Loches
Encyclopedia
Loches is a commune
in the Indre-et-Loire
department in central France
.
It is situated 29 miles (47 km) southeast of Tours
by railway, on the left bank of the Indre River
.
founded about 500 by St. Ours and belonged to the Counts of Anjou from 886 until 1205. In the latter year it was seized from King John of England by Philip Augustus
, and from the middle of the 13th century until after the time of Charles IX of France
the castle was a residence of the kings of France
, apart for a brief interlude in 1424 when it was heritably granted to Archibald Douglas, Duke of Touraine. Antoine Guenand, Lord of La Celle-Guenand
was appointed Captain-Governor of Loches in 1441.
The town, one of the most picturesque in central France
, lies at the foot of the rocky eminence on which stands the Château de Loches
, the castle of the Anjou
family, surrounded by an outer wall 13 ft./4 m. thick, and consisting of the old collegiate church
of St. Ours, the royal lodge and the donjon.
The church of St. Ours dates from the tenth century to the twelfth century; among its distinguishing features are the huge stone pyramid
s surmounting the nave
and the beautiful carving of the west door. It contains the tomb of Agnès Sorel.
The royal lodge, built by Charles VII of France
and once used as the subprefecture, contains the oratory
of Anne of Brittany
. It was here on 11 May 1429 that Joan of Arc arrived, fresh from her historic victory at Orleans, to meet the king.
The donjon includes, besides the ruined keep
(12th century), the Martelet, celebrated as the prison
of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, who died there in 1508, and the Tour Ronde, built by Louis XI of France
and containing the famous iron
cages in which state prisoners, including according to a story now discredited, the inventor Cardinal Balue, were confined.
Loches has an hôtel-de-ville and several houses of the Renaissance
period.
On the right bank
of the Indre
, opposite the town, is the village of Beaulieu-lès-Loches
, once the seat of a baron
y.
are carried on together with trade in farm produce, wine
, wood
and livestock
.
and has a cultural association with
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
department in central France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
It is situated 29 miles (47 km) southeast of Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
by railway, on the left bank of the Indre River
Indre River
The Indre is a river in central France, left tributary to the river Loire.Its source is in the département Cher, near Préveranges. It flows through the départements Cher, Indre and Indre-et-Loire...
.
History
Loches (the Roman Leucae) grew up around a monasteryMonastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
founded about 500 by St. Ours and belonged to the Counts of Anjou from 886 until 1205. In the latter year it was seized from King John of England by Philip Augustus
Philip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
, and from the middle of the 13th century until after the time of Charles IX of France
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
the castle was a residence of the kings of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, apart for a brief interlude in 1424 when it was heritably granted to Archibald Douglas, Duke of Touraine. Antoine Guenand, Lord of La Celle-Guenand
La Celle-Guenand
La Celle-Guenand is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-References:*...
was appointed Captain-Governor of Loches in 1441.
Sights
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, lies at the foot of the rocky eminence on which stands the Château de Loches
Château de Loches
The Château de Loches is a castle located in the département of Indre-et-Loire in the Loire Valley in France; it was constructed in the 9th century...
, the castle of the Anjou
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
family, surrounded by an outer wall 13 ft./4 m. thick, and consisting of the old collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...
of St. Ours, the royal lodge and the donjon.
The church of St. Ours dates from the tenth century to the twelfth century; among its distinguishing features are the huge stone pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
s surmounting the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and the beautiful carving of the west door. It contains the tomb of Agnès Sorel.
The royal lodge, built by Charles VII of France
Charles VII of France
Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...
and once used as the subprefecture, contains the oratory
Oratory (worship)
An oratory is a Christian room for prayer, from the Latin orare, to pray.-Catholic church:In the Roman Catholic Church, an oratory is a structure other than a parish church, set aside by ecclesiastical authority for prayer and the celebration of Mass...
of Anne of Brittany
Anne of Brittany
Anne, Duchess of Brittany , also known as Anna of Brittany , was a Breton ruler, who was to become queen to two successive French kings. She was born in Nantes, Brittany, and was the daughter of Francis II, Duke of Brittany and Margaret of Foix. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Eleanor of...
. It was here on 11 May 1429 that Joan of Arc arrived, fresh from her historic victory at Orleans, to meet the king.
The donjon includes, besides the ruined keep
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
(12th century), the Martelet, celebrated as the prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, who died there in 1508, and the Tour Ronde, built by Louis XI of France
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
and containing the famous iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
cages in which state prisoners, including according to a story now discredited, the inventor Cardinal Balue, were confined.
Loches has an hôtel-de-ville and several houses of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
period.
On the right bank
Stream bed
A stream bed is the channel bottom of a stream, river or creek; the physical confine of the normal water flow. The lateral confines or channel margins, during all but flood stage, are known as the stream banks or river banks. In fact, a flood occurs when a stream overflows its banks and flows onto...
of the Indre
Indre
Indre is a department in the center of France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are called Indriens.-History:Indre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
, opposite the town, is the village of Beaulieu-lès-Loches
Beaulieu-lès-Loches
Beaulieu-lès-Loches is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.The inhabitants are known as Bellilociens or Bellilociennes.-History:...
, once the seat of a baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
y.
Economy
Liquor, distilling and tanningTanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
are carried on together with trade in farm produce, wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
and livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
.
People
Loches was the birthplace of:- Fulk III, Count of Anjou
- Alfred de VignyAlfred de VignyAlfred Victor de Vigny was a French poet, playwright, and novelist.-Life:Alfred de Vigny was born in Loches into an aristocratic family...
(1797-1863), poetPoetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, playwrightPlaywrightA playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, and novelist - Jacques VilleretJacques VilleretJacques Villeret was a French actor.-Early life and Family:Born Jacky Boufroura in Loches, Indre-et-Loire, France, to an Algerian father and a French mother, he is most famous internationally for his role as François Pignon in Le Dîner de Cons, both on the stage and in the later film...
(1951-2005), actorActorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity... - Pierre Nicolas GerdyPierre Nicolas GerdyPierre Nicolas Gerdy was a French physician who was a native of Loches. He was a professor with the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, and worked with renowned surgeons such as Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin , Armand Velpeau and Guillaume Dupuytren...
(May 1, 1797 – March 18, 1856), French physician, surgeon, anatomist, pathologist and physiologist.
Twin towns
Loches is twinned with- WermelskirchenWermelskirchenWermelskirchen is a town in the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, southeast of Remscheid. It is home to the world's biggest live Christmas tree.-Coat of arms:...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and has a cultural association with
- St AndrewsSt AndrewsSt Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
, ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.