- Echoes of the week
The letter to the Passadocians!
Placette Mayol
And then here's some worms...
Honor to foreigners
The Baío de Sampeyre
The bravade of Saint-Tropez
Remembrance of Harvesting
The martyrs of the Charles Quint Tower
Home wool
. - The Library of Passadoc
Roquebrune in images
François Abbe
Placette Mayol
André Abbe
And then here's some worms...
Honor to strangers!
The banner was stretched over the entrance of Roquebrune during the Feast of Our Lady... the foreigners of the time were the people of Puget and Muy, the nearest villages, on the other bank of the Argens. Those who came from far or far away were called "External strangers".
Today, foreigners in Provence come to work, spend their retirement or vacation... and we would find it difficult to define what is called "a stranger". The nationality written on the passport is misleading. In my commune, the most efficient olive growers are Belgian. To me, they're not strangers.
I'd be wrong to be hostile to strangers... being a stranger myself when I travel!
I can't resist the pleasure of giving a photographic hat to an Englishman from the Var who had come with her dog Bella to protest in Brignoles against the project to search for shale gas veins in the Var basement, which would have just preceded the exploitation, let us be sure. By 2020, this gas is no longer worth much after the fall in oil prices. The Americans don't know what to do with it anymore. This exploitation would have ruined our country and made a financial flop.
We weren't very numerous to protest in Brignoles, 99 out of 100 native Varois remained at home, but the Englishman from Var was present!
The Baío de Sampeyre
What are the dates of the Baío de Sampeyre (province of Cuneo) that will take place this winter?
Be patient. Traditionally the dates are decided on the day of Epiphany, never before.
The Baio took place during the years in 2 and 7, but the Covid forced the organizers to send it back later. I'll keep you posted!
La Bravade de Saint-Tropez
In the 1980s, I went every year to the Bravade in Saint-Tropez; It continues according to the same ceremonial.
Many people wrongly believe that this is a party for tourists. False, it is a tradition linked to the history of the city that the Tropezians respect.
Recently a documentary (television) about the 60s and 70s recounted free love, white nights, playboys in Saint-Tropez with Brigitte Bardot in figure of bow. Once again, the commentator spoke of "a fishing village", this is also not true.
Saint-Tropez was a thriving commercial port where there were some fishermen. The image of the fishing port is tenacious. Free-love sinners overabund in Saint-Tropez but professional fishermen rely on the fingers of one hand. The luxury yachts have replaced the cargo, the sharp and the die of puar.
About free love, let its followers be reassured: it is a venial sin!
There are two bravades in Saint Tropez: Moon to celebrate the feast of the patron saint of the city (May); The other, the bravade of the Espa-gnols (June), to commemorate the victory of the Tropéziens over the Spanish invader on 15 June 1637. Good Bravades 2023!
Murre de pouar [so called because of its spur that makes you think of a pig groan]: It is a traditional fishing boat on the Provencal and Languedoc coast. With its characteristic spur, the pouar die is also recognized by its mast tilted backwards and rounded rear shapes.
(Miscellaneous research. Jeanne Monin)
Memories of harvest...
Valérie Lamaix
The martyrs of the Charles Quint Tower
All those who know or have visited Le Muy have seen this famous round tower overlooking the eastern entrance of the city and which now houses the Museum of Liberation.
This tower built in XIIIe century, called Tour Notre-Dame, is the witness of a historical and local event that took place in 1536 and since then has earned it the name of Tour Charles Quint. It is the story of the Martyrs of the Tower and the death of the Spanish poet Garcilaso de La Vega that I will tell you today.
This story plunges us back into the first half of the XVIe century at the time of the invasions in Provence by the imperial troops of Charles Quint. Charles Quint, both Emperor of Germany, of Austria, king of Spain, dominates the world and encircles France (of which Provence has been part since 1481).
Twenty years, Emperor and Francis Iand Two times Charles Quint invaded Provence: in June 1524, the emperor stomped successively from Fréjus, Brignoles, Saint-Maximin and Aix before besieging Marseilles; but caught in tenaille, he left, defeated, in Italy in October of the same year.
In 1536 Charles Quint returned to his chance with this time a much larger and much better prepared army. It was there, in 1536, during the second invasion that our history was located.
On 22 June 1536, Charles Quint's troops left from Asti towards our Provence with an impressive army: 400 lords, or sons of lords, 2,300 lancers, 2,450 light-horses, 10,000 Spanish infantrymen, 24,000 Germans and 9,400 Italians, not to mention thousands of other soldiers who arrived by boat on the Mediterranean coast.
On 4 August 1536, all this group arrived at the Muy, built a camp there, spent the night there before returning to the conquest of Aix (via Draguignan which fell on 26 July then Brignoles and Saint-Maximin). At that time, Charles Quint did not know that the following 19 September he would return to the shameful Muy, confused and beaten by an invisible enemy.
It must be said that François Iand had decided to wage a particular war: at all costs avoid confrontation and practice the policy of « burning earth » depriving the enemy of all necessary resources
By order of King Francis I, the Muy, Vidauban and Lorgues, as everywhere on the passage of the troops, one destroys harvests, mills, burns the reserves, fills the wells and prevents the empire soldiers charged with the supply from supplying or looting the villages.
Thus Charles Quint met little resistance on his way (towns and villages including Aix were deserted); He even succeeded in being crowned king of Provence at Aix. It was also from that moment that this invasion, so easy so far, began to end. The imperial troops, continually harassed by the French army and forced to eat only green fruits, were undermined by a terrible epidemic of dysentery. More than 20,000 men died in a very short time, forcing Charles Quint to turn back and return home, head down crossing the Var and Le Muy one last time.
On Tuesday 19 September 1536 (a doubt remains on the date: 12, 13 or 19), the rest of the imperial troupe arrived at the Muy and was considerably slowed down in his retreat because a watch-apens opened by some ten Muyois (50 according to some) took place at the foot of the famous Saint Anne Tower of this beautiful town of the Muy.
It must be said that in Muy, at that time, we were recently French but proud of being and that defending his freedoms against invader was an obligation. A dozen Muyois loyal to the king and courageous therefore set a trap to the omnipotent emperor. The trap was simple: one locks in the armed tower of the Arquebuses, one waits for the passage of the emperor and his suite and one shoots in the pile! How do we recognize the emperor and his successor? Very simple: when a caravan with well-dressed strong people will pass at the foot of the tower, it will certainly be the emperor and this is where it will have to be fired. The courage of these Muyois, who knew perfectly well that they would not emerge alive from this tense trap, must be praised.
The imperial troupe began its long parade when suddenly the Muyois saw a man of a high stature sitting on a white horse, well dressed and surrounded by a whole procession which they immediately took for the emperor.
Many shots followed and the man taken for Charles Quint was shot down.
Unfortunately for our Muyois, there was a mistake about the person: the man shot down was not Charles Quint but the soldier poet Garcilaso de La Vega. For those who, like me, do not know this poet, know that in Spain he is now considered one of the major authors of Spanish literature.
This trap set against the emperor did not remain unpunished, the emperor had some cannons fired, ordered the assault of the Tower. However, to avoid wasting too much time, Charles Quint, after some assaults, decided to negotiate rather than attack. He promised life to the Muyois if they surrendered. The Muyois accepted the emperor's offer, surrendered... before they were all hanged at the foot of the Tower. Charles Quint obviously did not respect his word and thus avenged himself of the death of his poet friend.
After this assault and summary executions, the troops returned to Nice and Italy without ever returning to Provence.
The defeats in Provence remain in history as Charles Quint's biggest failures. He left Provence in a deplorable state, where famines and misery reigned for many months following this invasion!
I would like to point out here that another version (probably true but less romantic in which its oblivion...) exists concerning the death of the poet in the Muy: Garcilaso would have injured himself during the assault of the tower by falling from a ladder. He died in Nice a few days later as a result of his injury.
But whatever the versions, the important thing is to know that some brave brave men rose against the invader. This action is in my view more than symbolic because it was one of the first actions proving Provence's attachment to France.
Since that day the Saint Anne Tower has been called the Charles Quint Tower in tribute to these martyrs of the Muy, who have been somewhat forgotten.
André Abbe : ago 480 years old, the Spaniards fought in Provence. Three commemorative plaques testify to this:
– A plaque in Spanish to the glory of the prince of poets Garcilaso de la Vega wounded to death "by mistake" at the foot of this tower.
– A plaque in French, tribute to Garcilasso, with a "s" too much to his name.
– A plaque in Provencal to the glory of Muyois who have paid with their lives this blow of arquebus.
For nearly 500 years, the Muyois word of mouth tells us that on the tower there were 12 adults who were hanged and a teenager who had life saved but ears cut off.
Patrick Fabre
The wool from home...
PAtrick Fabre – Director of the Maison de la Transhumance – says:
Although long regarded as the main production of sheep farming, wool is now classified by the European Union as a « Animal by-product ».
Since the 1950s, synthetic fibres have dominated the textile market, with wool accounting for less than 2% of the fibres used worldwide.
In France, many textile companies have closed or been relocated. Currently, most French wools are sent to China to be washed and processed industrially, and then returned to France or neighbouring countries as finished products. At the worst times, the sale of raw wool did not even pay the shearer, which made it appear to farmers as a burdensome waste and cost generator.
In recent years, however, wool has regained momentum in a variety of areas such as housing, furnishings and especially clothing. Recent attention to natural and renewable resources, research into product traceability, interest in small processing structures in the context of territorial development, for small breeds, give new impetus to wool development. Everywhere in France, individual or collective initiatives are developing.
In the south-east, in addition to existing enterprises: the Brun factory of Vian Tiran (Vaucluse), SCOP Ardelaine (Ardèche), the sonatures of Chantemerle and Valgaudemar (Hautes-Alpes), more and more breeders are learning to sort wool and to enhance it in the form of polotes, clothes or carpets.
This is the case of the Raiolaine association, where about 20 raile sheep breeders, located in the Gard, Herault, Lozère, Aveyron and Ardèche, are relaunching a local woolry activity for bedding, felt, yarn or weaving.
In the Alpes-Maritimes, breeders travel to Sardinia to transform the long and very resistant sheep wool for carpeting. This initiative also allows for the promotion of the Brigasque race, typical of the Southern Alps and Italian Piedmont, but on the verge of extinction.
The Merilainos association, which brings together about fifteen breeders, has transformed the merino sheep wool of Arles into combed wool in Piedmont. Each breeder is then responsible for the sale of wool, most often retail in the form of pelottes and, for some, in knitting kits and underwear.
As the exhibition will recall « Beast with wool: the merino of Arles », inaugurated on Friday 18 May at the Musée des Alpilles (Saint-Rémy-de-Provence), the Merino breed of Arles was created more than two hundred years ago in Pays d'Arles to improve the quality of wool from local breeds. It now produces the finest and most inflating in Europe in the world, and is logically the one whose courses are currently the most promising.
The Maison de la transhumance takes its part in this new momentum, with the recent organisation for breeders of a trip to the Italian Piemonte, as well as the development of hiking clothes within the framework of the project La Routo.
So, do we have to believe in wool again? Why not?
