Le Perche
Le Perche is a historic county in northern France , but its name is still used today as a landscape designation.
geography
location
The Perche is located in the west of the Paris Basin and in the south of Normandy . It includes the east of the Norman department of Orne (Normandy region) and the west of the Eure-et-Loir department ( Center-Val de Loire region ). To the south of this area also border the landscapes of Le Perche-Gouët and Le Perche Vendômois .
landscape
Le Perche is a hilly country, the highest point of which reaches a height of only 301 m ; the average height of the places is around 150 m . The area of the Perche was formerly a woodland (Sylva Pertica) ; Today it is mainly a pasture farming area structured by hedges ( bocage ) , in which the previously important horse breeding (see Percheron horse) has now been replaced by dairy farming and pig breeding . Industrialization did not take place. Today, large parts of the Perche are integrated into the Perche Regional Nature Park . The Perche is mainly based on the economic strength of the farmers living in the numerous villages; The main towns of the Perche are Nogent-le-Rotrou (approx. 10,000), Mortagne-au-Perche (approx. 4,000) and Bellême (approx. 1,500). The most important rivers are the Eure , the Huisne , a tributary of the Sarthe , and the Même .
history
A county (comté) had already been established in Perche in Carolingian times . In the middle of the 10th century, however, the country was fiercely contested between Count Theobald the deceiver of Blois and the Norman Duke Richard Ohnefurcht (r. 942–996). As a result, it was politically divided in two. The western part, where the lords of Bellême established themselves, remained under Norman influence; the eastern part around Nogent-le-Rotrou remained under the control of Count Theobald the deceiver.
Count Theobald installed his vassal Rotrou I as lord of the castle in Nogent Castle. His heir-daughter married the lord of the castle Mortagne north of Nogent (the lords of Mortagne are sometimes, but not consistently, referred to as counts), whereby most of the Perche was combined in one family. The vice-county of Châteaudun ( Dunois ) was briefly acquired through inheritance, but it soon went its own way again by dividing the inheritance. The lords of Nogent-Mortagne were in a constant feud against the lords of Bellême in the 12th century. Gottfried II was the first to hold the title of Count of Perche ( comte du Perche ) for his property , which was continued by his successors.
After the count's house died out (1227), the Perche was transferred to the crown domain ( Domaine royal ) . Prince Peter (son of King Louis IX ) received the Perche and the county of Alençon in 1269 as apanage, which was brought back to the Domaine royal in 1283 . From 1293 the Perche belonged to the branch line of the House of Valois von Alençon, which died out in 1525 with Duke Charles IV of Alençon .
In the 17th century, many people from the Perche emigrated to Canada , where their descendants still make up a substantial part of the French-Canadian population.
Attractions
The castle (château) of Nogent-le-Rotrou is the main attraction of the Perche. Most of the village churches are former priory churches of Romanesque origin, but they were mostly plundered in the wars of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries and / or in large parts destroyed and rebuilt: Many have barrel vaults made of wood with tie rods at the base; some wooden vaults are painted ornamentally (e.g. Combres , La Croix-du-Perche, etc.). The apses of many churches were built in the 17th and 18th centuries. Century divided by a rood screen, behind which the sacristy is located.
Lords of Mortagne
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Lords of Nogent
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- Fulcois, around 1000
Fulcois was probably a son of Vice Count Gottfried I of Châteaudun and nephew of Hervé II of Mortagne. He inherited from his uncle, while his older brother Hugo I succeeded him in Châteaudun. Through Fulcoi's marriage to Mélisende, he united Mortagne and Nogent in his family.
Lords of Mortagne and Nogent (House of Châteaudun)
- Gottfried I († 1039/40), Lord of Nogent and Mortagne, probably son of Fulcois and Mélisende (as Gottfried II, Vice Count of Châteaudun)
- Hugo I († 1042/44), Lord of Nogent, Count of Mortagne, his son (as Hugo II, Vice Count of Châteaudun)
- Rotrou II. († probably 1080), Lord of Nogent, Count of Mortagne, his brother (as Rotrou I, Vice Count of Châteaudun)
Counts of Le Perche
House of Châteaudun
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- Gottfried II. († around 1100) Lord von Nogent, Count of Mortagne, after 1090 first Count of Le Perche, his son (Châteaudun receives his brother Hugo III.)
- Rotrou III. the Great († fallen in 1144 before Rouen ), Count of Le Perche
- Stephan von Perche (* after 1137; † 1169), Chancellor of Sicily and Electbishop of Palermo, probably son of Rotrou III.
- Rotrou IV. († 1191), Count of Le Perche, son of Rotrou III.
- Stephan von Le Perche († 1205), crusader, son of Rotrou IV.
- Gottfried III. († 1202), Count of Le Perche, son of Rotrou IV.
- Thomas († fallen 1217 before Lincoln ), Count of Le Perche, son of Gottfried III.
- Wilhelm († 1226), Bishop of Châlons , 1217 Count of Le Perche, brother of Gottfried III.
Capetians
- Peter I , Count of Le Perche 1269–1284
House Valois-Alençon
- Charles I of Valois , Count of Le Perche 1293–1325
- Charles II , Count of Alençon and Le Perche 1326 , † 1346 .
- Robert , † 1377, 1361 Count of Le Perche, son of Charles II.
- Peter II. (Pierre II.) , † 1404, 1361 Count of Alençon , 1377 Count of Porhoet and Le Perche, his brother
- John I the Wise (Jean I. le Sage) (X 1415 at the Battle of Azincourt ) 1396 Count of Le Perche, 1404 Count and 1414 Duke of Alençon, his son
- Pierre (* 1407, † 1408) Count of Le Perche, his son
- René , † 1492, 1476 Duke of Alençon, Count of Le Perche, his brother
- Charles IV. (Charles IV.) , † 1525, probably in 1489 Count of Le Perche, 1492 Duke of Alençon, 1497 sovereign Count of Armagnac and Rouergue , Count of Rodez , 1517 Duke of Berry, his son
