The Passadoc Gazette - No 61

The Quiz!
We talk a little, a lot, passionately... Gaspard-Félix Tournachon... Arnaud Beltrame... The Treaty of Turin... The theriac... The desolating destiny of the little Versailles Montpellieran... Southern accent!... The Occitanie by bicycle... The Zouaves of the Imperial Guard... The villa Sainte-Christine... Mirepoix and Castelneau-de-Montmiral... The Popes in Avignon...
Vagabondages...
Photos from yesterday
The Library of Passadoc

Philippe Natalini

Gaspard-Félix Tournachon,

This pionner of photographic art, who died on 20 March 1910 – 112 years ago – had taken up residence in Marseille, and had created a workshop there.

Born on 6 April 1820 in Paris, Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, nicknamed « Nadar », was a French photographer, cartoonist and aeronaut. In 1851, he launched the project « Nadar Pantheon » and draws more than three hundred portraits of famous men. Success is immediate.

In 1854, Nadar turned to photography and published a series of photographs of the most prominent personalities of the moment. In 1858, he was the first to make aerial photography on board a balloon. From 1894 to 1900, he moved to Marseilles to create a photographic workshop, then returned to Paris, where he died.

Jeanne Monin adds:

In Champrosay (district of Draveil – Essonne), Nadar was a neighbour of Daudet.

« All members of the Daudet clan gave this neighbour a little eccentric, but so loving, affection full of tenderness. Madame Daudet mentioned one of these visits in 1893: « Nadar, five hEvening ures, in front of the cottage, Mrs. Nadar is sitting... Nadar's conversation is delicious... The house remains weird and pleasant, cut into corners and corners, windows and doors to the devil, little appentis... »Nadar also comes to Daudet and meets Goncourt [who writes]: « Nadar I find this morning, still in red vause, in Daudet's cabinet, talks about memories he wants to publish under the name of « Book of Nadar ». It's Leon again who, prefacing the book of Nadar « When I was a photographer », sum up the man of his time: « For us, he is the representative of an admirable generation in which he led his way without treachery, where he was not ashamed of being cheerful. »

Text and photo taken from Julia and Alphonse Daudet in Draveil – A couple of writers in Champrosay – Pages 146 and 147 – Literary Circle and History of Draveil – 1997.

Arnaud Beltrame

Four years already... On the night of March 23-24, 2018, Arnaud Beltrame, lieutenant-colonel of the gendarmerie, died from the wounds inflicted by a terrorist, at the Super U de Trèbes (Aude).

Arnaud Beltrame had voluntarily replaced a hostage, and this heroic rescue cost him his life. What dictated this man's choice: to replace the hostage of a particular terrorist?

General Lizurey, General Director of the Gendarmerie at the time, explained: Putting oneself in the hands of a terrorist who wants to kill is obviously not in any internal procedural text and will never be. But a gendarmerie takes an oath to serve the population, including, sometimes, if necessary, at the risk of his own life. Arnaud Beltrame did not apply the procedures! He did better. He kept his oath..

This choice belongs to his judgment and his humanistic conscience, determined that he was to protect his neighbor, no matter what.

The Treaty of Turin

162 years ago, Nice was officially attached to France, as was Savoie, by the treaty signed at Turin on 24 March 1860 between France and Sardinia.

France and Sardinia first signed an alliance treaty (26 January 1859) to drive Austria out of Northern Italy. Promoting Italian unity, Napoleon III wanted to recover Nice and Savoy lost by France in 1814. The war ended with the peace of Zurich (10 November 1859): Austria gave Lombardy to France, which gave it to Italy, which for a few years still retained Veneto. On 24 March 1860, King Victor Emmanuel II agreed to surrender Nice and Savoie to France. This Treaty of Turin specifies the manner in which this transfer must be accepted by the populations concerned. So a mock vote is organized (no list of electors, no ballot) « No ») and leads to a plebiscite for attachment.

A year later, on 17 March 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed.

However, the delineation convention of 7 March 1861 left the heads of the valleys of the Roya, Tinea and Vesubia to Italy and especially Tende and La Brig, despite the vote of the population during the plebiscite of annexation, as King Victor Emmanuel II had the habit of hunting in this region.

The declaration of war between Italy and France on 10 June 1940 enabled the French government to have several coveted areas occupied at the end of the war (order to General Dean, commanding the army detachment of the Alps, dated 29 April 1945), and to obtain a correction of the border during the peace treaty of 10 February 1947.

The border was changed on five points, in particular the upper Roya valley with Tende and La Brig, which were attached to France, with the agreement of the population. Subsequently, the sector of the ski resort of Clavières was returned to Italy by a simple exchange of letters dated 28 September 1967.

Alain Cathala

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The Theriac

It was a medicine used since ancient times, effective against pain and poison. This learned mixture with many components and complicated preparation, was very successful. Which is understandable when one observes the large amount of d a preparation that was the subject of public masterful sessions at the faculty of medicine attended by the students but also by the bourgeois and cultivated bourgeois of the city.

The desoling destiny of the Petit Versailles Montpellieran

From the road you can barely see it. At best one can guess the presence of a ruin that would have escaped the appetite of the concretemakers. A ruin that owes its salvation only to the ranking in « flood zone » the area in which it remains.

But for a few years it was the mostrand the most sumptuous of Montpellier castles: smaller than Versailles or Vaux-le-Vicomte, but larger and richer decorated than most others « Montpellieran madness » : Alco, La Piscine, Bionne, La Mogère, ...

Text borrowed from Jean Louis Jabale – Photo Wikipedia.

Southern accent!

Click! Odette tells...
Accent, a poem by Miguel Zamacoïs (1866-1955).

To steal from having no accent is to steal from the sentences their grace and energy.
The accent is the soul of the discourse, it gives it the feeling and the truth.

Emile or Education – Jean-Jacques Rousseau

L-Occitanie by bicycle!

Promenade du Viaduc, between Arre and Le Vigan, a green road on the old railway line Tournemire – Le Vigan, in the Cevennes. This short section is an element of a future bike route that will link Nimes to Albi in term by Sommières, Le Vigan, Alzon and the Larzac.

The Zouaves of the Imperial Guard

By royal ordinance of 21 March 1831, the body of the Zouaves [Name of a Kabyl tribe from which soldiers were recruited] is officially approved. Formed during the conquest of Algeria in 1830, the Zouaves units were initially composed by natives and then by French from Algeria. The Imperial Guard joined a Zouaves regiment in 1854.

This regiment participated in the Crimean War, which, in 1855, opposed France and England to Russia. During the siege of Sevastopol and the capture of Malakoff, the Zouaves of the Guard are illustrated by their exemplary conduct. The Italian campaign of 1859 gave them another opportunity to stand out, notably on 4 June, at the Battle of Magenta.

The "eastern" outfit clearly distinguishes the zouaves from the rest of the French infantry. It is designed by the captain of Lamoricière who is inspired by the local dress traditions already introduced into the French armies by the Mamluks of Bonaparte. Zouaves wear a traditional outfit composed of a chechia as a cap, a bedaia in jacket, a sedria below (gilet, bolero) and a sarouel in trousers. In the army, they represent an elite troupe, united by a strong spirit of body, known for his fearlessness and resourcefulness. Their popularity is international since the formations of zouaves in the United States, in Poland or in the service of the pope are increasing. The successes of the African army in the conquest and pacification of Algeria and the presence of three of Louis-Philippe's sons in its ranks make it very popular.

The theatre and opera shop quickly picks up this colourful and easily provocative character.

[This army corps was known for being overly disciplined, which, it was claimed, made men stupid. It is from this Berber tribe that the expression comes « make the zouave » meaning « make Idiot » adopting extravagant behaviours that are supposed to amuse an audience.]

Text: Antoinette Prieto

The villa Sainte-Christine

Today it is owned by the institute of Christ-Roi, formerly known as Villa de Baichis and formerly Dupré-Nevet, at the time when it welcomed in its green setting the most uprooted society of tourists in Montpellier who resided at the Nevet hotel, opening on the Place de la Comédie.

It is one of the most beautiful marinas north of Montpellier, rue du Pioch de Boutonnet... This is where the famous botanist Braun-Blanquet (1884-1980), founder of the school of plant sociology, lived...

Giselle Prenot-Lorde

Mirepoix and Castelnau-de-Montmiral

Two municipalities of Tarn and Ariège have been classified as remarkable heritage sites.

In Ariège, it is Mirepoix. Some sources speak of a heretical gathering in Mirepoix in 1206 perhaps by confusing this meeting (or to prepare for it) with that of Montreal and Fanjeaux in front of the Pope's Legats and the future of Santo Domingo. The city then became a bastion of the crusade with the appropriation of Guy de Lévis (one of Simon de Montfort's lieutenants).

Seat of a Catholic bishopric (they then multiply in the region), the city plays a conservative role (then leaguer) at the time of the appearance of Protestantism (unlike Limoux more east!)

In the Tarn, Castelnau-de-Montmiral : Raymond de Toulouse's bastide was less cathar than the nearby towns of Penne or Gaillac. During the Hundred Years War, Castelnau belonged to the Armagnacs (so in the camp opposing that of most Toulouse and Pyrenean Occitans).
Castelnau-de-Montmiral never joins Protestantism and welcomes the Catholics of Gaillac, who were driven out of the city by the majority Protestants. In January 1587, an attack by Protestant captain Bruniquel was repulsed. According to legend, a woman returning to draw water from the fountain of Theron would have given the alarm, forcing the assailants to a hasty retreat. Louis XIII returning from the siege of Saint-Antonin (Protestant bastion) passed to Castelnau-de-Montmiral on June 24, 1622, housed in the house of Tonnac
Wikip

Popes in Avignon

The installation of popes in Avignon, most often from southwestern France, in fact the Provençals of adoption, gave the city a cosmopolitan character and an exceptional vitality of the Italian Renaissance (construction of monuments, residence of artists, etc.).

Click! Full text on this page! .

Just a moment to remember this « Prince » Avignon, born in Cannes...

He was a prince in Avignon.
Without kingdom without castle or dungeon
But his words sang us the countryside
Great Kings of Spain
When the evening went down we became spectators
And the city with him was more than a heart