A floral Coat of Arms of the du Plessis family.

The arms of the du Plessis family are three crimson chevrons, points up, on a silver ground. 

Nice try gardeners; next year 2008, start with the plants from the other wheelbarrow!

Night photos around the newly laid-out Square.

Domaine de la Garrelière, Razines

The vineyard of the 2nd Duke of Richelieu, grand-son of the Cardinal-Duke's niece.
A Touraine appellation 'biodynamic' vineyard created by Pascale and François Plouzeau
Alone on a hilltop in the southern reaches of the Touraine appellation, outside of the town of Richelieu, resides the small, carefully-managed Domaine de la Garrelière. During Cardinal Richelieu's heyday in the 1630s, vineyards on this hilltop supplied his court with wine. In the late 19th century, these vineyards were several times larger than they are today, but were abandoned when phylloxera hit. It wasn't until the early 1970s when Pascale and François Plouzeau founded Domaine de la Garrelière that this historic viticulture was resurrected. Today this 20-hectare (50 acres) domaine is farmed entirely biodynamically, a pro-active form of organic farming. François is a modest yet passionate man and his wines reflect this. He often waits until October to harvest for optimal ripeness and he picks at rigorously low yields (40-45 hectoliters per hectare in an appellation where the norm is over 60), ensuring that both ripeness and minerality are captured in the bottle. Moreover, he works well with lees, with the result that his wines have very fine length and spice in the finish.
François makes a classique line of Sauvignon, Gamay, and Cabernet Franc—delicious wines all, marked by striking freshness and purity. His luxury cuvées are Cendrillon (Cinderella), comprised of Sauvignon Blanc from tank and a dollop of Chardonnay from barrel; Carabas, a barrel-aged blend of 80% Chenin and 20% Chardonnay; and Cinabre, 100% Cabernet Franc aged 14 months in two to three-year-old barriques and bottled without filtration.
Cendrillon was singled out as the best white wine of the Touraine appellation for vintage 2001 (now there's an accolade!) by La Revue de Vin de France, France's leading wine magazine. And critic Jacqueline Friedrich put Garrelière among her top ten emerging Loire stars profiled in the March, 2001 issue of the English magazine Decanter. Quite simply, Garrelière makes some of the best price/quality wines in the Loire Valley and they are only getting better.
The web-site of the Plouzeau family.
The Domaine de la Garrelière site.

The cardinal's signature

Armand Cardinal de Richelieu

An aerial photo with the new place du Marché

The new tree-less place du Marché may be spotted at the far end of town in this recent south-looking view of the walled town. Thanks to PixAile.com whose site may be reached from the link to the left 'Beautiful aerial photos.......'.

The Duchesse d'Aiguillon, the Cardinal's favourite niece.

Marie-Madeleine de Vignerod, du Pont de Courlay, Madame de Combalet, duchesse d’Aiguillon (1604-1675) was the neice of Cardinal Richelieu. Daughter of René de Vignerod, Seigneur of Pont de Courlay, the second husband of Françoise du Plessis(1578-1616), elder sister of the Cardinal, Marie-Madelaine was woman of culture and letters, speaking four languages; she was the first to defend the play ‘Le Cid’, written by Corneille. Gustavus the III of Sweden considered her the ‘living newspaper’ of the new Academie Française. Marie de Medici (Louis XIII’s mother) and Anne of Austria (Louis XIII’s Queen) counted her amoungst their friends.

Madame d’Aiguillon lived in Paris with her uncle in the Petit Luxembourg, at 17 rue Vaugirard. All the supplicants who hoped to meet Cardinal Richelieu in person came and crowded into her salon. The niece of the 'Great Man' showed a degree of simplicity which held her to be highly esteemed.

Amoung those invited to her salon were Jean-Jacques Olier, financier of the colonisation of ‘Nouvelle-France’ (in today’s Nova Scotia), Saint Vincent de Paul, of whom she was a treasured companion, Paul Scarron, Madame de Souvré. the Marquise de Sablé, Marie-Marthe d’Alléon, Lady Dupré de Saint Maure, wife of the Intendant de Bordeaux, Adelaide Labille, painter, Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, comtesse de La Fayette, Anne Doni, demoiselle d'Attichy, comtesse de Maure; Pierre Corneille, Anne de Neufbourg, baroness de Vigean; Blaise Pascal, Marie de Gonzague.

Don’t forget her protegés; men of letters Jean Ogier de Gamaud, Vincent Voiture, Guillaume Colletet, Georges de Scudéry (the brother of Madeleine) and Julie-Lucine d'Angenne Montausier as well as Mademoiselle de Gournay, spiritual daughter of Montaigne.

From her French ‘salon’, the Duchess d’Aiguillon was a caretaker of the new American colony, and provided subsidies for it which supplied the establishment of the Hôtel-Dieu and the Convent of the Ursulines in Québec, as well as the Hôtel-Dieu and the Convent of the Congrégation de Nôtre-Dame in Montréal. In addition the benefactress paid the travelling costs to Québec of the three first nurses of the Order of nursing Augustines Hospitaliéres of the Miseriecorde of Jesus who took responsibiliy for the hospital in 1639.

In 1620 she married a nephew of the Constable de Luynes, Antoine de Beauvoir du Roure, Sieur de Combalet, who died in 1622 after only two years. In 1625, through her uncle's influence, she was made a lady-in-waiting (dame d'atour) to the Queen Mother Marie de Medici, and in 1638 was created the duchess of Aiguillon. Childless, she did not marry a second time, although Richelieu wished to marry her to a Prince - either to the Comte de Soissons or to the King's brother, Gaston d'Orleans. After the death of the Cardinal in 1642 she retained her honours and titles, but withdrew from the court, and devoted herself entirely to works of charity. She entered into relations with Saint Vincent de Paul and helped him to establish the Hospital for Foundlings. She also took part in organizing the General Hospital and several others in the provinces. She died on the 17th of April 1675 at the age of 71. She was the patroness of Corneille, who in 1636 dedicated to her his famous tragedy of 'Le Cid'.

She was appointed the executor of Richelieu’s estate on his death in 1642. He left his newly-completed Château and Town in her stewardship.

*****************************************************************************************************************In the CITÉ IDÉALE of today the name ‘Duchess d’Aiguillon’ is that of a Patissier/Chocolatier and organic baker who makes very fine breads and pâtissserie, and is located on the south-west side of the place des Religieuses. The chocolates are, well, .............soon gone!

'Cordon Bleu' and the 'l'Ordre du Saint-Ésprit'

Le Cordon Bleu (French for "blue ribbon") is an international group of hospitality management and cooking schools teaching French cuisine.

The origin of the name of the school comes from l'ordre des Chevaliers du Saint-Esprit, an élite group of French knights that was created in 1578 by King Henri III. Each member was awarded the Cross of the Holy Spirit, which hung from a wide blue ribbon. The Cardinal de Richelieu always seems to sport the blue ribbon and cross in his official portraits. It had also been awarded to the Cardinals father by Henri IV.
According to one story, the chivalric order became known for their extravagant and luxurious banquets, known as "cordon bleu." While these dinners ended with the French Revolution, the name remained synonymous with excellent cooking. Another theory has it simply that the blue ribbon became synonymous with excellence, and this was later applied to other fields such as cooking.

The name was adopted by the French culinary magazine, La Cuisinière Cordon Bleu, founded by Marthe Distel in the early 19th century. The magazine began offering special lessons by some of the best chefs in France. This eventually grew to become a cooking school that opened in Paris in 1895 and quickly became one of the most elite cooking schools in the world.

Les Vins de Fronsac

The wine of Fronsac; the Claret of the Dukes of Fronsac and Richelieu

FRONSAC and CANON-FRONSAC are AOCs located very close to Pomerol and to St. Emilion.They produce excellent wine. However, although today the name of Fronsac is not as famous as the two neighbouring names quoted above, this situation was not the case at the XVIIIth century. These wines were preferred at the Court of Versailles. At that time the quality of the wine of Fronsac was well known and many wanted to plant grapes on this 'terroire'. But local aristocrats forbade their farmers to plant vines on their estates. With the Revolution of 1789 everything changed. Lands were confiscated and then re-distributed. The new farmers planted vines everywhere, wanting to produce the maximum quantity. But one cannot produce a high-class wine unless the output is controlled and limited, and unless the soil is neither too wet nor too rich in character.

The topography of the communes of Fronsac name is varied. There are vineyards at some height where limestone is more or less close to surface, and there are areas that are easily flooded on the edges of both the rivers l'Isle and Dordogne. The geological composition of these lower areas is not the same and they do not produce the same wine. On these river banks, Vines rooted in areas rich in fertile alluvia and moisture can provide a grape in very large quantity, but it is far from equalling that produced in the less easily flooded areas. At the Revolution in 1798 these lower fertile areas were planted in vines and much wine was produced. As it was produced within the Fronsac area this wine was sold under the name of Fronsac and so contributed to a strong decline in the reputation of the 'appelation'.
Still today there remain vines in these easily-flooded zones of Fronsac, but their wine cannot not to be sold as a product of the Appelation d'Origine Controlée 'Fronsac'.

In his book 'The Wines of Bordeaux', Professor J-R Roger of the Academy of the wines of France, summed up these wines as follows:

"Nine hundred hectares of beautiful sunny vineyards. Nine hundred hectares of a generous soil where clay, mixed with asterised limestone, on a base of fossilized shells, produces a wine of a incomparable richness. This wine combines the charm of the Bordeaux wine with the strength of Burgundy.

Wine coloured, vigorous, fleshy, frank of taste and with a particular sappy tang and, sometimes, a slightly spiced taste. An excellent wine after a sufficiently prolonged ageing."

Examples:
FRONSAC

1 Le Defi de Fontenil (France) Fronsac "Lot 5"
The "defiant" wine, because Michel Rolland covered the ground in plastic sheeting to prevent excess rain seeping though, which incurred the wrath of the AOC, so it is not allowed Appellation Côntrollée, status and, because of that, cannot be vintage dated. This then is a Vin de Table "Lot 05" rather than 2005. It has a huge, creamy nose, with plenty of ripe, juicy red fruits. Palate has a richness and depth of red fruits that become quite silky and really floods the mouth. Lovely quality of tannins, with a certain dryness and inkiness that is perhaps too much, but the sweetness of fruit comes through. Not quite my style, but very impressive. 91/100

2 Chateau Fontenil (France) Fronsac 2005
From the same vineyards, but made according to AOC rules. Lovely plumy, rich, rounded red fruit character, with a certain plump lusciousness. There is lovely fruit on the palate. A real bite of delicious black plum skins adds acidity and ripe, dark, glossy tannins. Fine quality here and I might prefer this version personally. 90-91/100

3 Chateau Haut-Mazeris (France) Fronsac 2005
Jean-Luc Thunevin (Valandruad) is consultant here There's a lovely freshness about this on the nose, with a fine raspberry fruit quality running through to the palate and lovely fruit quality and crispness to the tannins. 90/100

4 Chateau Richelieu (Fronsac) 2005
Slightly paint-boxy note, reminds me of a decent Cru Beaujolais weirdly enough, but mineral and plumskin qualities start to grip and the richness is there. Balanced in the end. 89/100

5 Le Favorite de Chateau Richelieu (Fronsac) 2005
Slightly more intense, with plenty of meaty, rich, smooth tannic presence and very good length. Good fruit sweetness comes though and there is acidity to balance a very big structure. Promising. 90/100

6 Chateau Rouselle (Fronsac) 2205
Ripe, full, very dense but a certain elegance. Needs time for wood to soften massively dense fruit and tannin structure on the palate. 88/100

CANON-FRONSAC

1 Chateau Haut-Mazeris (France) Canon-Fronsac 2005
From part of the same vineyard as Haut-Mazeris Fronsac, that just crosses into the Canon-Fronsac appellation. These are 100-year-old vines and the nose has a much more plush, chocolaty depth with a plummy fruit quality. Big, warm and mouthfilling, with solid tannins and fruit but fine balance, this is impressive. 91-92/100

2 Chateau Vrai Canon Bouché (France) Canon-Fronsac 2005
Very bright, dry, a touch paint-boxy aromatics. The sweetness of the fruit comes through on the palate, with a nice grippy depth of blue/black fruit, cherry skin acidity and good tannins without swamping the fruit. 88/100

Armand-Jean du Plessis, DUKE OF FRONSAC (and Richelieu)

THE DUKES OF FRONSAC
The first elevation:
The title of Duke of Fronsac was first of all created for the Orleans-Longueville family, sinister (or bastard) branch of the Valois royal family. It was discontinued in this line in 1631.
1608 - 1622 Leonor d'Orléans-Longueville (1605-1622), duke of Fronsac, Count of Saint-Pol, successor to the title
dies without issue. His successor is:
1622-1631 Francois d'Orléans-Longueville (1570-1631), Count of Saint Pol, Duke of Fronsac (1608) and Château Thierry, father to the precedent and son of Leonor (1540-1573) Duke of Estouteville, Duke de Longueville and of Marie d'Estouteville (1539-1601). He married Ann de Caumont (1574-1642), Marquise de Fronsac. The line of sucession stops

Second elevation:
In 1634 the title of Duke of Fronsac was created a second time to the profit of Cardinal de Richelieu, already created Duke of Richelieu.
1634-1642: Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duke of Richelieu, now also Duke of Fronsac.
1642-1646: Admiral Armand de Maille-Brézé, nephew of the precendent, Duke of Fronsac
Claire-Clenence de Maillé-Brézé (1628-1694), duchesse of Fronsac and duchesse of Caumont, neice of the Cardinal by his younger sister Nichole (1587-1635), marries (1641) Louis II of Bourbon-Condé (1621-1686), called the 'Grand Condé'.
1646-1709: Henri Jules de Bourbon-Condé (1643-1709) Prince of Condé, Duke of Enghien, Duke of Bourbon, Duke of Fronsac, Duke of Caumont, Duke of Beaupréau, Marquis of Brézé.
1709-1715: Louis Francois Armand de Vignerot du Plessis (1696-1788) Duke of Fronsac and Duke of Richelieu, Marshall of France.
1715-1788: Louis Antoine Sophie de Vignerot du Plessis, Duke of Fronsac and Duke of Richelieu, son of the precedent.
1788-1822: Armand Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duke of Fronsac and Duke of Richelieu, son of the precedent, Minister of Foreign Affairs, twice Prime Minister of France.

The head of the Cardinal in 1895

The marble tomb of Richelieu in front of the Altar of the Chapel of the Sorbonnne in Paris. It was sculpted by François Girardon in 1675.


The mummified head of Richelieu photographed in 1895. The situation is described in the article below. Click anywhere on the article's image to read it more easily.


During the French Revolution, Richelieu's body was removed from its tomb for reburial elsewhere, and the mummified front of his head, having been removed and replaced during the original embalming process, was stolen. It ended up in the possession of Nicholas Armez of Brittany by 1796, and he occasionally exhibited the well-preserved face. His nephew, Louis-Philippe Armez, inherited it and also occasionally exhibited it and lent it out for study. In 1866, Napoleon III persuaded Armez to return the face to the government for reinterrment with the rest of Richelieu's body (Murphy, 1995).

A Memoire of the the mystic last Duke........

THE 8th & LAST DUKE OF RICHELIEU by Swami Nikhilananda

"The Duke of Richelieu, a Marshal of France and scion of the French nobility, died on May 30, 1952, at the age of seventy-six. The eigth Duke was the last to bear this illustrious title.

The full name of the 8th Duke was Marie Odet Jean Armand de Chapelle de Jumilhac, Duc de Richelieu. The title was first conferred upon Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis by Louis XIII. Before the Cardinal died he obtained permission to bequeath the title to his grand nephew, Jean de Vignerot, first Duke of Richelieu, an ancestor of the Marshal. Another of the Duke's ancestors served in the Russian army under Empress Catherine and founded the city of Odessa in the early nineteenth century, subsequently returning to France to serve as Premier under Louis XVIII.

The Duke of Richelieu, born in Paris, was the son of the second Duc Armand de Richelieu and the former Marie Alice Heine, who, after her first husband's death, married Prince Albert of Monaco. He studied at a Jesuit school in France and graduated from the University of Aix-en-Provence. In 1913, he married miss Elinor Douglas Wise, of Baltimore. The ceremony was performed by the late Cardinal Gibbons, who gave the opening benediction at the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. The Duchess, who studied voice in France with Mme Emma Eames, the noted American singer, gave many concerts for the benefit of tubercular French soldiers.

In 1930, the Duke presented his chateau and its park of more than one thousand acres, which originally belonged to Cardinal Richelieu, to the university of Paris as a place of rest for French professors and a guest-house for visiting foreign professors.

The Duke travelled extensively in Europe and America and was regarded as an authority on eighteenth century English literature. He could speak fluently in several European languages and was brilliant in conversation. Even in casual talk he was able to draw striking comparisons not only between modern writing and that of the past, but between historical developments of today and yesterday. The Duke was a keen student of politics. I spent many hours with him in political and cultural discussions and thoroughly enjoyed his penetrating wit. He never indulged in small or cheap talk.

I first met the Duke in 1934 when I was crossing over to France. Immediately after the ship had left the pier in New York, I was told by Princess Matchabelli that the Duke of Richelieu earnestly wanted to speak to me. We met after dinner on the deck of the tourist class, by which I was travelling. He said to me that he had known Swami Vivekananda. They had met in Paris in 1900, at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Francis H. Leggett, devoted disciples of the Swamiji. It was the time of the Paris Exposition, in connection with which the late Sir J. C. Bose was the Indian representative at the Congress of Scientists. The Leggetts used to invite notables to their house and entertained them lavishly.

We saw each other many times in New York. Both the Duke and Duchess became fond of me and often invited me to their house for dinner or luncheon, where I met noted men in politics and public life. On several occasions the Duke and Duchess came to the Centre for dinner. The last time I saw the Duke was in Miami, Florida, in April, 1952. We had lunch together and he discussed the present world tension from a philosophical standpoint. He looked very fragile. But as usual he was very animated and excited in conversation. After returning to New York he caught pneumonia, which proved fatal to him.

During the past few years the Duke of Richelieu was in indifferent health. He knew that he was living on borrowed time. We saw his slight body wearing out day by day from an incurable illness. But his power of mind remained unimpaired till the very last. In conversation he often towered high over the intellects of others. Courtesy and culture radiated from every pore of his skin. Whenever he came to our Centre for dinner, he would go to the kitchen, after the meal was over, to thank the cook and the maid personally for the food.
With the passing away of the 8th Duke of Richelieu, a link with the past has been severed. I felt highly honoured when the Duchess requested me to be one of the honorary pall-bearers at his funeral."

Alice Heine, the penultimate Duchess of Richelieu

An article from the New York Times of 1889

Alice Heine (February 10, 1858 – December 22, 1925), styled HSH the Princess of Monaco and the Duchess of Richelieu, was the American-born second wife of Prince Albert I of Monaco, a great-grandfather of Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Marcel Proust used her as a model for the princesse de Luxembourg in In Search of Lost Time.
She was born Marie Alice Heine at 900 Rue Royale, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Her German Jewish father, Michel Heine, was a scion of a prominent Berlin and Paris banking family and a nephew of poet Heinrich Heine. He had emigrated from Germany to Paris in 1840, moved to New Orleans in 1843, and become a successful financier and real-estate developer. Her mother was Amelie Miltenberger, an architect's daughter, whose family had built three interconnected Miltenberger mansions on rue Royale.
The American Civil War sent the family back to France, where the teenage Alice's youth and beauty, and her family's wealth, made a great impression in Parisian society. A & M Heine, her father's firm, helped finance Napoleon III’s war with Prussia.
After converting from Judaism to Catholicism, Alice married her first husband, Marie Odet Armand Chapelle, Marquis of Jumilhac, 7th Duke of Richelieu, on February 27, 1875. Their only son, Armand, became the 8th and last Duke of Richelieu on the death of his father on June 28, 1880.
Alice's second marriage, to His Serene Highness Prince Albert I of Monaco, Sovereign Prince of Monaco, occurred on October 30, 1889. The prince, whose first wife had been a daughter of a Scottish duke, was an oceanographer and during his long journeys at sea, Alice took great interest in the Monegasque opera season.
She brought a strong business acumen, showing an understanding far beyond her years. Having helped put her husband's principality on a sound financial footing, she would devote her energies to making Monaco one of Europe's great cultural centers with its Opera, theater, and the ballet under the direction of the famed Russian impresario, Serge Diaghilev. Her relationship with composer Isidore de Lara resulted in Prince Albert striking her in view of an audience at the Salle Garnier.
The Prince and Princess of Monaco separated judicially on May 30, 1902 (Monaco) and June 3, 1902 (France), but remained married. Upon the prince's death 20 years later, Alice became HSH the Dowager Princess of Monaco. She did not remarry.

These were her titles from birth to death:
Miss Marie Alice Heine (1857–1874)
Her Grace The Marquise of Jumilhac (1874–1879)
Her Grace The Duchess of Richelieu and of Fronsac, Marquise of Jumilhac (1879–1880)
Her Grace The Dowager Duchess of Richelieu and of Fronsac, Dowager Marquise of Jumilhac (1880–1889)
Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco (1889–1922)
Her Serene Highness Princess Alice of Monaco, Dowager Princess of Monaco (1922–1925)

These were her entire titles:
Her Serene Highness Princess Alice, The Princess of Monaco, Duchess of Richelieu, Fronsac, Valentinois, Mazarin, Mayenne and Estouteville, Princess of Château-Porcien, Marquise of Jumilhac, Baux-de-Provence, Guiscard and Chilly, Countess of Carladès, Thorigny, Longjumeau, Ferrette, Belfort, Thann and Rosemont, Baronness of Buis, Saint-Lô, la Luthumière, Hambye, Massy, le Calvinet and Altkirch, Lady of Saint-Rémy, Matignon and Issenheim.

From TIME Magazine Monday, Apr. 28, 1930:
"Miss Alice Heine of New Orleans became the mother of the present (and last) 8th Duke de Richelieu. Miss Eleanor Douglas Wise of
Baltimore became his wife. But he remains 100% French.
Last week the 8th Duke presented the Château de Richelieu at Richelieu in Touraine to the Sorbonne.
By the terms of gift the château and its 1,000 acres are created a "perpetual retreat" at the disposal of professors of the Sorbonne. At scholarly ease in the magnificent palace, the professors will enjoy among other things the chief product ot the village of Richelieu, "diamonds of the soil," truffles.
Marie Odet Jean Armand de Chapelle de Jumilhac, Duke de Richelieu, and his American duchess usually reside at another country place. Chateau du Haut-Buisson. nearer Paris. His Eminence the Cardinal Richelieu lies buried in the Chapel of the Sorbonne which he built and in which members of the House of Richelieu have the right to be married and buried."

The time sequence:
1 One of the inheritors of Richelieu emigrated at the Revolution and his goods were conficated in 1792.
2 Resituted much damaged to the family in 1805, the Domaine was put up for sale and bought by a goods merchant in 1832 by the name of Boutron, who acted like a real vandal and demolished the castle in order to sell the building materials. Miraculously, a range of the flank buildings escaped the massacre; the ‘Dôme’ a manege of the stable block as well as the Orangerie and the Cellars.
3 In 1852 a intermediate owner, a Mr Laurence, had a large house built called the ‘Pêtit Château’.
4 In 1877 the Park and the whole Domaine were reassembled into their territorial unity by the banker Michel Heine, who had become, following the marriage of his daughter Alice, the father-in-law of the 7th Duke of Richelieu, then the last representative member of the family.
5 In 1930, Marie-Odet-Armand Chapelle, marquis de Jumilhac, 8th duke of Richelieu, being without decendant, made the donation of the Domaine to the University of Paris, in order to show the connection with him who, before being Minister, had been rector of the College of the Sorbonne and the French university of today.

Thus it was the Alice Heine 'dowry' that made it possible to reinstate the domainal park.

Thank you Michel Heine for your profitable part in Napoleon III's battle with the Prussians, and the paternal affection that saw the Richelieu domainal estate resurrected for the benefit of your pretty daughter, her aristo husband, the Ville Idéale, the Sorbonne and today's general visitor.