Picard
Picard may refer to:
Places
* Picard, Quebec, Canada
* Picard, California, United States
* Picard (crater), a lunar impact crater in Mare Crisium
People and fictional characters
* Picard (name), a list of people and fictional characters with th ...
Somme __NOTOC__
Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places
*Somme (department), a department of France
* Somme, Queensland, Australia
* Canal de la Somme, a canal in France
*Somme (river), a river in France
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Somme'' (book), ...
Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France (; ; ), also referred to in English as Upper France, is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. ...
in northern
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. The inhabitants are known as ''Crotellois''.
History
Isabella of France
Isabella of France ( – 22 August 1358), sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France (), was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the wife of Edward II of England, King Edward II, and ''de facto'' regent of England from 1327 ...
, queen consort of England, and her son (later
Edward III of England
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
) embarked from Crotoy for Holland and then England in 1326, in order to overthrow her husband, and his father,
Edward II
Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne follo ...
. During the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...
the town was alternately under English and French control. Edward III stayed in Crotoy and in 1340 built a very important fortress. Besieged by the English, Crotoy, the last French position in the Bay of the Somme, surrendered on March 1, 1424. After the Battle of Verneuil,
Jean II, Duke of Alençon
Jean II of Alençon (Jean II d’Alençon) (2 March 1409 – 8 September 1476) was a French nobleman. He succeeded his father as Duke of Alençon and Count of Perche as a minor in 1415, after the latter's death at the Battle of Agincourt. He ...
was interned there for three years.
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
was imprisoned there before being taken to Rouen for trial. During these troubled times, Crotoy was the place of residence of a governor and a garrison. Jacques d'Harcourt was the most famous governor: he defended Crotoy boldly and courageously against the Anglo-Burgundian armies. An eponymous street pays homage to him in the city center.
During the wars of religion, Crotoy took the side of Henri de Navarre. By an edict of 1594, Henri IV relieved the Crotellois from taxes. He stayed in the town on April 18, 1596.
In 1674, under the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the castle of Crotoy was destroyed.
Le Crotoy was also famous at the beginning of 20th century in the history of aviation, as the site of the
Caudron
The Société des Avions Caudron was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 as the Association Aéroplanes Caudron Frères by brothers Gaston and René Caudron. It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for ...
brothers flying school.
Geography
Le Crotoy is situated on the D143 and D71 crossroads, on the eastern side of the Baie de Somme, some northwest of
Abbeville
Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France.
It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu.
Geography
Location
A ...
.
Today, the town is a seaside resort whose beach is one of its main assets. It is also close to Marquentera (Park of Marquenterre), an area with a number of lakes, marshes and habitat for flora and fauna.
The beach is unusual for northern French beaches in that it faces south. In terms of wildlife, the bay supports a population of seals and shags.
There are numerous restaurants in the village, and it is well equipped with shops and a petrol station. Bed & Breakfast accommodation is also available.
Le Crotoy is one terminus of the narrow gauge " Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme" (Somme Bay Railway), which is now largely a tourist attraction. Running around the entire length of the bay, this railway connects Le Crotoy with Noyelles-sur-Mer, Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, and Cayeux-sur-Mer and the sands at Brighton Plage. Main line trains to Paris take about 2 hours and cost about 48Euro return for an adult. They run from the nearby (15 mins by car) station of Noyelles-sur-Mer, which is also a station on the " Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme" narrow gauge railway.
The bay of the river Somme has interesting tides in that they are both fast and have a high rise and fall. At low tide it is possible to walk across the sand and mud flats from Le Crotoy to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. Care needs to be taken as the tides come in very quickly.
Occupations
Fishing predominates, both for seafish and
shellfish
Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing Aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrates used as Human food, food, including various species of Mollusca, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish ...
(mostly cockles and mussels) and from the coastal saltmarshes,
samphire
Samphire is a name given to a number of succulent salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) that tend to be associated with water bodies.
* Rock samphire ('' Crithmum maritimum'') is a coastal species with white flowers that grows in Ireland, the Uni ...
and sea-aster.
Hunting and shooting, for both game and wildfowl provides food for locals and visitors alike.
Sheep-rearing, on salty pastures, produces a unique flavour. The sheep of the Somme Bay have been credited ‘appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC)’ .
Personalities
Le Crotoy has had lengthy visits from some famous figures of French history:
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
(who was imprisoned there),
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright.
His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
(who wrote his 1870 novel ''
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' () is a science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may inclu ...
'' here), the perfumer
Guerlain
Guerlain () is a French perfume, cosmetics, and skincare house which is among the oldest in the world. Many traditional Guerlain fragrances are characterized by a common olfactory accord known as the "".
The house was founded in Paris in 1828 b ...
who has created in regard of the special shades of blue, purple, violet
which cover bay at down his well-known perfume, "L'Heure Bleue".
Several painters as
Toulouse-Lautrec
''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful an ...
,
Paul Signac
Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, with Georges Seurat, helped develop the artistic technique Pointillism.
Biography
Paul-Victor-Jules Signac was born in Paris on ...
Colette
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette or Colette Willy, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a Mime artist, mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaki ...