From en.wikipedia.org:
[Former province of France] [[File:Bellême_vu_du_ciel.jpg|thumb|right|Bellême,
one of Perche's capitals[1]]] PERCHE ([fr]) (French: _le Perche_) is a former
province of France, known historically for its forests and, for the past two
centuries, for the Percheron draft horse breed. Until the French Revolution,
Perche was bounded by four ancient territories of northwestern France: the
provinces of Maine, Normandy, and Orléanais, and the region of
Beauce.[Orléanais and Beauce were collectively known as Pays Chartrain]
Afterwards it was absorbed into the present-day departments of Orne and
Eure-et-Loir, with small parts in the neighboring departments of Eure,
Loir-et-Cher, and Sarthe.<ref name=Thompson>{{cite book | first = Kathleen
| last = Thompson | title = Power and Border Lordship in Medieval France: The County of the Perche, 1000-1226 | publisher = Boydell & Brewer | pages = 5, 9 ("the Perche" and modern equivalent), 11 (margins, formation), 13 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SJJ6SKK2nZAC | date = 2002 | isbn = 9780861932542 | access-date = 21 March 2018}}
** Toponymy
_Perche_ is known by the following ancient Latin and French toponymic
designations: [la], [la] before the 6th century, [la] and [la] in the 6th
century, [la] no date and [815], [la] in the 11th century, [la] in 1045, [la]
in 1160–1174 and in 1308, [la] in[nbsp]1238, [la] in[nbsp]1246,[2][3] where
the names starting by [la] or [la] denote [la],[According Auguste Longnon 1878
: Le nom latin du Perche est _Perticus_ . Auguste Longnon (1878).
_Géographie de la Gaule au VI<sup>e</sup> siècle_ , Paris (corrected to Pert [
ic ] ensis). [155]] the terms [la] and [la] mean forest,[According to René
Musset : "Le Perche est mentionné pour la première fois au VI <sup> e </sup>
siècle, par Grégoise de Tours , sous le non de _pagus pertensis_ ( _pert [
ic]ensis_ ); à partir de ce moment, il est souvent question dans les textes du
Perche, appelé tantôt _pagus perticus_ , tantôt _silva pertica_ . Il semble
bien, sans qu’on puisse l’affirmer avec une entière certitude, que le mot de
Perche soit étymologiquement un vieux nom de forêt. Il est hors de tout doute
que l’expression de _pagus perticus_ désigne une région naturelle, non une
circonscription administrative : le Perche ne deviendra tel que dans la
seconde moitié du XI <sup> e </sup> siècle. Le Perche est donc un pays, et ce
pays est une _silva_ , une forêt." René Musset (1919) "Le Perche - Nom de
pays" (see https://www.persee.fr/doc/geo_0003-4010_1919_num_28_155_9257) .
_Annales de géographie_ . [351]] _Saltus_ designates a wooded mountainous
region, frontier, wildlife refuge,[According to Centre Généalogique de l'Orne
et du Perche - De la préhistoire aux invasions Normandes (see
http://www.orne-perche.org/page/OP_Perche.aspx) citing Dict. latin-français
de Riemann et Goelzer : « Le sens précis de saltus est "région montueuse et
boisée... retraite de bêtes fauves" »][According to Sarah Fourcade citing
Pierre Toubert in _Frontière et frontières : un objet historique_ , p. 14 : «
.. . . la frontière constitue une zone de développement. Certes, avant
d’être mise en valeur et de devenir rentable, la frontière n’est qu’un
‘’saltus’’, une zone où peut s’observer « le phénomène inverse de
désertification frontière », avec cette image tenace jusqu'au XI <sup> e
</sup> siècle. . . », Sarah Fourcade (2018). "Frontière et marche, société
et noblesse de frontière en péninsule Ibérique" (see
https://journals.openedition.org/e-spania/28491) ] [la] means country, and
[la] refers to a tall-treed forest.[According to Ville de Québec, toponymie,
Perche : "Au Moyen Âge, la forêt recouvre presque entièrement le territoire du
Perche, comme le dénote son nom originel : Sylva pertica, du latin pertica, «
perche » ou « grand arbre »."]
A hypothesis put forth by the linguist Guy Villette based on the name _Perche_
having initially designated the forest region, and not the province, would
have _Perche_ represent the pre-Celtic name of Indo-European origin
*_perkʷ-ik-ā_ (forest) with long trees », dissimilated into *pertika, and
transmitted as such in the Gallic language, even though the initial _p-_ was
foreign to this language.[4] The indo-european radical *_perkʷu-_, "large
tree: oak, pine, fir, beech . . ." is also the origin of the Latin word [la]
"oak" and the common Germanic word *_furhu-_, source of the English and German
words _fir_ and [de] (pine family), respectively.<ref name="Villette"/>
Until about the 11th or 12th century, such terms as [la] or _pagus
Pertecensis_ used in connection with Perche's ancient forest are accordingly
understood to refer to a frontier region without precise geographical limits
and thus not to a clearly defined political or administrative territory.[5]
** Geography
Before the French Revolution, Perche was bounded by the following ancient
provinces: Normandy to the north and west, Maine to the west, Beauce to the
east and Orléanais to the south.
Perche is dominated by four topographical-featured arcs:[6]
- An outer arc marked by the high edge of a flat high plateau to the west and south of the Perche's eastern and northern limits
- An inner arc, concentric to the high plateau edge arc, defined by the Huisne River , a tributary of the Sarthe River , situated in Perche's irregular lowlands.
- Forest arcs in _les collines du Perche_ (the Perche hills) on either side of the Huisne, consisting of a main forest arc off the Huisne's left bank stretching from Moulins-la-Marche to Montmirail and a secondary forest arc off the Huisne's right bank from Pervenchères to Le Thiel .
Within the Huisne watershed lie the three unofficial Perche capitals:
Nogent-le-Rotrou (economic capital), Mortagne-au-Perche[7] (administrative
capital) and Bellême[8] (historical capital).[9]
The Perche hills[Collines du Perche] are the source of numerous small
tributaries of the Seine River watershed via the Eure, Avre, Iton and Risle
rivers and the Loire River watershed via the Huisne, Loir and Sarthe rivers.
*** Perche's principal towns
The following table lists the principal towns in Perche province along with
the distance of any given town to Condé-sur-Huisne, situated near Perche's
geographic center:
{| class="wikitable" | |km | |km | |km | |km | |km |- |Arrou |48 |Ceton |23
|La Ferté-Vidame |29 |Luigny |31 |Senonches |29 |- | Authon-du-Perche | 29 |
Chateauneuf-en-Thymerais |40 | La Loupe |18 |Montmirail |41 |Thiron-Gardais
|15 |- | Bellême | 27 | Condé-sur-Huisne |~0 | Le Gault-du-Perche |43
|Mortagne-au-Perche |31 |Tourouvre |44 |- | Brezolles |45 | Digny |32
|Longny-au-Perche |22 |Nogent-le-Rotrou |8 |Verneuil-sur-Avre | |- |}
*** Peripheral towns
Nearby towns in the four ancient provinces along the periphery of Perche
province include (starting from the north, clockwise): L'Aigle, Dreux,
Chartres, Châteaudun, Le Mans, Mamers, Alençon and Sées.
** Economy
Agriculture and tourism constitute the economic focus of Perche's natural
region, the largest parts of which are located within the departments of Orne
and Eure-et-Loir, in the regions of Normandy and Centre-Val de Loire,
respectively.
The Percheron breed of draft horses originated in Perche's Huisne river valley
and is identified throughout the world as the Perche's most well known symbol.
Apples (for hard cider) and pears are grown throughout the Perche territory.
** History
*** Prehistory
Perche's prehistory is manifested by megaliths (dolmens, menhirs) and
prehistoric tools of flint, bronze, and iron.<ref name=fadp-Histoire>[ title =
Un peu d'Histoire]
*** Middle Ages
[Lords, counts and dukes of Perche]
Perche was essentially a region between other regions: <blockquote>"_. . .
the Perche was not based on an existing administratative unit, such as its
neighbors, the counties of Maine and Chartres , nor was it coterminous with an
ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It grew up at the margins of several larger
units, and there was no major population focus nor great religious centre such
as a cathedral or ancient abbey within it. It owed its existence to the
ambition and energy of successive members of a lineage of warrior elite."_<ref
name=Thompson /></blockquote>
The Romans found possession of the Perche forests was necessary for the
conquest of the vast Armorique and Normandy territories extending from the
Loire estuary off the Atlantic coast to Dieppe off the English Channel.<ref
name=trizay>[url=http://www.trizay-perche.org/5000_histoire.html]
Until the Viking or Norman invasions in the 9th century, Perche was a
relatively remote area bounded on all sides by the following Gaul-Roman
territories and Celtic peoples: to the east and south the Carnutes people in
Chartrain territory based in Chartres; to the northeast the Aulerques
Eburoviques people in Évreux territory based in Évreux; to the southwest the
Aulerques Cénomans people in Maine territory based in Le Mans; and to the
northwest the Hyesmois (Essuins) people in Exmes territory based in Séez.[10]
These territories eventually became first Roman civitates, to then become the
dioceses of Chartres, Evreux, Le Mans and Séez. that did not change
significantly in terms of geographical limits until the
Revolution.[11][12][13] Thus Perche has traditionally been shared between
three of these four dioceses as follows:[14]
- Parishes in northwest Perche such as in the town of Mortagne have been part of Séez diocese;
- Parishes in eastern Perche such as in the towns of Tourouvre and Nogent-le-Rotrou have been part of Chartres diocese;
- Parishes in southwest Perche such as in the town of Bellême have been part of Le Mans diocese.
- The Commune of Thiron-Gardais was occupied by the mother abbey of the Tironensian Order of monks who founded the order in 1106.
In the Middle Ages, the County of Perche was controlled by an independent line
of counts. By the 12th century, two large families contended for control of
the Perche region: the Talvas of Bellême family and the Rotrou family of
Nogent-le-Rotrou. In 1114, Rotrou III annexed Bellême. In 1226, Count
Geoffroy V would have been a leader of the Fourth Crusade had he not died
before its departure to the Near East. This end of the Rotrou dynasty led to
the region's annexation to the Crown of France (by inheritance). At this
time, the crown divided part of the region to create the county of Alençon.
After 1325, both counties were generally held by a member or members of a
cadet branch of the House of Valois. During the Hundred Years War, partisans
of England plundered Perche, destroyed its nobility, and burned many castles
and abbeys. In 1449, free from English domination, Perche began
reconstruction. Upon the death of Alençon's last duke (1525), rule returned
to and remained under the French crown, and was granted only sporadically
thereafter.<ref name=Thompson /><ref name=fadp-Histoire /><ref name=trizay />
*** Modern times
In the three decades starting in 1632, a large proportion of immigrants to New
France came from Perche, in what has been called the Percheron immigration
movement.[15] Many Percherons were thus recruited to work in seigneuries being
establishing along the Saint Lawrence valley. The Beauport seigneurie, New
France's first agricultural-oriented seigneurie, was granted in 1634 to Robert
Giffard de Moncel by the Company of Hundred Associates. While the total
number of emigrants was small, Perche had a much higher rate of emigration to
New France than most other regions of France. Nearly all French Canadians
have some ancestors from the villages of Perche.<ref name=fadp-Histoire />
Prominent last names from Perche who came to Canada starting just before the
end of Samuel de Champlain's tenure include: Côté, Boucher, Cloutier, Guyon
(Dion), Tremblay and Paradis.[16]
After the French Revolution, Perche was divided into four departments: Orne,
Eure-et-Loir, Sarthe, and Loir-et-Cher. At this time, national law replaced
_:FR:coûtume du Perche_ or local, customary law.<ref name=fadp-Histoire />
In 1998, the government of France created the Perche Regional Nature Park
(_Parc naturel régional du Perche_ – see :FR:Perche (région naturelle)).[17]
The park is forested mostly by beech, birch, chestnut, oak (especially sessile
and pedunculate species), as well as conifers (especially Douglas fir and pine
species)[18] populated by wildlife including boar, buzzard, deer, squirrel,
woodcock and woodpecker species.[19]<ref name=Parc>[ title = The true nature
of Perche]
** Notes
[Notelist]
** References
[Reflist]
** See also
- Communes of the Eure department
- :FR:Perche (région naturelle)
- Zacharie Cloutier
- Tironensian Order
** External links
- Association Perche-Canada (see http://www.perche-canada.net/)
- Centre Généalogique de l'Orne et du Perche (see http://www.orne-perche.org/)
- Parc naturel régional du Perche (see http://www.parc-naturel-perche.fr/en/)
- perche-quebec.com (see http://www.perche-quebec.com/files/perche/lieux/perche-en.htm)
- [ first = Colette]
- Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society (see http://www.vt-fcgs.org/leperche.html) : Le Perche
[Historic Provinces of France]
Category:Former provinces of France Category:Geography of Eure
Category:Geography of Eure-et-Loir Category:Geography of Loir-et-Cher
Category:Geography of Orne Category:Geography of Sarthe Category:History of
Normandy Category:History of Centre-Val de Loire Category:History of Pays de
la Loire Category:History of Eure Category:History of Eure-et-Loir
Category:History of Loir-et-Cher Category:History of Orne Category:History of
Sarthe