Beaulieu-lès-Loches | |
|---|---|
 Abbey church | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
 Location of Beaulieu-lès-Loches | |
  Beaulieu-lès-Loches  Beaulieu-lès-Loches | |
| Coordinates:47°07′45″N1°00′58″E / 47.1292°N 1.0161°E /47.1292; 1.0161 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Centre-Val de Loire |
| Department | Indre-et-Loire |
| Arrondissement | Loches |
| Canton | Loches |
| Intercommunality | CC Loches Sud Touraine |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2022–2026) | Sophie Métadier[1] |
Area 1 | 3.88 km2 (1.50 sq mi) |
| Population (2022)[2] | 1,746 |
| • Density | 450/km2 (1,170/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 37020 /37600 |
| Elevation | 68–121 m (223–397 ft) (avg. 72 m or 236 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Beaulieu-lès-Loches (French pronunciation:[boljølɛlɔʃ], literallyBeaulieunearLoches) is acommune in theIndre-et-Loiredepartment in centralFrance.
A great abbey church namedBelli Locus dedicated to theHoly Sepulchre was founded in the early 11th century byFulk Nerra,Count of Anjou, who is buried in the chancel.[3] In 1011Pope Sergius IV donated somerelics ofSaints Chrysanthus and Daria and Fulk himself a piece of the Holy Sepulchre he stole from his visit toJerusalem to the abbey. The pope settled a dispute over the abbey's consecration with theArchbishop of Tours by himself sending alegate to consecrate it.
Around the abbey, a town developed, with a charter of rights for a market and fairs. A mint was permitted at the abbey. Beaulieu was once the seat of abarony.[3]
Here,Henry III of France signed theEdict of Beaulieu in 1576 to put an end to the fifth war of religion, grantingProtestants better rights. Soon after, the sixth war of religion started.
Beaulieu had, in the past, a more successful economical life than that of its near neighbours in Loches, until the 19th century. The town declined after that and now is considered no more than a suburb of Loches.As evidence of the decline, from the demographic standpoint, the decrease from 1750 inhabitants (in 1769) to 1720 (in 1999) occurred over a period when the total French population has more than doubled.
Beaulieu was renamed Beaulieu-lès-Loches on 1 March 1957.
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 1,756 | — |
| 1975 | 1,769 | +0.11% |
| 1982 | 1,768 | −0.01% |
| 1990 | 1,864 | +0.66% |
| 1999 | 1,720 | −0.89% |
| 2007 | 1,686 | −0.25% |
| 2012 | 1,787 | +1.17% |
| 2017 | 1,767 | −0.22% |
| Source: INSEE[4] | ||
The inhabitants are known asBellilociens in French.
Three churches were built in the town: Saint Laurent, St. Pierre and St André.Today, only Saint Laurent stands, dating from the fifteenth century and comprising the chancel and one transept of the abbey of the Holy Sepulchre. Of the abbey, theRomanesque nave is in ruins, but of the two towers one survives intact; it is square, crowned with an octagonal steeple of stone, and is one of the finest extant monuments of Romanesque architecture.[3] Only vestigial traces remain of the other two churches.
There once existed an aristocratic neighbourhood, the House of the Templars and the house of the "Salt Attic" being most notable buildings.Of the abbey’s minor buildings, the Prior’s house and some convent buildings (where the Town Hall is now located) still exist, as well as the cloisters and gardens surrounding the abbey.
The Convent of the Viantaises, now all but gone, was founded in 1643 by Catherine-Angélique and Rénée-Thérèse of Boursault, daughters of theMarquis of Viantais, the lord ofBridoré.The nuns that lived there were the "Sisters of the order ofSt Augustine, Daughters of the mother of God" and they came from the grandest families in the region. Isolated from the world by a five-meters-high wall, the convent was situated in a poorly drained marshy area, harmful to the health of the nuns, several of whom died early, of various fevers. This convent was dissolved in 1791, following the opposition of the nuns to the reorganization of theCatholic Church brought about by theFrench Revolution.
The remains of the chapel of a leper colony (La Madeleine), built in the 12th century, is still visible outside the walls of the town. You can see the canal of Beaulieu, built on the orders of the monks, to drain the waters of theIndre and facilitate the construction of mills.Some walls are still visible but the gateways were destroyed at the end of the 18th century because they interfered with timber transportation.One other notable building, the Chevaleau tower, dates back to the 12th century, a small keep on the route deJerusalem .
During theHundred Years War, the town was besieged, sacked and generally used and abused by the troops besieging the fortress ofLoches. After this difficult period, the town of Beaulieu never really recovered. Despite the return of the kings toTouraine (Charles VII of France having lived inLoches) and the re-installation of some noble families in the town (for example, the house ofAgnès Sorel), the position did not improve. The Wars of Religion saw a return to more disturbances in the town, which eventually put itself gently to sleep.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Loches".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 840.
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