The Cathars were in the south, interestingly enough. One of the big motives for Catharism was disgust with the lifestyles of Catholic clergy -- sounds quite Protestant to me! And this was in the 13th century, so it seems like a proto-Protestant inclination had already been in place there for some time. The Cathars were, of course, eventually done in by the "brute barbarism" of "knights from across the Loire" (over a million slaughtered, if memory serves).
I have been to France a number of times and it is a greatly enjoyable country. In my early days of travel, the focus was always Paris, but recent trips had me enjoying France outside Paris more (poor Paris, increasingly "same-same" with London and New York and globetrotting bobos and hipsters everywhere, drinking the same coffee and reading the same books, and increasingly the same politics and views and agonizing over remote causes far away while ignoring more imminent but deeply unfashionable local issues). But outside Paris France is resolutely France. And that is what stands out most of all, perhaps: the still pervasive pride in being French + the region. I used to joke the reason Americans and the French got on each other's nerves so often was because we were both equally arrogant and prideful.
I recently read "Travels With a Donkey in the Cevennes" by Robert Louis Stevenson. I had never heard of the Cevennes or the Camisard religious war. Quite fascinating.
Nice. I visited Mont St Michel in April and also St Malo. I didn’t realise the latter was actually destroyed in ww2 and mostly rebuilt. You’d never know
As students forty years ago we spent a summer driving around France at a leisurely pace in a battered Morris Traveller. French kids on campsites loved the wooden car and enjoyed pretending to drive it. On the way to Mont St Michel we stopped at a small garage for fuel and I asked for water to fill the radiator. The two old French blokes at the garage said ok, disappeared, and returned grinning holding a large bag of water with a goldfish in it. They thought this was hilarious. Was a good summer.
Tangentially, when I was last there I admired the statue on the harbour and looked up the guy, Robert Surcouf. His is a truly wild story that I'd recommend to anyone
"it’s the south which is more Protestant"
The Cathars were in the south, interestingly enough. One of the big motives for Catharism was disgust with the lifestyles of Catholic clergy -- sounds quite Protestant to me! And this was in the 13th century, so it seems like a proto-Protestant inclination had already been in place there for some time. The Cathars were, of course, eventually done in by the "brute barbarism" of "knights from across the Loire" (over a million slaughtered, if memory serves).
I have been to France a number of times and it is a greatly enjoyable country. In my early days of travel, the focus was always Paris, but recent trips had me enjoying France outside Paris more (poor Paris, increasingly "same-same" with London and New York and globetrotting bobos and hipsters everywhere, drinking the same coffee and reading the same books, and increasingly the same politics and views and agonizing over remote causes far away while ignoring more imminent but deeply unfashionable local issues). But outside Paris France is resolutely France. And that is what stands out most of all, perhaps: the still pervasive pride in being French + the region. I used to joke the reason Americans and the French got on each other's nerves so often was because we were both equally arrogant and prideful.
Excellent article. I've requested the book from the library.
you will not be disappointed!
I recently read "Travels With a Donkey in the Cevennes" by Robert Louis Stevenson. I had never heard of the Cevennes or the Camisard religious war. Quite fascinating.
Greetings from my terrasse, on the Cotentin. The longer I live here, the more alien (but also homely) France feels to me.
Nice. I visited Mont St Michel in April and also St Malo. I didn’t realise the latter was actually destroyed in ww2 and mostly rebuilt. You’d never know
As students forty years ago we spent a summer driving around France at a leisurely pace in a battered Morris Traveller. French kids on campsites loved the wooden car and enjoyed pretending to drive it. On the way to Mont St Michel we stopped at a small garage for fuel and I asked for water to fill the radiator. The two old French blokes at the garage said ok, disappeared, and returned grinning holding a large bag of water with a goldfish in it. They thought this was hilarious. Was a good summer.
Lol
That is pretty funny.
Yes -- it was
Tangentially, when I was last there I admired the statue on the harbour and looked up the guy, Robert Surcouf. His is a truly wild story that I'd recommend to anyone