Culture and History in Tours, Part II

Last weekend, I took a long walk to La Riche, which is to Tours what Dryden is to Ithaca. Just as Tours vaunts its connection to Balzac, La Riche celebrates its place in French literary history, being the residence of the 16th-century French poet Pierre de Ronsard. Ronsard lived at the Priory of Saint Cosmas for the last twenty years of his life, 1565-1585. Today, the priory and its courtyards have become a museum, displaying the archaeology of the old pilgrimage site, the history of Ronsard and his poetry, and a well-cultivated rose garden.

The ruins of the old church date from the late 11th century, and are both very gothic, very picturesque, and very piecemeal. The ambulatory is particularly large, in order to give the monks plenty of room to escape from the tourists of that day, the pilgrims. There were three chapels, dedicated to Saint Cosmas, Saint Damian, and Mary. The two Saints, each depicted carrying a container of medicine, are associated with each other, both being 3rd-century Syriac physicians, known as anarguroi because they refused payment for their services. There is also a hostel, a well, a small cemetery, abundant pots and plots of roses, and, of course, the tomb of Ronsard. For long, the tomb was supposed to be Ronsard's, but only in 2009 did archaeologists manage to reconstruct the face of the skeleton found within, and discover that it matched that of the plaster copy of Ronsard's 16th-century bust (the original bust was lost in the early 19th century). Moreover, of the 350 skeletons buried in the priory, Ronsard's skeleton is the only to bear the marks of embalming, which was then a royal privilege (Ronsard was court poet before he retired to the priory).

The story of the archaeological efforts at the Priory is itself an interesting story. Soon after World War I, a largely-American club of Ronsard enthusiasts decided to take control of the site which residents of La Riche had long used to attract tourists. The newcomers regarded the locals as ignorant provincials squandering their historical heritage, and the locals regarded the "Friends of Ronsard" as a group of American plutocrats threatening their livelihood. Today the Priory is still run by the Friends of Ronsard, but sponsored in part by Touraine's Council of Tourism.

But who is Ronsard? Before I visited, I couldn't have told you what century he lived in, or even whether he was a poet, a philosopher, or an engineer. The prince of poets, and childhood friend of Henri II, he achieved fame extremely early in life for his poetry, rendered in the vernacular, but drawing from the themes of the classical Roman Poets. Ronsard was the court poet until the court decided it preferred the poems of another man, who has since been largely forgotten. Ronsard retreated to the Priory, and wrote and wrote. Although he did not take the vow of chastity, he never married, and many of his volumes of poetry are dedicated to, and inspired by, different women he loved. Roses were a favorite theme of his, and for this reason, the gardens of the priory are filled with roses, perhaps the distant descendants of the flowers which inspired him.

I have made a feeble attempt to translate one of his sonnets, in order to demonstrate the kind of poetry he wrote.

"Amours de Marie, XX"

Love, three wonders you once showed me:
Three sister's passage, late in the eve,
Over the waves in an apple tree;
Such beautiful fruits as my heart could conceive.
All shone with more beauty than Beauty can be,
The youngest, the fairest that eyes could perceive:
A flower thriving, laughing and free,
Red and shining beside the brook's weave.
First, the eldest, I wished for, it seems,
Then the middle, then both, softly haunted my dreams,
While the youngest I always beheld in my thought.
But the sun, it its spite, the end of night brought.
For three years now, my life has seemed a sad tire,
Awaiting three suns which first filled me with fire.

Forgive my errors, ghost of Ronsard.

Since the second world war, and in the last decade in particular, Tours has been digging into its local history. Last Wednesday, my weekly chateau-excursion was canceled due to insufficient registration, and I had the opportunity to visit the local archaeological museum, open twice a week for only a few hours at a time. I was nearly chased away by a six-foot-two security guard of about twice my weight, but I stood my ground, and explained myself clearly.

A Gallo-Roman settlement was first constructed in Tours in the 1st century, under the reign of either Tiberius or Claudius. Centered on the left (southern) bank of the Loire just west of the modern site of the Cathedral, the old city of "Caearodunum" contained a temple, an amphitheater, and a forum. Romans liked symmetry and geometry, and all of the old streets were at right angles. Caesorodonum was a free Gallic city, occupied by a Gallic tribe known as the Turons, who grant their name to the modern city.

The 4th century, marking Saint Martin's residency in the city, Tours has been an economic, religious, and literary center, never ceasing to grow, in order to welcome generation after generation of tourists. The same century also marks the first mention of the name of the city as "Turonorum," which was by then a fortified outpost. Throughout the middle ages, swarms of religious orders settled down in Tours: Jacobins, Cordeliers, Carmelites, you name it, established no fewer than 14 churches and monasteries in the vicinity. Pilgrims traveled to medieval Tours in order to be healed, the city also prospered in agriculture, a 10th-century document referring to the arable vineyards and farmlands surrounding the Abbey of St. Julian. Many, many hotels had to be constructed in order to accommodate all of the visitors, not all of whom were religious. In the Renaissance, several well-known Italian sculptors set up shop in Tours.

From the mid-15th until the early 16th century, Tours was lucky enough to become the seat of the the court of France, i.e. the capital. This political change sparked economic growth, as merchants and artisans flocked to Tours, establishing a wealthy bourgeoisie. Many of their ostentatious houses still stand in the neighborhood of Old Tours, where the Institute of Touraine is located. The most recent building scramble took place in the 19th century, when city erected the Hotel de Ville, the train station, and a new Palais de Justice.

I am thinking of you all.

~JD

"La machine de guerre concue et demarree en l'an II forma un complexe socio-economique qui se vida lentement de son sens revolutionnaire" [The war machine designed and set in motion in Year II formed a socioeconomic complex which slowly emptied of its revolutionary sense] (Marc Bouloisea, La Republique jacobine p. 169).