Ile-de-France [antikvár]

TIME RECAPTUREDby André BourinOtones can cry out, says the Evangelist. They can also talk. They evoke past centuries, the events they once witnessed and the humans who shaped and decorated them. Very much like older persons who have lived a long time, ancient dwellings are full of memories, which they are most eager to tell, when asked. Let us listen to them. The past then returns. Everything reappears in life-like colors. Time is recaptured.Thus the châteaux of Ile-de-France have preserved between their walls and under the foliage in their parks many traces of their past - a glorious past, even an heroic one, for some of them. But it is not always necessary that History (with a capital "H") mark with its royal seal a noble house in order for posterity to remember its name, for history (with a small "h") has a lot to tell us as well. Let us lend our ear. Let us pay attention. Let us prepare for a journey through the centuries.However, before we go (do not rush, please !), let us ponder a moment over this name: Ile-de-France (historic heartland of France, the central region of the Parisian Basin). It makes us dream. It sounds puzzling. Why does it include the word island? There is no sea around it. The geographers tell us its name is justified by the fact that four streams Seine, Marne, Oise and Aisne more or less trace its contours. That is mere approximation. Ile-de-France, unlike other provinces - such as Brittany, Provence or Burgundy -, has, indeed, no natural borders, nor has it a geographical unity. It is a collection of small regions with various physiognomies, often wooded, favored by Nature's generosity. Most of them have charming names: Valois (so praised by Gérard de Nerval), Vexin, Parisis, French Brie, Mantoix, Hurepoix, Soissonnais, Beauvoisis, Gatinais. Their borders are no longer obvious, because, as the historians teach us, Hugh Capet and his successors (patiently, but not without struggles) built their kingdom on this piece of land, to which the Franks had already given their name in the IXth century. Renouncing the Carolingians' nomadic ways, they had chosen Paris for residence and capital city. They had to protect themselves from the invaders' attacks, they needed solid outposts and sufficient territory to break freely. The cities were enclosed with ramparts; at strategic points were erected fortified castles whose ruins, still today, testify to their power, as in La Roche-Guyon, Senlis, Provins, Montlhéry, Montfort-L'Amaury and many other places. Ile-de-France was formed and welded, but it was only in later texts that the4