Nogent-le-Rotou is one of three towns that claims to be the capital of the Perche region; the other two are Bellême and Mortagne-au-Perche, which I've been blogging about for a few days. Charles-Henry (my late Parisian friend) and I had lunch in Nogent on our way to Alençon in June 2015. Besides having lunch there, we made it a point to go see the château Saint-Jean, built on a spur of rock above the town.
The town of Nogent was burned by order of the French king Charles VII in the year 1449, during the 100 Years' War, to keep it from being captured by the English and used as a base of operations in that war. That's what the Micheline Green guidebook says. The town was rapidly rebuilt when the war ended, according to Michelin.
The Rotrous were the Counts of the Perche region. They lived in the château Saint-Jean, the oldest parts of which date back to the 10th century A.D. Back then, the Perche was border land separating the territories of the French kings to the south and the territories of the Dukes of Normandy to the north. The first prominent member of the Rotrou family died in the year 996, Wikipédia says.
The château was heavily damaged by German bombardments in June 1940. German forces occupied it until August 1944, when it was re-taken by the French.
I would feel safe behind those walls!
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine being a peasant, roaming the lands, and coming across structures like this?
ReplyDelete