Montsoreau () is a commune of the Loire Valley in the Maine-et-Loire department in Western France on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast and from Paris. The village is listed among The Most Beautiful Villages of France () and is part of the Loire Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Montsoreau was identified under the name Restis (rope or fishnet) at the end of classical antiquity as a port on the Loire at the confluence of the Loire and the Vienne. It has taken its name Mount Soreau () from a rocky promontory situated in the riverbed of the Loire and surrounded by water on top of which was built a fortress in 990. There have been three major buildings on this promontory, a Gallo-Roman temple or administrative building, a fortified castle, and a Renaissance palace.
Montsoreau was, until the seventeenth century, a center of jurisdiction and the seigneury of Montsoreau stretched from the river Loire to Seuilly-l'Abbaye and Coudray castle in the south. After the French Revolution, the exploitation of a building stone, the tuffeau stone, abruptly increased its population of 600 inhabitants to more than 1000, maintained during the first half of the nineteenth century. This stone, easy to work, was gradually exhausted, and the population decreased to stabilize again around 600 people. Montsoreau then concentrated its activities on agriculture, wine and river trade until the end of the nineteenth century. During the Twentieth century, Montsoreau has seen river trade replaced by terrestrial trade and the rise of a tourism economy.
Etymology The name Mount Soreau (), appears in its Latin form, for the first time, in 1086 in a cartulary. Mons or Monte (mount) refers to the rocky promontory, located in the river bed of the Loire, and on which was built the fortress of Montsoreau. No interpretation has been given of the name Sorello, which is found in several Latinized forms: Sorello, Sorel, Sorelli.
Its first recorded name at the end of the Roman period (circa AD 800) was the Domaine de Rest, Domaine de Rest-sous-Montsoreau or Restis, Restis (rope or fishnet) referring to its port.
In La Dame de Monsoreau, Alexandre Dumas suggests another origin to the name of the Mont Soreau:
History Prehistory and Antiquity Traces of first settlements and the oldest remains in Montsoreau are set back from the river Loire, on the plateau in high areas. The main witness of this occupation is the , which probably dates from the 3rd millennium BC and is made up of six imposing slabs of hard sandstone coming from deposits in the neighborhood. Montsoreau is located on the borders of the ancient territories of the Gallic tribes of Pictones, Turones and Andecavi. Coins, shards, and fragments of Gallo-Roman tiles, were found in Montsoreau, especially on the edge of the plateau, above the town. The shaft of a fluted column, discovered during excavations of the castle built by Fulk Nerra, could attest to the presence of a notable public building on the top of the rock of Montsoreau.
Middle Ages
The first texts mentioning the domain of Restis dates back to the sixth century. An act of Charles the Bald indicates the presence, in AD 850 of houses, a fishery and a port in Rest. In the middle of the tenth century, according to the hagiographic narratives, mention is made of caves in which the monk Absalon, coming from Tournus, was first considering to shelter the relics of Saint-Florent before bringing them further downstream the Loire and settle in Saumur. In AD 990 the Count of Blois Odo I built a fortress on the rock of Montsoreau and transformed the village into a stronghold. The Count of Anjou, Fulk Nerra, took the fortress in AD 1001 and incorporated it to Anjou. Fulk, who was one of the first great builders of Medieval castles, modified it, and the fortress remained under the control of Anjou, never taken, for more than 150 years. In 1101, during the installation of the Fontevraud community, the abbey of Fontevraud depended on , a direct vassal of the count of Anjou. Gautier's mother-in-law, , was the first grand-prioress during the life of Robert d'Arbrissel. In 1156, Guillaume IV de Montsoreau sided with Geoffroy Plantagenet against his brother Henry II Plantagenet, future king of England and husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry II besieged the castle () and took it at the end of August 1152 despite the care taken at its fortification. This was the one and only storming of the medieval fortress of Montsoreau between Fulk and Jean II de Chambes in 1450.
Renaissance Between the end of the Hundred Years' War and the end of the French Wars of Religion, the history of Montsoreau is closely linked with the history of the Renaissance in Europe and more specifically with the history of the Renaissance in France. At the end of the Hundred Years' War, Charles VII and Louis XI established the royal power in Chinon, and encouraged or ordered their lords to build new buildings or redevelop old fortresses. Thus began the construction of buildings in a new architectural style in France, giving birth to Renaissance architecture in France. These châteaux will be called later the Châteaux of the Loire Valley. In 1450, Jean II de Chambes, First counselor of Charles VII and ambassador in Venice, bought the fortress of Fulk III to his brother-in-law and destroyed it in order to build a residential palace on the top of the rock of Montsoreau (the Mount Soreau). In an unprecedented move, he built the Château de Montsoreau in a residential-style following Italian architecture of the time making it the first Renaissance building in France. The Château de Montsoreau was directly built on the Loire river bank and remains the only château of the Loire Valley to have been built in the river bed of the Loire.
Saint-Bartholomew's Day Massacre inherited the Château de Montsoreau and saw his lands erected in barony in 1560. Montsoreau is looted by Protestants in 1568; the collegiate Sainte Croix and the fortifications of the city are destroyed. Four years later, on 26 August 1572, Puygaillard sent Jean IV de Chambes the order to eliminate the Huguenots from Saumur, then to do the same in Angers. Four days after Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre (24 August 1572), Jean de Chambes arrived in Saumur and killed François Bourneau, lieutenant-general of the city. Cruel and ruthless, Jean de Chambes fought at the siege of Lusignan and the capture of Fontenay-le-Comte, and was reigning terror in the region. The Reformed Church of Saumur was almost eliminated. He then went to Angers, closed the gates of the fortifications and began the gathering of Huguenot personalities, all of whom he killed with his own hands. Warned of the abuses and violence of his governor, Charles IX finally sent him a call to order on 14 September 1572. In 1573, his Barony was raised to the rank of County.
French Revolution and industrialization On 14 July 1789, during the storming of the Bastille, Yves Marie du Bouchet de Sourches was Count of Montsoreau and owner of the château de Montsoreau. On 11 November 1789, the National constituent assembly decreed that "there will be one municipality in every city, town, parish or community of countryside".Archives parlementaires de 1787 à 1860, first serie: 1787–1799, tome X, Although the French revolution had an important impact on him as the Count of Montsoreau, this impact was far more limited on his property of the château de Montsoreau which remained in his hands until it sold in 1804. The revolution gave way to a period of prosperity for the small town, which was famous since the seventeenth century for the quality of its tuffeau, wines and fruits. The industrialization of stone quarrying was the direct consequence of the extraordinary urban growth, consuming volumes unknown until then. It was made possible, as well as facilitated, by the river, which allowed the intensification of trade and river transport. The tuffeau stone was exported regionally, to cities all along the banks of rivers, Angers, Rennes, Nantes and Le Mans, but also surprisingly as far as the Caribbean. The Ship mills were replaced by Windmills as the population of the small city had almost doubled. The industrialization of the means of production in Montsoreau, and at the same time the transformation of the Fontevraud abbey in a prison on order of Napoleon, transformed the city. At first, the construction of the road from Chinon to Saumur around 1830, which allowed the village to gain land on the Loire, and in a second time in 1896, the construction of the tram line Saumur-Montsoreau-Fontevraud.
World War II: The Cadets of Saumur
The battle of Saumur, is considered as the first act of resistance of World War II in France, the next days following the order of Maréchal Petain to ceasefire on 17 June 1940. Following the German offensive of May 1940, the enemy progressing towards the Seine, the General Weygand, ordered to defend all the rivers likely to block the invasion route to the south. Thus the principle of the defense of the Loire was decided. The National School of Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Michon, was given the area from the confluence of the rivers Vienne and Loire at Montsoreau, to Gennes, a front of 40 kilometers. Marshal Petain gave the order to cease the fighting on 17 June. considered that the prestige and the honor of the National School of Cavalry obliged him, despite this order, to fight in Saumur and keep the Germans from crossing the Loire (even with extremely limited means). 790 vacant Aspirants of the Cavalry Reserve, trained in Saumur since May 1940 were deployed in 27 brigades on various strategic points. The night of 18 June, their first act of war was to explode the four strategic bridges on the Loire river, one in Montsoreau, two in Saumur and one in Gennes. For three days, about 2,000 men held three German Panzer divisions, with 40,000 men, in failure, with training material, without air support, without hope, but not without panache. To these inexperienced young fighters whom they themselves called (the Cadets), the German horsemen, soldiers of tradition, did not take them prisoner and released them paying tribute to their courage. This name remained thereafter.
Geography Location Montsoreau is at the center of the Loire Valley, in north-western France, from the Atlantic Ocean, and approximately from Saumur, Chinon and Bourgueil.Distance Calculator It is situated in southeastern Maine-et-Loire department, approximately halfway between Paris and Bordeaux.Paris is air distance from Montsoreau, and Bordeaux is air distance from Montsoreau. – Distance Calculator The village is at the crossroad of the three main administrative regions of, Pays de la Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and of the three departments of Maine-et-Loire, Indre-et-Loire, and Vienne.
Montsoreau is part of the Metropolitan Area of Saumur Val de Loire and share borders with municipalities both in the Maine-et-Loire and Indre-et-Loire departments. These municipalities are: Candes-Saint-Martin, Chouzé-sur-Loire, Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, and Turquant.
Hydrology The Loire river, nicknamed the last wild river in Europe, is the longest river in France (). It is one of the main tourist attraction in Montsoreau, it reaches here, at the confluence of the Vienne and the Loire rivers, its full width. Downstream, it has already been inflated with waters from the Indre and the Cher rivers.Cher meeting point with Loire is in Villandry air distance from Montsoreau, and Indre meeting point with Loire is in Avoine air distance from Montsoreau. – Distance Calculator The river bed has considerably changed over centuries, before the great flood of January 1496 the confluence of the rivers Loire and Vienne was in Saumur.
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