🇫🇷 Monflanquin 🏡 The Most Beautiful Village of France | Walking Tour With Captions | 4K-60fps

Place Des Arcades Hello everyone! Welcome to Monflanquin, village included in the list of the Most Beautiful Villages of France. Monflanquin is located in the Lot-et-Garonne department, the Nouvelle Aquitaine region. Now its 10 a.m., so we will discover this village with less people outdoors. Founded in 1256, the bastide of Monflanquin is one of some 50 bastides created by Alphonse de Poitiers, brother of Saint-Louis and Count of Toulouse. Despite the numerous conflicts which agitated this border region of Haut-Agenais, Monflanquin, often destroyed then rebuilt, still offers the visitor beautiful testimonies of its medieval past. Everywhere in the town you can see the information plates like this: THE HOUSE OF THE BLACK PRINCE Historical Monument. Its ribbed vaults and twin bays dominate the square. The Black Prince, son of King Edward III of England and winner of John the Good at Poitiers in 1356, is said to have stayed there. He was nicknamed so because of his black armor. Given its privileged location and its decoration, this house was certainly reserved for the use of the most influential person in the town, the Bayle or the Sénéchal. Place des Arcades Monflanquin Town Hall Rue des Arcades Rue des Arcades, Place Caladon TRADE IN 1749 The 1749 survey document indicates in the Crugiers square: a weaver, a weaver and Porte Saint André: a shoemaker, and a rope maker on the ditches of the town. In the bastide, there were 18 shoemakers, numerous weavers, drapers, tailors, sargers", and: 3 sworn surgeons, 3 butchers, 3 innkeepers (sic), coopers and carpenters, a cutler, a doctor of medicine, a marshal shoe, a buttonhole... THE CALADON SQUARE In the middle of the 18th century, Intendant Tourny charged Sieur Caladon with the beautification of "the Tour de Ville promenade", with retaining walls and plantations. It was on this square, in 1673, that the Protestants built a temple, destroyed in 1687 after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. At the beginning of the 20th century, a hall was built there ("poultry hall"), demolished in 1985. Rue de Vignes, Rue de l'Union, Monflanquin Sundial Rue des Vignes Rue de l'Union THE SUNDIAL Its origin is unknown. Restored in 1912 and 1982. The Bible mentions sundials among the Pharaohs. The Arabs introduced it to the West in the 15th century. In our countryside, specialized craftsmen made them on houses or barns. Facing due south, it indicates the time one hour before and one hour after noon, for the sole purpose of setting watches. Tested on July 22, 1990, at noon, it advanced by 2 minutes. Place des Arcades Armillary Sphere Under the arcade a sculpture forgotten there by a local artist imitates an astrolabe to indicate to us without any error the direction of the center of the earth... FAIRS AND MARKETS The market has been held every Thursday on the central square since 1256. Peasants came to sell the products of their soil, buy tools, cloth, salt, grain, animals, exchange news, conclude deals... For each item sold, the Bayle received an entry and exit fee, depending on its value. At fairs, a foreign seller had to pay one denarius per manload as an entry fee. When the market disappeared in the 18th century, the grain measures were transferred under this angle. THE CHARTER OF CUSTOMS - 1256 In June 1256, the Seneschal of Agenais granted the inhabitants of Monflanquin, in the name of Alphonse de Poitiers, Count of Toulouse, a Charter of Customs. This reference text sets out the rights and duties of residents, while granting them certain privileges. Preserving people from lordly arbitrariness, these freedoms first attracted peasants to the new town. Confirmed and expanded in 1269, the charter provides for the right to purchase a plot of land outside the bastide. The urban plot thus extended into the countryside. Rue Sainte-Marie, panoramic view of the valley Rue Sainte-Marie The town is watered by the Lède and its tributaries the Leyze and the Laussou. The Lède is itself a tributary of the Lot on the right bank, therefore a sub-tributary of the Garonne. Fortified church of Saint-André de Monflanquin Fortified church of Saint-André de Monflanquin THE CHURCH OF SAINT-ANDRE It has preserved from its foundation (1250 - 1290) the base of its walls and its listed portal. Participating in the defense of the Bastide, it constituted one of the strong points of the enclosure. Its fortified apse was partly rebuilt in the 18th century then, recently, opened up with modern stained glass windows. The single nave, collapsed, was reworked in 1715 and the ribbed vaults restored in 1864. The bell tower took on its fortified, pseudo-romantic appearance in 1923. Place des Arcades ALPHONSE DE POITIERS, THE FOUNDER It was in 1252 that Guillaume Amanieu, Lord of Calviac, ceded the mountain of Monflanquin to Alphonse de Poitiers, Count of Toulouse and brother of Saint-Louis, in order to found a BASTIDE there. The agreement is sealed in a Contract which provides for a sharing of the city's revenues between the two partners, as well as the plan for the future town, The residential blocks are delimited by orthogonally traced streets. Currently held at the Public Record Office, London. THE CORNIERES Monflanquin has kept its four cornières. The merchants, owners of the land, can set up their stall there, sheltered from the rain and the sun. A right of way is owed to the public. The ground was paved in 1983, replacing clay or cement. Note the presence of cellars under each house and the diversity of the portico-pillars of the arcades. And, on the square side, passages which allow access to the upper floor without going through the store. Cornier: who is at the corner (in English: corner). Rue de l'Union, Carrerot des Augustins WOOD, EARTH and STONE The foundation contract of 1252 required future inhabitants to build their house within the year. The first Monflanquinois built half-timbered wooden houses, filled with adobe (raw earth). They built their house themselves with available and inexpensive materials. The assembly of the beams was done on the ground. We can still see the marks of the workers on some of them. The few stone houses belonged to the richest families. It was in the 18th century that the use of stone became widespread. 1789: THE GRIEVANCES On January 20, 1789, in the Augustinian chapel later attributed to the Protestants for their temple, the principal and notable inhabitants of the present city and jurisdiction gathered to prepare the Book of Grievances of the Third Estate. This assembly is made up of bourgeois, artisans and laborers. It was on March 6, 1789, this time in the church, that 185 men signed the text written after January 20 and designated the 19 deputies of the Third Estate in Agen. THE AUGUSTINS An Augustinian convent existed outside the walls. The place called “Clos des Pères” keeps its memory. It was burned during the wars of religion and monks were thrown into a well during a bloody episode. In 1624, they settled in this area of the bastide. The convent was on the current location of the "Foyer du 3ème agê". All they had to do was cross the square to get to the chapel, which in 1806 became the Protestant temple. The Augustins left Monflanquin in 1790. THE LAUGH OF THE CHIMERA - by Michel HAILLARD - 2003 Tour de VIlle, Monument to the dead of 1914-1918 THE COMMUNE OF MONFLANQUIN TO ITS GLORIOUS CHILDREN FALLEN FOR FRANCE - 1914-1918 Rue Saint-Pierre, Rue de la Paix, Rue Sainte-Marie, Protestant temple of the Monflanquin United Church THE TEMPLE The Reformation marked the history of Monflanquin where Protestantism became powerful. At one time, the Protestants settled in half of the church to hold their services, the other half remaining for the Catholics. In 1673, with stones from the ramparts, they were able to build their temple which was demolished following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Passage Duffou, Carrerot des Cabanes, Passage Couttian In 1806, a decree from Napoleon allocated the Augustinian Chapel to them. The current pediment, the Bible and the cross date from 1876. The facade and interior were restored in 1990. THE GOOSE SILO This grain silo, discovered in 1991 during the repaving and restoration work of the square, would have served as a "pantry", the inhabitants storing grain there in wicker baskets. Dug into the limestone rock, it could predate the construction of the Bastide, when the peasants used this type of "cache" to hide their reserves from the lord or the bandits. Later it was used as a dump. Shards of 14th century pottery and the entire skeleton of a goose were removed. 1289, THE FIRST CENSUS We owe it to Edward I, King of England. ndeed, Monflanquin, a Bastide of French creation, came under English domination when the Agenais returned to the Plantagenets in 1279. This census counts 620 inhabitants within the walls, thirty years after the founding of the bastide. The aspiration for more freedom and security, and demographic pressure, attracted a good population of the new city, fulfilling the founder's wish.