Loiret
Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434.< ...
Orléans
Orléans (;"Orleans" (US) and Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...
at the confluence with the river Mauves. The Mauves, actually three rivers, have their source in the water table of the productive agricultural region of the Beauce.
Image:loire meung sur loire.jpg, The Loire at Meung-sur-Loire
Image:chmeung.jpg, The Mauve in Meung-sur-Loire
History
There is evidence of
mesolithic
The Mesolithic ( Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...
settlements at « Mousseau » and « La Haute-Murée ».
A
Gallo-Roman
Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...
fortified village recorded as ''Magdunum'' was built in the marais adjoining the river, which in 409 was fired by the invading
Alans
The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the A ...
. The marais was drained, according to tradition by
Saint Liphard
Saint Liphardus (or Lifard, Lifardo, Lifardus, Lifart, Lifhard, Lifhart, Liphard, Liphart, Lyphard) was a 6th-century lawyer, hermit and abbot in Meung-sur-Loire near Orléans, France.
His feast day is 3 June.
Guyon's Life
Symphorien Guyon (died 1 ...
around the year 520. The canalisation formed the watercourses known as the mauves. He went on to build the chapel which was to become the monastery and the abbey. His relics were deposited in the church in 1104, the year after Louis VI had founded as fortress.
During the 12th century the church was rebuilt in the
gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style, and fortified accommodation for the abbot built alongside.
Jeanne d'Arc visited in 1429, and this was the site of the Battle of Meung-sur-Loire. The complex was restored in 1570, again during the 19th century and again in 1985.
The river defined the town, in 1857, 38 mills had the right to use the waters of the rivers to power themselves.
Population
Fiction
In fiction, it has been described by
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...
in
The Three Musketeers
''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight f ...
as the village where
d'Artagnan
Charles de Batz de Castelmore (), also known as d'Artagnan and later Count d'Artagnan ( 1611 – 25 June 1673), was a French Musketeer who served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard. He died at the siege of Maastricht in the ...
, en route to join the King's Musketeers in Paris, first encounters the villainous
Comte de Rochefort
The Comte de Rochefort is a secondary fictional character in Alexandre Dumas' ''d'Artagnan Romances''. He is described as approximately 40 to 45 years old in 1625 and "fair with a scar across his cheek".
In ''The Three Musketeers''
Known throug ...
.
Also in fiction, Meung-sur-Loire is the country home of Chief Inspector
Jules Maigret
Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' commissaire'' ("commissioner") of the Paris ''Brigade Criminelle'' ('' Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres''), created b ...
, Georges Simenon's classic crime fiction character. Maigret and his wife Louise eventually retire to their Meung-sur-Loire home, where he spends his time fishing (pike), and she tends, according to her sister, any number of animals.Maigret Returns
Points of interest
* The town is twinned with Lymm in Cheshire, England
*
Arboretum des Prés des Culands
The Arboretum des Prés des Culands (2 hectares), also known as the Conservatoire national d'Ilex, is a private arboretum specializing in Ilex (holly) varieties. It is located at La Nivelle, Meung-sur-Loire, Loiret, Centre-Val de Loire, France, a ...
*
Château de Meung-sur-Loire
The Château de Meung-sur-Loire is a former castle and episcopal palace in the ''commune'' of Meung-sur-Loire in the Loiret ''département'' of France.
The château, located next to the collegial church, was the country residence of the Bishops o ...
Notable residents
*
Jean de Meun
Jean de Meun (or de Meung, ) () was a French author best known for his continuation of the '' Roman de la Rose''.
Life
He was born Jean Clopinel or Jean Chopinel at Meung-sur-Loire. Tradition asserts that he studied at the University of Paris. He ...
Prix Femina
The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...