses. It is said that if you are out on foggy nights on the marshlands around Feneau, the cries and eery moaning of the English soldiers can still be heard, along with a dull voice repeating “tue (kill), tue, tue…” – the echo of the soul of the French troops harangued by their superiors to finish off the English.

 

A typical souvenir shop on Ile de Ré

I’m happy to report that the Ile de Ré is a much more peaceful place to visit these days and somewhere we enjoy cycling, although only outside of the main tourist season. It might no longer be a battleground, but it is still witness to an invasion of thousands of holidaymakers every summer. I wonder how many of them know about the bloody history of the island, or have heard the cries in the fog as they leave the main tourist paths and venture into the marshlands?

 

 

  

Book review of The Sea House by Louise Douglas

The Sea House by Louise Douglas

The Sea House by Louise Douglas

A mysterious bequest and the legacy of a tragic love – only one person can unravel the hidden secrets of the past before it’s too late…

When Elisabeth Quemener dies she leaves a small parcel with the instructions that it must only be opened by Astrid Oake. The trouble is, no one knows who Astrid Oake is…

Elisabeth’s family turn to Touissants detective agency for help but, when Mila Shepherd and Carter Jackson try to track Astrid down, their frustration soon mounts. Their only clue is a photo of two young women holding the hands of a tiny child. The women are smiling but Mila is haunted by the sadness in their eyes. Is this Astrid and Elisabeth and if so, who is the child? And why are there signs everywhere in Elisabeth’s home that the old woman was frightened despite her living a quiet life with no known enemies?

As Elisabeth and Astrid’s story slowly unfolds, Mila feels the walls of her home The Sea House closing in. And as the secrets finally begin to reveal themselves, she is ever more determined to carry out Elisabeth’s final wishes. Because what is inside that unprepossessing parcel might just save a life…

Louise Douglas is back in the Brittany seaside town of Morranez with a heart-stopping, heart-breaking, brilliantly written and utterly compelling mystery. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton, Eve Chase and Lucinda Riley. 

The Sea House by Louise Douglas

My review

The Sea House is the third book in a brilliant series set on the wild Breton coast, an area that can be dark and unpredictable, especially when the storms roll in, much like this book. 

I couldn’t wait to get back into the action and discover the latest about the mysterious and tragic loss of Sophie and Charlie, a storyline that has run throughout all the books. Mila, who put her UK life on hold to look after her orphaned niece Ani, is no nearer to deciding where her future lies, and the current investigation she and Carter are working on for the Toussaints detective agency, is the most frustrating yet. As they endeavour to find the elusive Astrid Oake, to fulfil a final request, Mila finds herself in a dark and dangerous place where lives are at risk as family secrets and friendship pacts that lasted a lifetime, were slowly revealed.

The Sea House by Louise Douglas

This book took the events in the first two books and raised them, so much so, there were times when I wasn’t sure I could read on – heart stopping it most certainly was, but I was also too hooked to put it down. In this multi-plotted mystery, the more that is uncovered about the past, the more questions are raised. 

As this series has evolved, so too have my feelings for some of the characters and the direction I want them to move in – I will say no more, just that I’m enjoying being fully immersed into a really gripping series of novels where the dynamics of the characters change from book to book, as do my reactions to them.

I reached the end thinking oh no! This hasn’t given me enough, I have so many questions. The relief to then read a teaser of the next book in the series was like exhaling a long-held breath, but as the action and tension has notched up steadily in each of the three books so far, will I cope with book four? I’ll do my best, so bring it on Louise.

I can’t recommend this series enough, but it’s always best to start at the beginning, so here my reviews of books one and two to whet your appetite:

The Lost Notebook 

The Summer of Lies 

Purchase links

French Village Diaries is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk at no extra cost to you.

Amazon purchase link The Sea House  

Amazon purchase link The Lost Notebook 

Amazon purchase link The Summer of Lies 

Louise Douglas

  

Author Bio  

Hello! I'm Louise, author of 12 novels mostly set in the Somerset countryside close to where I live and Sicily. I'm thrilled to have won the RNA Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller award 2021 for The House by the Sea which has sold more than a quarter of a million copies.

Social Media 

Facebook 

Twitter 

Instagram 

Newsletter Sign Up 

The Sea House by Louise Douglas

Whooping cough, headdresses and heartthrobs

Coiffes or headdresses, Château de Javarzay

Whooping cough, headdresses and heartthrobs – read on to discover the link between these words, and my work at the Château de Javarzay.

 

I love learning new things or discovering new words and often find myself falling down Google research rabbit holes. What really puts a smile on my face is when I discover an unexpected link between things that interest me. You might remember my blog post about the lousy summer weather we have endured this year, where I attributed the link between the 1815 volcanic eruption in Indonesia and the subsequent career path taken by twelve-year-old Jean-François Cail, born (in 1804) in rural Chef-Boutonne, who went on to become one of France’s major industrialists. Well, it’s happened again. 

With Julia Chapman, Librairie des Halles, Niort

We recently had the opportunity to meet one of my favourite authors, Julia Chapman (or Stagg, depending on which series of her books you are reading) at a book signing in Niort. Julia and I have been online friends since 2011, when her Fogas Chronicles series was just making its way into the world. I reviewed her books, interviewed her for the blog and eagerly awaited each new book in the five-book series set in the French Pyrenees. Her writing perfectly captured the nuances of life in a rural French village, from the characters to the politics, as she brought the mountain community to life with a great eye for detail and lots of humorous moments. I was, and still am a huge fan and even had the pleasure of lunching with her, in York, in the spring of 2014. 

 

While the Fogas Chronicles took a while to find a home in the French book shops, her second series, The Dales Detectives, set in a market town in the Yorkshire dales, is a huge hit here in France. So much so, the new books have been released in French, around six months before they are released in English and the first two books have been televised – I think they love the Britishness of it. With the tenth (and final – sniff, sniff) book released this month in France, Julia and her husband Mark, set off on a publicity tour of French bookshops, that unbelievably included one in Niort, about an hour away from us. 

Julia Chapman, Librairie des Halles, Niort

In the twenty years we have lived here, we have only visited Niort in the evening a handful of times, but the chance to enjoy an evening listening to Julia was too good an opportunity to miss. We had a great time and came away with a copy of book ten, in French. My level of French is now good enough that I do read in French, slowly, but it tends to be non-fiction and on a subject that I know well. Having now read the first four chapters of Date With Destiny, or Rendez-vous Avec le Destin, I am delighted with two things. The first is how much I am able to understand and the second, how well the humour and Yorkshireness of the English versions comes across in the translation. I have had to look up a few new words, however, but this is a good thing as it increases my French vocabulary.

 

One of the words I had to look up was “coqueluche”. When simply translated it means whooping cough, but this made no sense or had any relevance to the paragraph I was reading. I dug a bit deeper to find that in French you can “avoir la coqueluche”, to have whooping cough, or you can “être la coqueluche”, to be a whooping cough – meaning to be a heartthrob or media darling. This made more sense, as the passage was describing a particularly colourful character who was a reality TV star.

Coiffes or headdresses, Château de Javarzay

However, my inquisitive mind needed to know why the word for heartthrob and whooping cough are the same in French. This is how I found myself on the Académie Française website, reading all about coiffes or headdresses, something I thought I knew pretty well thanks to the last three years working at the Château de Javarzay. Part of our museum includes the bonnets and coiffes worn by Poitou women in the late nineteenth century, as well as the social culture around why they wore them. 

Coiffe from La Rochelle (shell-shaped)

Before it was attributed to the disease, a coqueluche was the name of a headdress, the word being a mix of the words for shell (coquille) and hood (capuche). Head coverings, that kept the chill from your head, were considered an essential protection against illnesses, including whooping cough, hence the shared name. Whooping cough (the illness) is extremely contagious, spreading quickly from person to person, much like the adoration in the public eyes of the latest media darling or heartthrob. So, there you have the link between whooping cough, headdresses, heartthrobs and the Château de Javarzay – don’t you just love the nuances of the French language, I know I do.

Amazon link to The Dales Detective Series 

Amazon link to The Fogas Chronicles 

French Village Diaries is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk at no extra cost to you.

 

 

  

Book review of The Paris Inheritance by Natalie Meg Evans

The Paris Inheritance by Natalie Meg Evans

The Paris Inheritance by Natalie Meg Evans 

A family heirloom, handmade in Paris. A wartime sacrifice that changed everything. And a secret kept for generations.

Paris, 1940. Clutching a delicate silver dove-shaped brooch – the last gift from her beloved Otto, with a message of love engraved in the back – Lally flees her home in Paris. With her closest friend by her side, she dodges the Nazi gunfire echoing all around the city streets. But as they become more and more desperate during the darkest days Europe has ever known, one must make a terrible sacrifice for them both to survive…

France, 2014. After her father’s death, grieving Hope starts a new life in France. All she knows of her father’s family is that they were separated in World War Two. And her only inheritance is a unique, dove-shaped brooch.

Exploring an antique market one day, Hope’s breath catches in her throat at what she finds. A wartime picture of a green-eyed girl, a silver brooch pinned to her dress, shaped like a dove in flight. Hope has only ever seen one like it before.

Certain it’s her family heirloom, Hope is desperate to find the woman in the portrait. But it soon becomes clear that some wartime secrets are dangerous to uncover…

Will Hope’s discoveries change everything she ever believed about her father? And even if she does find the truth, will it bring her healing – or tear her apart?

Fans of The Letter, The Nightingale and We Were the Lucky Ones will be utterly swept away by this heartbreaking and unforgettable tale about family secrets in World War Two and the bonds that held people together during terrible times. 

The Paris Inheritance by Natalie Meg Evans

My review

Hope’s French market find of a wartime painting brings her and Yves together to untangle the mystery of his grandmother Lally. Each new discovery, from artwork to photographs, to pages from a memoir, helps them to piece together her traumatic past. 

Lally is an English girl in Paris at the start of the Occupation, with the added complications of an exiled German boyfriend and a needy young English friend, Pauline. They must escape to free France, but seem to be thwarted at every turn, throwing the reader into an emotional story of sacrifice and survival in the harshest of circumstances. I easily became totally immersed in the pages, and as keen as Hope and Yves to discover Lally’s war story and work out how she was linked to the broach Hope’s father held so dear to him. 

The Paris Inheritance by Natalie Meg Evans

Lally was strong, determined and despite the daily challenges she faced making her arduous escape to rural France, always did what she felt was best for those she was trying to protect. Her actions inevitably led to repercussions that lasted for generations, but this is also a heartbreaking love story, where betrayal and forgiveness go hand in hand. Moving on takes bold steps, often from the new generations, but Hope and Yves now have the chance to release a village trapped in the past.

The Paris Inheritance is another fabulous read from Natalie Meg Evans, whose gift for storytelling never fails to whisk me away into the lives of her characters. If you enjoy historical fiction, I am sure you will love this book.

Purchase links

French Village Diaries is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk at no extra cost to you.

Amazon purchase link  

Purchase Link  

  

Author Bio  

Natalie is a RITA nominated, USA Today best-selling author of ten historical novels: The Dress Thief, The Milliner's Secret, The Wardrobe Mistress, A Gown of Thorns, The Secret Vow and The Paris Girl (featuring sisters, Katya and Tatiana.) Two further novels are set in southern Italy: Into the Burning Dawn and The Italian Girl's Secret, both featuring young women faced with hard choices.

The Girl with the Yellow Star takes the reader to wartime Cornwall and introduces Gwenna and little Lotti, the motherless child who arrives in her care. Natalie's latest novel, The Locket, is a split timeline novel featuring Irene, a country girl living next door to a new American airbase, and her grandaughter Ruby, returning to the family farm and discovering Irene's lost past. Natalie writes page turning stories of wartime, love and challenging choices. 

Social Media 

Website

Instagram

Twitter