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Beaugency | |
|---|---|
 Château de Beaugency | |
 Flag .svg) Coat of arms | |
 Location of Beaugency | |
  Beaugency  Beaugency | |
| Coordinates:47°46′45″N1°37′57″E / 47.7792°N 1.6325°E /47.7792; 1.6325 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Centre-Val de Loire |
| Department | Loiret |
| Arrondissement | Orléans |
| Canton | Beaugency |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2020–2026) | Jacques Mesas[1] |
Area 1 | 16.45 km2 (6.35 sq mi) |
| Population (2023)[2] | 8,024 |
| • Density | 487.8/km2 (1,263/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 45028 /45190 |
| Elevation | 78–118 m (256–387 ft) (avg. 98 m or 322 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Beaugency (French pronunciation:[boʒɑ̃si]ⓘ) is acommune in theLoiretdepartment,Centre-Val de Loire, north-centralFrance. It is located on the Loire river, upriver (northeast) fromBlois and downriver fromOrléans.
Medieval
Aaron ben Joseph of Beaugency andEliezer of Beaugency were Bible commentators andrabbinical scholars, who flourished in the twelfth century in the city.
Lords of Beaugency
The lords of Beaugency attained considerable importance in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries; at the end of the 13th century they sold thefiefdom to the Crown. They were responsible for building Château de Beaugency, which as originally a wooden structure, later replaced with a stone one byLancelin I de Beaugency, the first lord of Beaugency. The massive original keep is today a ruined shell, surrounded by a mansion built later on in the 14th century.
The family that became the lords or Seigneurs of Beaugency started with Landry sore. His son Lancelin I established the family as the Seigneurs and accordingly they took the last name 'de Beaugency' (of Beaugency) which was a common practise among the nobility.
Lancelin I replaced the wooden castle with a stone one.
Jean de la Flèche, a younger son of Lancelin I de Beaugency, was born at the castle and later succeeded his father as the second lord ofLa Flèche. He was also granted lands inYorkshire,England byWilliam the Conqueror and some of his decedents settled there and became theFletcher family. He Married Paula of Maine and they were father toElias I, Count of Maine, grandfather toKing Henry II of England.
Between 1067-1069 Lancelin II succeeds his father as the second lord of Beaugency. In 1080 he goes on a pilgrimage to Rome and his son, Ralph ruled the lordship of Beaugency in his absence.
In 1091 the third lord of Beaugency is Ralph I (1065-1130) who took part in the First Crusade as a retainer in the forces ofStephen, Count of Blois, (father ofStephen, King of England) who he was listed as 'one of his best men'. Ralph became known for his bravery in defending an important gate during the siege ofAntioch in the Spring of 1098. He returned from Crusade in 1101 and marries Mathilda of Vermandois, daughter ofHugh the Great,Count of Vermandois and niece to theking of France.
Following this union, the Beaugency lords adopted acoat-of-arms similar to that of theCount of Vermandois - Chequy or and azure, a fesse gules (very similar to thede Clifford family) and 3 white Plate Roundels. This practice was also carried out by other prominent noble families linked to Vermandois, including Ralph I's brother in lawsRobert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester and afterwardsWilliam de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey on their marriage to his wife's younger sister,Elizabeth of Vermandois, Countess of Leicester. The Arms used by the de WarenneEarl of Surrey are quartered and are still used by their relations, theDukes of Norfolk. The arms of the Earl's of Surrey are still used as theFlag of the English county of Surry.
11 March 1152 the council of Beaugency annulled the marriage betweenEleanor of Aquitaine andLouis VII atNotre-Dame de Beaugency.
Renaissance
Afterward it passed to the house of Orléans, then to those ofDunois andLongueville, and ultimately again to that of Orléans.[3]
The city of Beaugency has been the site of numerous military conflicts. It was occupied on four separate occasions by the English. On 16–17 June 1429, it was the site of the famousBattle of Beaugency, when it was freed byJoan of Arc. Beaugency also played an important strategic role in theHundred Years' War. It was burned by theProtestants in 1567 and suffered extensive damage to the walls, the castle, and the church.
Modern
On 8, 9 and 10 December 1870 thePrussian army, commanded by thegrand-duke of Mecklenburg, defeated the Frencharmy of the Loire, underGeneral Chanzy, in the secondbattle of Beaugency (or Villorceau-Josnes). It was fought on the right bank of the Loire to the northwest of Beaugency.[3]
In 1940 and again in 1944, the city was bombed by Nazi Germany. On 16 September 1944, German Major GeneralBotho Henning Elster surrendered his 18 850 men and 754 officers at the Loire bridge of Beaugency to the U.S. Army after being harassed and surrounded by theFrench Résistance.
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Until 1846 Beaugency was an important commercial center due to trade along the Loire. After trade moved from the river to rail traffic, the city's role changed. Beaugency became a market center for the surrounding agricultural district. Today Beaugency's economy depends largely ontourism.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Beaugency".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 587–588.
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