Cotignac - sommaire

1 - Municipal staff from XVIIIe 2 - Customs and festivities from XVIIIe 3 - Harvesting olives 4 - The olive tree of Provence 5 - The troglodyte housse 6 - Wheat harvest 7 - The way of transhumance 8 - The work of the forest 9 - Home of modest people 10 - Feeding modest people 11 - Silkworm cultivation 12 - House of charity 13 - Life of modest people 14 - The spinning mills 15 - Tanneries 16 - Louis Gérard (Botanist) 17 - Jean Gérard et Léon Gérard 18 - The tradition of laundry 19 - Public school from XVIIIe 20 - Whites and Reds 21 - Grape harvest 22 - Work at the Grainage 23 - The everyday life of the bourgeois from XVIIIe 24 - Local personalities 25 - St-Peter church 26 - Freedom, Equality, Fraternity 27 - The Saracen towers 28 - The agricultural year from XVIIIe 29 - St-Martin's chapel 30 - St-Martin's cooler 31 - Apparition of the Virgin Mary 32 - The visit of Louis XIV 33 - St-Joseph apparition

Municipal staff from XVIIIe

Valet of the ville

It took a man of confidence to fill this position. He was lodged at the town hall and received, every three years, an outfit consisting of a coat, a cloth coat, a hat embroidered with a silver braid (sign of his function) and a pair of shoes. His duties ranged from announcing board meetings and messages from the administration, game warden, fishery guard, country policeman (preventing herd straggling and wild logging) to keeping scales at merchants to avoid frauds, or guardian of the building of the town hall.

The pedestrian

In 1783, the municipality of Cotignac decided to create the post of "pedestrian", ie messenger on foot, in order to promote the development of trade. Until then, the slowness of mail led to difficulties in ordering raw materials or finished products. The pedestrian was a messenger chosen naturally according to his physique and endurance. It was not uncommon for him to go regularly to Brignoles, Draguignan or Barjols. Unfortunately, for some, the effort required a great consumption of wine and it was not uncommon for the man is found sleeping at the foot of an olive tree. The "pedestrian" received a salary of 60 pounds a year and a frock coat.

The watchmaker

For the inhabitants of Cotignac, especially the peasants, the clock played a very important role. It punctuated the course of daily tasks. On June 11, 1781, the municipality decided to create the post of watchmaker responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of the mechanics. He was also instructed to provide three sundials, in various parts of the village, to take over in the event of a failure of the clock.

The gardener

The embellishment of the city was supposed to represent the wealth of the village. At that time, it seemed very important to show neighboring communities, as well as visitors, a form of opulence that contributed to the reputation of places. Since the construction of the Cours (Cours Gambetta today), a bourgeois neighborhood, the community had incurred many expenses for public decoration including hiring for 36 books per year, a gardener responsible for maintaining the trees and the gardens of the course. He was the pride of local elites because very few villages had one. Cotignac could afford it thanks to significant financial resources for the time (eighteenth century), which came from a diversified economy and many trade exchanges.

Cotignac - sommaire 2 - Customs and festivities from XVIIIe

Customs and festivities from XVIIIe

In the Middle Ages and modern times, Cotignac, like all the villages in the kingdom had to celebrate the feasts imposed by the royal family who ordered every opportunity (marriage, birth, healing, victories ...) the organization of a party more or less long depending on the event. Of course, the costs were to be borne by the local finances.

The holiday was a moment of relaxation appreciated by a population that worked a lot, up to 15 hours a day, in the fields, in factories or craftsmen's workshops. She was eagerly awaited even though she ended regularly in violent confrontation. The local authorities have had to put order after the many material damage caused by his brawls. At each party, the council appointed a "captain" to surround himself with a group of people called "company" with mission to organize the event and to make sure to extinguish the hotbeds of dispute that can degenerate. In August 1583 will be celebrated the first official feast of Our Lady of the Graces with Mass, procession, games, meals and a limited amount of wine.

Moreover, in Cotignac, as in all the villages of Provence, the youth demanded, under the name of "pelota", a sum of money from the new couple, in case one of the two came from another village. 15 centuries before, the young men of Athens raised an identical retribution on those of their fellow-citizens who were going to marry in a foreign country.

We can mention Mardi Gras and its carnival, St. Joseph associated with the return of life in the field, the maye party around young girls to marry, the fires of St. John, symbols of purification, the trellis of St. Jean against the spells, the patron saint of the saint protector, the feast of lumberjacks and of course those around Christmas.

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Carnival

Local youth was the driving force behind these carnival celebrations. Young men disguised themselves with women's clothes and searched all the houses. In Cotignac, they were called agassoun (young magpies). Their heads passed between the bars of a ladder, they made a noisy quest, equipped with a chamber pot, in which the inhabitants poured drinks. They continued their day until drunkenness prevailed.

St. Joseph

It was a great fair associated with the symbolic return of life in the fields and in the woods. The event was held at St. Joseph's Chapel, built on the scene of the apparition. It began with an outdoor mass attended by women, children and pilgrims from elsewhere. The men stopped a hundred yards from where they were chatting while following the religious ceremony from a distance. This one ended, everyone was meeting for a lunch on the grass. One of the essential elements of this meal was the radish of the vegetable garden, heralding spring. It was accompanied by cold meats made during the winter. After the meal, the first boules contest of the year took place, while the "young lovers" were lost in the woods on the way back.

Maye's Day

In all Provence, on the first day of May, a virgin girl was paraded with flowers. A remnant of the Roman festivals of Venus, particularly loved Provencal.

The mas of May

On April 30, the eve of May, which is devoted to the virgin, the girls were put in the spotlight. Boys of marriageable age placed flowers in front of their doors, with a vegetable code to express feelings. During the night, the men were raising a large farmhouse in the village square, a symbol of renewal.

St. John

The people were cooking garlic cloves in the evening lights in the streets. They were later distributed among the family. Garlic was a food in Rome that preserved against spells and curses. The fires of St. John were used to cook garlic.

The fire of St John

On June 24, a few days after the summer solstice, the population proceeded to a ceremony of purification by fire. Everyone was burning what he wanted to get rid of (old furniture, baskets with holes, worm-eaten fagots, huts of silkworm ....). Fires were lit on all the places of Cotignac the evening of the 23rd and the population danced until late at night. Elders who knew the protective virtues of the "herbs of St. John" offered to the youngest bouquets picked up very early in the morning because the dew of St. John was known to enhance their benefits.

Festivities

Each village celebrates once a year its patron saint, this is the case since the Middle Ages. A festive day in which the whole population participated. After the celebration of Mass and a procession, the participants would sit down for a few hours. In the afternoon, the men practiced the game of ball and palm. Women preferred dancing like farandole. In the Provencal dance, the circle symbolized the course of life: the beginning and the end, birth and death, origin and eternity. This circle formed the snake biting its tail, the Ouroboros. A legacy of Greek mythology.

The lumberjack party

In the early days of May, loggers used to celebrate with a party, the end of their winter season, before going back to work in the Alps. On this occasion, they spent a good part of the money earned on the cup. The population rarely participated in its meetings of "immigrants with rough customs." Before leaving the village, the lumberjacks never failed to carve the trees that adorned the Course, a kind of gratitude to those who hired them.

Cotignac - sommaire 1 - Municipal staff from XVIIIe 3 - Harvesting olives

Harvesting olives

In front of you, olive presses that were in the mill became City Hall. The country of Cotignac, was a high place of the culture of the olives. From the Romans until the 1950s, picking was spread over three to four months. It was a highlight of the annual cycle, especially because it required a lot of hands, or rather a lot of fingers. The Var traditionally harvested by hand (We pass the twigs between the fingers, like a comb, then we put them in a basket, a gorbeletto, attached on the belly by a belt).

This collective work brought together women, men, friends, neighbors, young and old. The profitability of the olives only rarely allowed the hiring of employees, unlike the harvest. Gathering was one of the few times of the year when people could talk about helping each other, and the people who participated were usually paid in oil or work in return. A harvester harvested 60 to 120 kilos of olives a day (100 kilos of olives accounted for 15 liters of oil).

The olives were first crushed and crushed by the mill. The paste obtained loaded on round and braided mats that were piled on top of one another. Cold pressure was first applied and the best oil was removed. It was collected in aux containers filled with water. This oil was skimmed with a casso. The mills were powered by water when present or by mules. They usually worked 24 hours a day. The teams took turns every 8 hours.

Testimonies of this joyous atmosphere that reigned at the mill, still exist. One of them reports that there existed in several mills of Cotignac and the surrounding area, a kind of unofficial brotherhood called "The circle of the Goats" of the name of the skins of goats returned in which the oil delivered to the owner.

Cotignac - sommaire 2 - Customs and festivities from XVIIIe 4 - The olive tree of Provence

The olive tree of Provence

For millennia, the olive tree is an integral part of the Mediterranean heritage. Its culture merges with the history and landscape of the basin, where it finds its origins. Thanks to the progress of navigation and conquests, especially under the Roman Empire, plantations are flourishing, the olive oil trade is developing and many mills are being built all around the Mediterranean basin where the olive tree is growing. the symbol of economic modernity. Since then, it is for many around the world, the representative par excellence of the Mediterranean.

The olive tree requires mild temperatures. Cotignac gives him a beautiful setting. If a chill is needed for good fruiting, a violent fall in temperature can be fatal. It accommodates ungrateful, stony, limestone and dry soils. Its roots dive deep into the ground to fetch water. Specific care can improve its performance. Size is paramount: the size of formation gives the tree its shape and its size, the size of fruiting eliminates the useless branches.

After a well-managed pruning, new shoots appear in April. Until June, depending on the soil, it is flowering. The clusters of white flowers hatch but only five out of a hundred flowers will give a fruit: the olive. As a result, for fruitful flowers, fruit sets begin (that is to say, when the fruit kernel hardens gradually). The fruit pulp, called "drupe", becomes fleshy. It's time to pick it up.

Cotignac - sommaire 3 - Harvesting olives 5 - The troglodyte housse

The troglodyte housse

A first village, whose presence dates back to feudal times, was installed at the top of this rocky bar, at a place called Saint-Martin, a hamlet that still exists today. During the Saracen invasions, the village descended to snuggle at the foot of this rock, impassable natural barrier. Thus from the year 1000, a second village settled and in 1032, a first castle was built nearby. We can not count the population of the time. We only know that in 1266, the number of inhabitants had become large enough to build the Church of St. Peter, the present church.

In the middle of this rock, a fortification was built, as well as two towers called "Saracen" or "fording" which overhang it, in order to be able to scan the horizon. They have no entry at the base. Some see this construction as an obvious defense strategy. The story tells that they were connected to the rock and that we went down through secret passages.

Before the last ice age, 110 000 to 10 000 years ago, the Cassole crossed in more or less mobile cascades, a promontory of limestone. Tufa deposits gradually covered the escarpment. The overhangs aiunsi created are at the origin of the caves. Caves that later adorned with stalactites through infiltration of the watercourse. After the Roman era, the great invasions put Provence on fire. The inhabitants of the village, then settled in St-Martin, sought to protect themselves. The village slid to the foot of the rocky bar to find refuge in the caves.

Cotignac - sommaire 4 - The olive tree of Provence 6 - Wheat harvest

Wheat harvest

If the vineyard and the olive tree today cover the agricultural plain at your feet, from the Middle Ages until the 17th century, bread is the essential food of the inhabitants. Cereals cover most of the arable land. The summer state is that of ripening and harvesting. The peasants gather the fruits of labor for the rest of the year. In remote times, the campaign often involves the arms of all and even seasonal workers from elsewhere for "big jobs".

Harvest time like olives or harvest is a very important moment in social life. The days are long in the fields and the areas to beat. Work physically very painful, hot and dusty days, but also morning dew, group meals, mutual aid between villagers.

At Cotignac, harvesting began in mid-July. The teams usually consist of a man who cuts with a large sickle (oulame) and two people, women or children from 10 to 15 years, who collected and bind the sheaves.

The day of work begins very early, at dawn, with a first break at 9 o'clock for lunch and a second around 13 o'clock for dinner. This is followed by a short nap of about. Another break around 5 pm, the reapers eat a salad with garlic croutons, tomatoes and raw onions, and a cold omelette. After that, work resumes until nightfall. The return is done around 9 pm with a quick dinner before going to bed. If during the rest of the year, the meat was a relatively exceptional dish, during the harvest, we consumed a lot "to have strength".

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Threshing grain

The threshing work did not begin until the sun had removed any trace of morning moisture "In the meantime, we teased trout in the water holes of the Cassole ...... the boss called his troop, so we turned the animals on ... .. a good half hour, always on the same side elsewhere. When the grain had fallen, the straw was passed with a fork. We had to be a bit of the job, but finally ... .. the men, we were pulling straw on them, the animals were still spinning ...

When the straw was thin enough, everything was lifted to remove the large straw that was rising in the wind. That's why all threshing areas were located so that there was a bit of wind in the afternoon. After we pulled with a kind of rake at the edge and we swept with a broom in briar, it scrapes well and then at night, we had to sell and clean, because there is no wind ... " "We know a lot of people, whether it's my father or me. From Brignoles we went to work to Barjols and even Lorgues. So, you understand, the people here know them all. After when there were the oxen, we sometimes left a week or more. We made the cuts and the hays. But at the time, it was mostly haying. But what a beautiful life, a bit far from home, but it's a bit like olives, except it's hot. The atmosphere is nice, we work hard, but we laugh a lot at jokes and the wine is good. Excerpts from the memory collection of Célestin Graye "Summers in the center-Var", 1936.

Cotignac - sommaire 5 - The troglodyte housse 7 - The way of transhumance

The way of transhumance

The transhumance routes are well known today. The ancestors left stone columns (quiéto) to indicate the way. For centuries, the cobblestones have been trampled by millions of beasts, men, dogs and carts (carretoun). To make sure everything goes smoothly, several individuals gathered their flocks, all marked in bold pencil (boli). These associations consisted of ten to twenty thousand animals, according to the extent of pastures (pra), of which they were assured in advance.

The herd conveyor must at the same time, treat and make benefit the animals entrusted to him, keep them and watch them to limit the losses (falls, diseases, various accidents). It is also responsible for the places it occupies, it must maintain the summer pasture, or even improve it by rotations grazing, by calculated displacements and try a management in agreement with the ecosystem.

The shepherd was assisted in his work by one or more dogs. Those destined for work (the Labrit and Border Collie shepherds) and those who cared for the guard like the Pyrenees Mountain, a formidable weapon against wolves. Each flock was administered by a chief named bayle with a deputy and a shepherd for 300 animals. The flocks followed each other a few days apart, and most of the time took different routes to reach the same place.

As the weeks go by, the herds climb higher and higher in the pastures up to 2500 meters. The mountain is almost bare, the shelters are in the rock. They change sites three or four times, then prepare to go down. Towards the end of September, transhumance reverses. It's the big comeback, the first snows touch the summits.

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The convoy

Leading the band with the rams, carrying huge bells (sounaio) hanging on their necks by a wooden necklace (chambis). They precede and guide the flocks. The sheep are faithful to the legend, that of Panurge. They walk tightly against each other. They have group spirit. Solitary, they are incapable of anything. Above this bleating mare rise shepherds dressed in a large pilgrim, a hat turned in the manner of Piedmontese lumberjacks, and a long, shoddy stick which serves them to stimulate stragglers. Alongside them, the sons (pastrilloun) travel whom they instruct in the art of driving and raising the herds. As soon as the children are eight years old, they walk and start their career, making themselves useful to their father or their uncle.

Dogs accomplish their missions with bravery. During the journey, they run constantly from one end to the other of the convoy. Their mission is to prevent dreamers from moving away, attracted by a tuft of soft grass, and those who, older or more fragile, drag back. They interpret and execute the orders of their master, sometimes even anticipate his own movements. Namely everything they deem necessary to regularize or accelerate the march. The animals are all devoted to them. Barking is a metronome on which they model their behavior.

The work of the shepherd

One of the bayles is elected to assume the general direction of the movement. He is also the guarantor of finances. A responsibility that he delegates to an Escrivan responsible for keeping the scriptures and the purse. The Escrivan is also, in a way, the ambassador of the procession. He goes to the landowners who will go to bed at night. Together, they determine the measures to be taken to limit the damage and afterwards, they settle the indemnities in case of disorders or nuisances.

Before the departure of the morning, the owners come to collect their rent, a portion of milk of the ewes which they immediately transform into cheeses. They also take advantage of the dung (migoun) which remains on the meadow on which the herds park. The shepherds, meanwhile, receive a little wine (vinasso) well appreciated during the next stage. Lunch remains very uniform. It consists of grilled sandwiches (roustido), an omelet with bacon or ham and fruits picked up during the trip. In rainy weather, they feast on a fricassee of snails (cacalaus) after a few days of young

The daily shepherds

Time goes slowly to the rhythm of the bells (clavellas). The days are like the nights and nothing disturbs the tranquility so much appreciated by men. They spend hours watching in the distance, hours of silence interrupted by meals composed simply of wild salads (fero), bread and milk. They sometimes join a little meat or bacon, a portion of vegetables, it is for them an extraordinary treat. One of them, once a week goes down to stock up in the neighboring villages.

These men generally enjoy good health. They are young and vigorous, their skin is tanned by a blazing sun. The wrinkled face of wrinkles, manifestation of the roughness of the tests they must overcome. Rarely ill, despite precarious food and hygiene conditions, they suffer from chest inflammation, sometimes fatal. By keeping their flocks, they sometimes take care of making garters or cords of wool whose colors are mixed with taste. During the journey, their main distraction is to interpret monotonous tunes on small flutes with six holes

Cotignac - sommaire 6 - Wheat harvest 8 - The work of the forest

The work of the forest

From the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century, the great forest around the village was the domain of loggers and charcoal burners. In the winter we cut the wood, the one for domestic heating the next winter and the one used to make the charcoal. Forest contractors hired bouscatiers who rented for a few months. Bespiduous with the task, they led an extremely rough life. They lived in old barns or basic shelters on the premises of their work.

Rude because the environment where they evolved remained very primitive. It is impossible for them to wash, except for the face on the thin net of a spring. They only changed clothes once a month. One can imagine the atmosphere that reigned in the red wine huts, without any possible intimacy. Day after day, the sweat, the dust released by the coal mines, the mud, accumulated to form a crust on the clothes and even on the skin. Yet they were numerous each season, sometimes coming from far away, with only a little baggage bag full of gaiters and black bread. Some of them came from Italy by dangerous paths. A long and risky trip that ended, most of the time with a renunciation. They then settled in the country where exhaustion compelled them to sacrifice their semblance of dreams.

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Work in detail

At first, they had to mow and burn the many thorns that characterize the Provencal scrubland. The so-called dead-wood, ie unusable shrubs. When this operation was completed, they cut down with the ax the coppice, the tufts of twenty years old which were used for firewood. The upright poles were cut in the shape of stakes for vines and vegetable gardens. The branches were used for making fagots or bourrées for heating ovens. The factories, still numerous along the Cassole (brickyard, kiln, plaster mill, paper mill, tannery ...) were wood consumers. The slaughter of the oldest oaks was done with the mat, a large saw operated by two men. A very tough task that forced respect. Rude, first by work required an exceptional physical condition. Few were the men who held the pace a whole season. Besides, the foreman alternated the tasks to keep a powerful team. The owners were very little aware of this. They knew that the workforce was numerous and did not hesitate to dismiss the one who showed the slightest weakness

Cotignac - sommaire 7 - The way of transhumance 9 - Home of modest people

Home of modest people

The houses (XVIIIe et XIXe)

Most of the dwellings of this period were built of rough stones, coated on the outside and inside of a layer of plaster. They were covered with hollow, paved tiles, as were the terracotta floor tiles. Their openings were narrow and few to prevent heat loss. From the Revolution until 1926, when it was abolished, the state collected a tax on the size of doors and windows. A tax that already existed under the Romans. This tax was accused of pushing for the construction of unhealthy dwellings, with very small openings, therefore dark and poorly ventilated, and it led to the condemnation of numerous openings to reduce the tax.

The village of Cotignac was nestled against the cliff, a kind of natural wall that preserved not only predators, but also the Mistral, while providing a refuge for the entire population and livestock in case of aggression. Its lanes were narrow and winding, houses nestled against each other with a barn on the ground floor and a room per floor. The centers of life were the church entrusted to the care of a hermit stake, the square and the wash house. The increase in the number of houses was a sign of the prosperity of the country. It resulted from marriage between the families of the town.

Like the one described in the works of Marcel Pagnol (The glory of my father), the plain of Cotignac counted several bastides where the owners came to spend a few weeks in the year. Already, at that time, the charm of the place was no doubt. These bastides had a trellis, with a pleasure garden surrounded by trees and flowers. Their location on hillsides and high points protected them from any insalubrity while ensuring a magnificent viewpoint.

Clothes (XVIIIe and XIXe)

On a daily basis, the craftsmen wore jackets, trousers and waistcoats, sheepskin and calfskin gaiters, greased with lard, and iron shoes. The ordinary habit of the peasant consisted of a jacket, trousers and vest of coarse cloth, sheepskins of calf or calf, and strong shoes. Both changed linen every week and slept in the hayloft until marriage. From then on his bed consisted of two wooden benches, a few boards, two sheets of bed and a blanket of wool. The women wore two skirts and two corsets of cloth, a linen kerchief, a lace-trimmed headdress, and a straw or velvet-trimmed felt hat, knitted woolen stockings, almost always patched with cloth and shoes. shod.

Cotignac - sommaire 8 - The work of the forest 10 - Feeding modest people

Feeding modest people

Feeding the workers (XVIIIe and XIXe)

The worker was eating wheat bread. He had three meals a day. He dined in the morning with an oil soup and fresh or dried vegetables, he tasted in the middle of the day with cheese, dried fruits, onions or garlic and his supper was like dinner, once the work done, after sunset. He only allowed himself meat once or twice a week, except when he was sick. He drank a pint (about 2 1/2 liters) of wine each day. The peasant lived like a housekeeper, when his situation permitted it, and ate at each meal some bread of wheat. In case of scarcity, he had no choice but barley, rye or spelled bread. The poorest peasant was satisfied with soup once a day.

Bread, which was used extensively in rural areas, was used primarily to soak the soup consisting of roots (raves, turnips and carrots) and garden products (chickpeas, lentils, beans and beans). On the fatty days, a few pieces of meat - most often mutton - embellished this soup. The appearance of the tomato would upset the Provencal food habits. It was consumed in the form of a slurry. By the seventeenth century, mushrooms were almost exclusive food during the fall. They were fried in oil with a pear tree to "counter the poisonous side of some species". Snails remained a very popular dish. They were picked up at the time of the harvest and then, after fasting, in a cooking broth made of fennel, wild mint and other aromatic herbs. They were eaten together with an aioli with potatoes and carrots.

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Hunting and fishing

The Provencal peasant was a lover of small birds. He hunted them either at the post, (A hut made of foliage), imitating the cry of the bird or the trap baited by a winged ant. All species were hunted: turtledove, partridge, thrush, blackbird, quail, teal, scoter, duck, plover, curlew. Hunting rabbit, hare and other wild boar was less popular. River fishing was very popular, but it required a lot of free time. The abundance of the catch made it necessary to make a kind of "fish jam", of which the Bottargue of Martigues and the Caviar of Arles remain the witnesses. Another type of conservation with the moutounesse, which allowed to preserve the meat of the sheep wounded by falls, by attack of wolves, or affected by tournis. The slaughtered sheep was skinned and deboned, its flesh cut out, flattened on the skin, generously salted, then the skin was folded and all compressed for a month after which the meat, unwrapped, was dried.

Cotignac - sommaire 9 - Home of modest people 11 - Silkworm cultivation

Silkworm cultivation

Before this building was converted into housing, it was used for raising silkworms. During its beautiful years, the Cotignac silk factory employed some forty people. An exclusively Chinese practice until it was brought back to the west by Marco Polo (1254-1324) merchant and Venetian explorer. If the first breeding of the silkworm in France are recorded in the Gard towards the end of the 16th century thanks to a certain Olivier de Serres, the culture was generalized to all the Provence under Henri IV. The term magnanerie comes from magnan, which means in Provence the mulberry bombyx, our silkworm. A butterfly that no longer exists in the wild.

The silkworm comes from a small egg called "seed". It undergoes 4 moults during its active period and a 5th in the state of chrysalide to come a butterfly quite not very elegant. These 4 moults are separated by periods of sleep before "the fugue", that is to say the moment when the worm chose a place to spin its cocoon. This incubation lasts three weeks during which the temperature (24 °) and hygrometry (60%) of the room called magnanerie, are closely monitored. This silkworm must be an airy room, fairly bright and constant temperature.

The one and only food of the silkworm is the white mulberry leaf. Breeding required a good amount of trees when we know that 1000 worms require 60 kilos of leaves and a caterpillar grows up to 40 times its size. This big appetite generated a huge production of dung that had to be cleaned regularly. The workers used perforated paper deposited at the bottom of the cages to facilitate their task. The cocoons are now scattered on the twigs. They stay there a few days before being transported to the graining room (Step 22).

Cotignac - sommaire 10 - Feeding modest people 12 - House of charity

House of charity

At the beginning of the eighteenth century a virtuous citizen of Cotignac, the notary Jean Templier offered the location and foundations of a home for the poor of charity. The house that served as a refuge for the poor sick was located in front of the church. However, it did not contain a chapel and was not at all disposed to receive sick or infirm. The gift of the notary Templar was gratefully accepted. The rectors of the work, Antoine Martel and Jean Girard, both tanners, built on the site conceded a hospital house, with chapel and outbuildings, all for the price of 1092 pounds. The new hospital, begun on December 10, 1708, was completed on March 15, 1710. Messire Meiffredy, vicar of the parish, proceeded on the same day to the blessing of the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy.

The old house of charity was poor in linen and bedding. On October 25, 1711, the village of Cotignac was the theater of a touching spectacle. Throughout the day, a large crowd of various classes of the local society, went to the hospital with packages of linen under the arms or on the head. Some carried bed sheets, blankets, shirts, handkerchiefs, the others, towels, tablecloths, hats. Some, more fortunate, brought furniture, others, less rich, chairs or tables. A strong gesture that summed up the generous character of the inhabitants

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The Great Plague (1720)

Foreign invasion, excessive cold, and famine, the inevitable consequence of the loss of crops, had thrown Provence into a state of misery difficult to describe. The plague suddenly broke out in Marseilles in the middle of July 1720, and spread to a large number of localities. The city of Cotignac had the rare happiness of escaping contagion, thanks to the prudence and energy of the consuls Louis Gerard and Jean Moustier, who administered it at that time.

After a procession to Our Lady of Grace, the gates of the city were barricaded with lime and sand (the door of the Castle and that of San Sebastián), with wooden barriers (doors Saint-Martin and Notre -Lady). The guard of the gates was entrusted to twelve inhabitants, forming a militia whose command was assured by François Gerard and Jacques Garnier, with the title of captains of the gates.

Order was given to all Marseillais and other foreigners, to go to the bastide of surgeon Pothonier, outside the town, for a form of quarantine. The letters from Marseilles were deposited in the guardhouse, soaked in vinegar and then brought to the addressee. The entry of the goods has been strictly forbidden. In this way, the town of Cotignac was completely preserved from this plague there which occassionné thousands of deaths in Provence.

Cotignac - sommaire 11 - Silkworm cultivation 13 - Life of modest people

Life of modest people

At that time, people have a concentric conception of space. A first circle consists of the dwelling and the workplace. The second circle goes beyond the village territory to encompass the town where the market is located where it sells its products. Beyond, it's the unknown. Only shepherds cross this course during transhumance, as do young men who decide to embark on merchant ships.

The first circle of life will remain long narrow and hostile to any violation. It is not curiosity that has driven men to venture beyond, but the need to sell the goods. The separation work leisure exists only very little. Working time does not count. It adds up from sunrise to sunset, varying with the seasons between 12 and 15 hours daily and multiplies during major events such as harvest or harvest. During the vigil, the hands do not remain unoccupied, we file, we sew there, we dissect, we repair the tools. Even the holidays are related to work and land.

The first circle of life will remain long narrow and hostile to any violation. It is not curiosity that has driven men to venture beyond, but the need to sell the goods. The separation work leisure exists only very little. Working time does not count. It adds up from sunrise to sunset, varying with the seasons between 12 and 15 hours daily and multiplies during major events such as harvest or harvest. During the vigil, the hands do not remain unoccupied, we file, we sew there, we dissect, we repair the tools. Even the holidays are related to work and land.

Cotignac - sommaire 12 - House of charity 14 - The spinning mills

The spinning mills

By the mid-eighteenth century, the textile industry employed about sixty people. Silk shopkeepers, silk workers, wool carders or canvas weavers, activities that were certainly less important than those related to leather, but which largely contributed to the economic growth of the town. At that time, she openly competed with her chief town of Viguerie, Barjols. Their geographical location, close to the great road that connected the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia to the Rhone Valley, was at the origin of this prosperity. Agricultural products such as olive oil and wine, as well as manufactured products such as leather and silk, appealed to the inhabitants of the cities. The Templier family, silk merchants, sold their production in Nîmes and Avignon. Like other industries, tanneries, mills, draperies, that of silk requires running water to moult the hydraulic wheel that will drive the spinning pulley.

The weaving of silk, like the breeding of bombyx, is also done at home by the many artisans. Producing the raw material, the silk thread, in increased quantity, becomes possible thanks to the invention of the engineer Ferdinand Gensoul in 1806. A wire of several hundred meters can be drawn without effort from the cocoon of the silkworm once treated in hot water. This thread is however so fine that it is necessary to unwind several cocoons together to form each end. Initially, a spinner could not stop under penalty of jolts and produce an irregular thread. She was assisted by a turner (or winder) to operate the shutters and a driver, usually a child, to feed the fireplace under the basin. Gensoul's invention of collective heating of basins made it possible to industrialize the process. Installing a "wiring" near a farmhouse or mill becomes an ideal placement. Under the July Monarchy (1830-1848), France was the world's leading exporter of silk.

Cotignac - sommaire 13 - Life of modest people 15 - Tanneries

Tanneries

Man has always used the skin of animals to shelter, then to dress. But at the time the skins were not treated, only smoked and dried, which implied their very frequent renewal. One of the functions of tanning is precisely to make the skin rot-proof. Known to Egyptians and Chinese, it seems that tanning was introduced in France by the Knights Templar.

The tanneries were always situated on the banks of a stream, since successive washing of the skins required a great deal of water. Of course, the proximity of breeding sites also greatly facilitated this activity. Thus, the tanneries of Cotignac were located near this street of the Marshes and fed on water thanks to a diversion channel which penetrated inside the buildings.

The tanneries of Cotignac (a dozen for 50 workers in the year) had a prosperous period in the late nineteenth and up to the mid-twentieth century make the reputation and wealth of the town. In particular, they provided the leather used to make equipment for French soldiers during the Great War (boots, soles, etc.) and manufactured soles exported to Africa, Cyprus and Singapore. Unfortunately the chemical treatment methods of the skins sounded the death knell for traditional tanneries. Today only a dozen remain in France

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The work of the skin

The tannery itself only concerns the work of the skins of large animals such as cattle. The skins are from their delivery stored after salting. The first step, which requires only water, is a thorough washing of the skins to get rid of salt and soften them.

Then, they are dipped in a lime bath to facilitate the fall of the hairs (pelenage). The dread then begins the tedious task of "scraping" the skins fixed on an easel with a tappet, to remove lime residues, hair and impurities. Then, the skins are once again cleaned with a bezel to parry and finally tanned, ie put to soak in large tanks with a mixture of water and tan. (The tan was the result of the work of the debarker, which stripped the oaks of their bark to obtain the peel it reduced to powder and sold to the tanners).

The "pellerie" started at the beginning of May. The skins soaked for a long time, sometimes several years, before the tanks were replaced by huge rotating motorized barrels called fullers. It is the residual "juice", loaded with tan, which is called tannin. The skins are then rinsed and waiting to be worked by the torer. It is he who will give them the desired quality by spraying, dyeing, drying, etc ... the corrector used the leaves of a plant that was then grown and that we often meet in our region: the sumac precisely said " rakers "for its dyeing properties. Finishing completes the work of the draftsman: hammering (stretching to give flexibility), sanding and then pigmentation.

Cotignac - sommaire 14 - The spinning mills 16 - Louis Gérard (Botanist)

Louis Gérard (Botanist)

Louis Gérard, a famous botanist, was born in this house in 1733. Very early on, he turned to a medical career just like his father. He received a doctorate in medicine at the faculty of Montpellier in 1753. He is just 20 years old. Following the example of Philibert Commerson (naturalist physician 1727-1773), he ardently began studying botany. He quickly made contact with Carl von Linnée (Swedish naturalist 1707-1778), an international reference in this discipline. The two men exchange a long correspondence. In a letter, Linnée says to him "I learned more by your mailings and by your remarkable descriptions than by the reading of many special books". He urges him to publish a Flora that lists all the plants of Provence "No one other than you is no longer able to write such a book."

Louis Gerard sets out again to cross Provence, which he has already searched thoroughly, and of which he knows all the riches. After four years of intrepid races on the hills, plains and valleys, after long and intelligent studies, Gerard puts the finishing touches to the Flora of Provence. The work entitled: Flora gallo Provincialis, has met with great commercial success despite the fact that it is written in Latin. All the plants of Provence are described with the greatest care.

On July 7, 1787, he became a member of the Academy of Sciences. For his part, the Paris Academy of Medicine awarded him a gold medal, on the occasion of the publication of an article entitled: Medical topography of Cotignac. He also published various memoirs in the "Magasin encyclopédique", in the "Collection of Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences", in the newspaper the Var, and in a book entitled "Memories to serve the natural history of Provence". Apart from these works, Louis Gérard writes all the part of the General History of Provence, which deals with natural history. He is one of the authors of this important work published in 1784, under the name of Father Papon and which is still today, considered the best history of our country. During the Terror, he is imprisoned with his family for protesting the death sentence of his friend Malesherbes. He died on November 16, 1819.

Cotignac - sommaire 15 - Tanneries 17 - Jean Gérard et Léon Gérard

Jean Gérard et Léon Gérard

Jean Gérard (1793-1846) Military

Jean Gérard, son of Jean-Baptiste Gérard and Anne Girard, was born in Cotignac, May 28, 1793. The great battles of the Empire, told by his maternal uncle General Baron Girard inspire the young Gerard the taste of the military thing. Admitted on August 7, 1810 to the school of St-Cyr, he leaves a few days later to enlist in the 88th line.

In less than two months, he won his appointment as sergeant. A nice advancement granted to a corporal of 17, always the first to fire. Gerard took part, in 1811, in the combats of Olivença, Gehbora, Albufera and the famous retreat of Arroyo-Molinos, where Girard's division, reduced to 1,300 men, will resist during 48 hours to 10 000 English, ordered by General Hill.

Appointed second lieutenant on February 25, 1813, he exchanged his shoulder bag for Lutzen three months later (2 May). In 1815, when Napoleon returned from exile, landed in France, Gerard was part of the 14th line. Colonel Bugeaud designates him to bring to the Emperor the adhesion of this regiment which he commands. Gerard receives from the hands of the emperor the cross of the Legion of Honor. On the 28th, in the battle of the hospital under Conflans, Gerard shot several Austrians with his hand. He is wounded and cited honorably by the Marshal Duke of Albufera to the order of the army.

At just 22, he can imagine a bright future. However, after the 100 days, he was fired on September 16, 1815. His promotion to the Legion of Honor was not even ratified. General Bugeaud, however, does not forget his former comrade-in-arms and has him appointed king's ordnance officer. He obtains for him the honor of following the Duke of Orleans in Belgium. After this campaign Gerard is promoted to the rank of battalion commander in the 9th line. In 1836, he was made an officer of the Legion of Honor, and on September 19, 1838, promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the 53rd. From 1841 to his death, on January 1, 1846, he commanded the 6th Infantry Regiment.

Léon Gérard (1911-1944) Resistant

Léon Gérard was born in Cotignac on October 28, 1911 of Félix Gérard, farmer, and Louise Rambat, without profession. He quickly became assistant director of the Caisse Mutualiste Mutualiste de Toulon and Var. He was mobilized during the Second World War until July 20, 1940. After this date, he joined the Resistance in Toulon, in the Combat movement, alongside Henri Lapeyre, director of the surgical fund. During this period, he was in contact with several members of the Departmental Committee of Liberation of Var such as Dr. Lagier or Louis Picoche, responsible for the maquis service.

Back in Cotignac, in the spring of 1944, Léon Gérard continued to participate in the Resistance, providing links between the various groups in the sector, particularly with the FTP Camp Battaglia came to settle in the Bessillon massif at the beginning of the Summer 1944. Warned of an imminent threat against these guerrillas, he tries to prevent them, but is caught in the heart of the attack on July 27 by the Wehrmacht and elements Brandenburg.

He is shot in the wood and left dying for hours. Several sites maintain his memory: a stele on the scene of the attack, built shortly after the Liberation, this street of Cotignac bears his name, a monument, erected at the edge of the RN 560, in La Genevrière (Ponteves), likewise a cenotaph (funerary monument that does not contain a body) at Cotignac Cemetery in memory of the victims of the attack in 1945. Léon Gérard will be decorated with the Croix de Guerre and homologated as a FFI Second Lieutenant posthumously. (Source The Maitron)

Cotignac - sommaire 16 - Louis Gérard (Botanist) 18 - The tradition of laundry

The tradition of laundry

Laundry (Bugade in Provençal) whether annual or weekly is a highlight of social life. The spring rains inflate the sources and allow to do the big laundry. The rest of the year, the women find themselves at the San Sebastian wash-house as in other wash-houses of the village. Linen and clothes are washed, as well as underwear, nightgowns and swaddling clothes. The latter constitute the female dowry at the time of the marriage. Their quantities and qualities reflect the ease of the household. It is customary to use these pieces as little as possible in order to transmit them to the heiress.

Laundry is a great job that lasts three days. During the first day, the cloth soaks, the second day it is washed with ashes and the third, it is rinsed. To wash, we use a large vat of terracotta, wood or zinc (tineou). The linen is piled up to three quarters of its height. It is covered with a piece of special cloth on which ash, finely sieved is deposited. Then, a large quantity of water is heated and poured over it, which emerges through a hole in the bottom of the vat. This is warmed up again and poured back on the laundry until it is as warm at the exit of the vat as when it is poured on it.

The ashes are then carefully removed and the next day, the washing is rinsed. After that, sheets and shirts are spread on the bushes (preferably brooms), to dry slowly in the wind and in the sun. These laundry is also the time of year when we can "measure" the wealth of families. The bourgeois often hire washerwomen on this occasion.

Cotignac - sommaire 17 - Jean Gérard et Léon Gérard 19 - Public school from XVIIIe

Public school from XVIIIe

During the modern era and even after the Revolution, the school runs from October to June and the day is a succession of rituals that are repeated with the precision of a clock. Besides, everything takes place around time. This time that sometimes happens to be endless as the purring hours of reading. These syllables are very long to become words in the mouth of the little ones. And what about all these dates encountered in the history books where battles and murders are mingled. These dates all mix and no longer look like anything to end with a stroke of the rule on the fingers.

Every Monday morning, students fill their porcelain inkwells. The violet ink leaves on the white edge a sort of halo that reminds one of the outlines of an oak leaf. Next to it is the pencil case, in old varnished wood, with a drawing on it. Inside, a pen holder of course, but also an eraser and a black slate pencil with its golden ring. The tables are black and again, each one in turn, the students have the responsibility to clean it. The ragged rag blows clouds of this whitish dust, piquant for the eyes and bitter if you forget to close your mouth.

The day begins with the lesson of morality. A daily saying of the kind - badly acquired never benefits - or - no one believes the liar any more, even when he tells the truth. The master then takes a very serious look. He clears his throat, puts his binoculars to make the thing even more solemn. We talk about the homeland as a second family and all that we must do to be a good French.

The room smells of beeswax, proof that the furniture is still maintained. The smell persists all year, it becomes heavier in the winter with heating and more acid towards the evening with perspiration. Many children come to school only when there is nothing to do at home. The work passes before the studies

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The room used is also used for catechism and the municipal council. There is no courtyard or common places. What makes that outside the hours of class, the teacher can not have the eye on the children who, feeling pushing wings, lend themselves to a whole series of stupidities. A single class means a meticulous organization of work. A precise schedule of the schedule and a presence with this or that group. His very first morning task is to write on the boards the homework to be performed by the larger ones independently. When the students arrive, the teacher is already there for more than an hour.

The teacher is appointed by a deliberation of the Municipal Council which specifies the conditions. It receives, annually, from the town a fixed salary of about 350 francs and lodges in the town hall, a simple room composed of a kitchen and a room. It is also granted the enjoyment of a garden located behind the church. In addition to this task, he must fulfill the duties of Town Council Secretary for 60 francs. He is also responsible for raising the clock for 40 francs. Finally, he rings the Angelus morning, noon and evening. Despite all his secondary functions, the teacher has the obligation to open the school hall ten months a year. August and September are vacation months. The city council note states that "it must always be kept clean because it must impose on the eyes".

As a result, it is very well inserted in the social life of the village. Everyone one day or the other needs his services. He spends most of his career in the same job, getting married and starting a family. The man is accepted, even if most of the time he comes from the city. Sometimes, once his career is over, he becomes mayor of the country. He educates several generations, in fact, he is loved and respected.

Cotignac - sommaire 18 - The tradition of laundry 20 - Whites and Reds

Whites and Reds

Since the middle of the nineteenth century, the July monarchy, the Second Republic, the Empire, the Third Republic, the local life of Cotignac has considerably politicized. There are two camps in the presence that one could qualify, one on the left (the red side Republic) and the other right (the white side Monarchy). The population is divided, rivalries settle in all corporations, including farmers.

January 1905, the "Whites" founded the agricultural cooperative "La Défense". His supporters say loudly that they were the first to enter the path of progress for the benefit of all the population of the town. Critics say that the "whites" wanted to have the upper hand on this new form of economy, to serve their own interests. La Défense settled on an oil mill in the Ribbes district. It has worked for several decades in the wake of some internal quarrels, but without major upheavals.

August 1905, the reaction of the "Reds" does not wait, they found "The Worker" with the Union of Socialist Winegrowers, the local Credit Agricole and the will of Hubert Carmagnole who will become mayor of Cotignac in 1908 and MP of the Var. His internal life will have been more eventful than that of the adversaries, but his fate will be exactly the same.

Until 1918, the end of the great war, the manufacture of olive oil remained the main activity. In the 1920s, viticulture experienced a great expansion. In fact, the structures equip themselves accordingly with a modern and specialized equipment (crushers, pumps, presses ....). From 1946 to the merger of the two cooperatives, the difficulties multiply. The cultivation of the olive tree loses its magnitude. It becomes too expensive, moreover, the cold weather of winter 1956 destroys almost all the olive trees of Provence. In 1967, the "Whites" and "Reds" merge and become "The winemakers of Cotignac". The town has then 543 ha of vineyards classified Côte de Provence since 1946.

The two cooperatives held an important place in the life of the village. They have led to the creation of two strong and organized groups, equipped, able to face, under the best conditions, a significant market and consequently, facilities given to producers, large and small, which allowed a development of the vineyard impossible without their support. Ironically, the two cooperatives were born from the olive tree and died of the olive tree. They made the beautiful days of Cotignac for 60 years ...

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Jean-Baptiste Chaudié (1853 - 1933)

Jean-Baptiste Emile Chaudié was born in Salernes on February 28, 1853. At the age of 18, he joined the Navy police station. Appointed in 1884 as deputy inspector of the Navy, he left for Senegal for a first mission, then in Indochina for a permanent inspection of two years. Promoted Inspector Colies August 27, 1889, he traveled to New Caledonia, Martinique in 1892 to assess the damage caused by a cyclone in Reunion before ending the post of first governor general of French West Africa. Reached yellow fever, contracted in Senegal, he returned to France, moved to Cotignac and is closely interested in agriculture, including the olive. With some landowners he created the first agricultural cooperative "La Défense" in 1905. He will be the first president before resigning in April 1920. He died January 5, 1933 in Cotignac.

Cotignac - sommaire 19 - Public school from XVIIIe 21 - Grape harvest

Grape harvest

The days before the harvest, the old sharpen the serpettes. The dark doors of the cellars are opened to allow the light to enter before storing the next vintage. Everywhere, we hit, we polish, wash with water. The air smells of moldy wood and straw soaked with the last rains. The pickers get up very early. It's still dark. No question of lunch, even if the night was short and the day looks busy. The men are busy making final preparations, loading horses, mules, carts, shouting and laughing at once.

The harvest begins in the vine rows that come alive. People come and go, the carts leave, loaded to the brim, towards the village. Others come back empty. From time to time, a shot is fired in the hills. Nobody does it. Nothing seems to be able to disturb the concentrated pickers with their task. They will stay until their backs ignite where hunger reminds them of the shed.

The afternoon stretches slowly, without the rhythm faltering. Only the songs are more and more raucous and scattered. The sun is declining, but the shoulders of the men who fall off the jacket are still pink. The gunshots sound again in the maquis. It is the rise of thrushes.

In the evening, the houses perfume the ripe grapes. Enlightened simply by two large lanterns, the men tread the grapes and fill the casks. The best bunches are hung in the barn away from rats, to find them even sweeter around Christmas. Then, baskets filled with grapes are brought to neighbors who do not have a vine. A great festive moment shared by all.

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Ambience

The shimmering light of the autumnal sun floods the silvery branches of the walnut trees. The foliage of the vines bends under the weight of heavy red and gold clusters. Like little sparrows, children frolic in the ranks. At full speed, as if to escape an invisible enemy, he gorges himself with grapes that burst between their teeth and fill their mouth with a deliciously sweet nectar. On all sides, the grape harvesters arrive. They are young girls, women, relatives and neighbors. Grandmothers join them in order to take away a basket of ripe grapes and muscatel. They have the graceful ride, traversed by some fleeting agitations that make them tenderly beautiful. Everyone is sitting under a big tree for breakfast. We talk and we sing with our mouths full.

Let's sit down

These long days of work allow a meal with meat. We must compensate for fatigue and strengthen the spirit of resistance. The stew, enhanced with small hot peppers, looks delicious. The meat pieces, cooked over a wood fire, are served in walnut leaves. There is also a large quantity of potatoes, probably more numerous than meat but able to satisfy the most daring appetites. Cheese is also part of the party, even if it seems a little bland after this dish of character. Some still have the courage to accompany it with raw onions. At the end of this meal at will, the grapes seem even sweeter. They are like a relief after the flames. Without further ado, the harvesters, empty baskets in hand, scatter again in the vineyards.

Cotignac - sommaire 20 - Whites and Reds 22 - Work at the Grainage

Work at the Grainage

After having lived a few weeks at the Magnanerie (step 11), the cocoons are transferred to the graining room. The varieties are selected according to the shape and the cocoon according to optimization parameters (Golden Chinese, Yellow Provence, Spanish Almeria, Italian Ascoli ...). Papillonnage occurs at dawn. The males are the first to go out. Then come the females that we easily recognize their belly more inflated. It's time for couples to act. They are given four hours of tranquility to satisfy their instincts.

The females are laid in paper cells made for this purpose or on canvases. The eggs tested, free of any tare, will be kept in a cold room until the day of shipment. The graining of Cotignac worked with the whole world. Seed marketing during the first part of the 20th century was carried out by Laugier, which was succeeded by the Société de Sériculture. In the best years (1900 to 1950) when Cotignac was the 2nd graining of France, the company hired a hundred employees and annual production of cocoons 30 tons. The work started at 4 am and ended at 7 pm with an hour for lunch. The graining closed at the end of the 50's. The arrival of nylon and silks synthesized the end of the natural silk

Cotignac - sommaire 21 - Grape harvest 23 - The everyday life of the bourgeois from XVIIIe

The everyday life of the bourgeois from XVIIIe

Speculative crops and manufacturing development, these two axes of the local economy would have been likely to promise a serene future for Cotignacea. It was without counting with the social fracture which reigned in the borough. At that time, a minority of bourgeois lived in "beautiful neighborhoods" like Le Cours and La Ferrage and a majority of peasants, laborers and craftsmen lived in difficult conditions in the houses of the old village at the foot of the rock. Everything was against them, including the habitat. For some, residential neighborhoods, recent houses with many balconies and windows overlooking the Shady Course, for other dark neighborhoods with narrow and congested streets, unsanitary apartments in which persisted the stench of tanneries. The burghers naturally invested the revenues of their business in their living environment. Furniture, clothing, food, hygiene, everything differentiated them from other inhabitants.

A good housekeeper must ensure that every job is done well. Cleaning, linen maintenance, interior design and decoration, menus, household shopping are all activities that she organizes and monitors. The reception rooms benefit from a particular care. Lounges and dining rooms take on an ostentatious appearance to the extent of the desire to appear from its owner: marble fireplace, gilding, stucco and moldings on the ceiling, large mirrors on the walls, and, everywhere, tassels, stripes, tassels, without Count the innumerable trinkets that clutter the furniture: placemat on the piano, vases, pockets, cushions ... The flowers, fresh or artificial, abound, arranged in all kinds of baskets and planters. "The bourgeoisie is not a class, it is a position: one acquires this position, one loses it.work, economy, capacity gives it, vice, dissipation, idleness make it lose. "Journal of Debates, 1847.

Cotignac - sommaire 22 - Work at the Grainage 24 - Local personalities

Local personalities

The town of Cotignac has given birth to many personalities who have distinguished themselves at the national level in different fields such as literature, science, law, church, army and politics. The oldest politician reported by history is named Guillaume de Cotignac, minister of the Count of Provence, Raymond Béranger in the twelfth century and much later, the revolutionary François Vétour in 1747 (former mayor of Cotignac). In the field of religion, we can mention André Carmagnole and Joseph Allègre in the sixteenth century, Joseph-Marius Thaneron in the eighteenth. The literature will retain the names of the troubadour poet Arnaud de Cotignac in 1260, the tragedian Antoine Maunier, the poet François Fassy, ​​both in the eighteenth century. Law and the profession of lawyer, Melchior Pastour in 1608 and François Dessoliers in 1753, the army and the great military career, General Antoine Giraud in 1749, Vice-Admiral Louis Figanière in 1780, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Gérard in 1793. Finally, science, the botanist doctor Louis Gerard in 1733.

All his personalities and perhaps others, forgotten by the texts that have reached us, sometimes carried, very high, the colors of Cotignac, a small village in the south of France. To these must be added anonymous, civil or military, who have left their lives on the battlefields of history. All are not buried in this cemetery, however, they have their place in the collective memory. Just like those who, simple peasants or craftsmen, contributed to the development of the municipality. The time has come to pay tribute to them.

Guillaume de Cotignac (1180-1245) minister

Guillaume de Cotignac (1180/1245), son of Marcio de Rhéza, was a great captain and a skilful manager. His name is inseparable from that of Raymond Berenger IV, Count of Provence, of which he was the minister, who offered him, as a reward, the lordship of Cotignac. History has awarded him the title of Grand. Nostradamus, Mouth, and all the ancient Provencal authors designate him, in fact, under the name of William the Great. His daughter, Mathilde de Rhéza, married, on November 27, 1270, Fouques de Pontevès, and brought him as dowry the lands of Cotignac and Carcès.

André Carmagnole (1619 - 1668) religious teacher

Né à Cotignac, André Carmagnole était l'un des membres les plus distingués de la savante congrégation des Oratoriens. Après avoir professé les lettres à Marseille, à Beaune et à Saumur, Carmagnole se voue à la prédication. Il y acquiert une solide réputation. Sa piété exemplaire et son savoir ont appelé sur lui l'attention de ses supérieurs, qui l'ont élevé successivement aux plus hautes dignités de l'ordre. A tout juste 30 ans, il est nommé supérieur de la maison de Beaune. En 1669, il devient supérieur à Rouen, où il remplit plus tard les fonctions de procureur général assistant. Il meurt à Paris, le 5 décembre 1688, en tant que directeur de la maison de Saint-Honoré.

Joseph Allègre (1630 - 1696) Priest

A religious of the order of the Minimes, Joseph Allegre, possessed a real talent for preaching. He was compared to Louis Bourdaloue (1632-1704), a brilliant preacher known for the quality of his sermons, which he recited like a play. He preached with closed eyes. His talent and reputation have made him preach at court, where he is nicknamed "king of preachers, preacher of kings". His sermons were remarkable thanks to a tight logic, a relevant choice of evidence and a clarity of reflection.

In 1688, Father Allegre published an excellent book that could not be found, which could be useful to village priests, and whose reprint would certainly be very successful. This book, written in Provencal language, is entitled "Instructions moralos sur tous leis évangilos dominicalos de l'an"

Antoine Maunier (1727 - 1807) Author

Antoine Maunier, son of Joseph and Anne Moustiers was born in Cotignac December 22, 1727. After studying in the house of the Oratory of Our Lady of Grace, he receives orders and takes his place among the most distinguished members of this congregation.

Father Maunier served as librarian of the Maison de Paris when he was placed as a teacher with Louis-Henri-Joseph de Bourbon-Condé. He writes for this young prince, who will be the last lord of Cotignac, a very detailed chronology of the kings of France. He is also the author of a very beautiful tragedy in Latin verse and an excellent translation of Virgil that always refers. He died in Cotignac on April 1st, 1807.

François Fassy (1751-1812) Poet

François Fassy, ​​eldest son of Jean Fassy and Rose Marin, was born in Cotignac on February 3, 1751. He is known only by the publication of some pieces of poetry, which meet a certain success in the late eighteenth century. Greek Mythology is an inexhaustible resource for the writers of that time. Fassy draws largely his inspiration.

Throughout his life, he will act as poets act, without any notion of realities. He marries the daughter of the Marquis de Puyloubier, a very rich heiress who brings him a dowry of buildings worth a million. Alas, he wastes his fortune and died poor, in 1812, in the village of Puyloubier.

François Dessoliers (1753-1835) lawyer

François Dessoliers born October 23, 1753 in Cotignac, moved very young to Marseille, where his talents as a lawyer soon place him among the renowned. He publishes several memoirs called remarkable. We cite in particular the analysis of the pleadings for the owners of the Grand Theater against the city of Marseille and the memory for the city of Marseille against the sieur Roux Labaume who challenged the city ownership of the waters of Jarret. These two pieces attest to recognized know-how a great clarity of ideas. Dessoliers will successively be a member of the Marseille City Council, Deputy Mayor and President of the General Council of Bouches-du-Rhône. Officer of the Legion of Honor, he died in Aix on May 16, 1835.

Louis Figanière (1780-1854) Admiral

Born in Cotignac in 1780, he joined the Portuguese navy at a very young age and was promoted to vice-admiral at just 40 years old. This information comes from a letter addressed to his parents. He returned to Cotignac very briefly in the course of the year 1820. Then he returned to Portugal and never again heard of this brave sailor.

Joseph-Marius Thaneron (1792-1854) Priest

Joseph-Marius Thaneron, born September 8, 1792 in Cotignac, was canon of the Metropolitan Church of Aix, professor of sacred eloquence at the Faculty of Theology of the same city from 1837 to 1854, the year of his death. This virtuous ecclesiastic published in 1844 an excellent biography of Bishop Guittou, bishop of Poitiers. It should also be noted that his annual reports on the work of the Faculty of Theology are remarkably written. Among the pamphlets he has published is a notice on the venerated image of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows restored in the chapel of the Mercy of Aix.

Cotignac - sommaire 23 - The everyday life of the bourgeois from XVIIIe 25 - St-Peter church

St-Peter church

The case of St. Peter's Church remains vague in the local chronology. A first parish church is mentioned in the texts in 1118. Thereafter, a church St-Pierre is evoked in 1188. The term draws the attention because the current church, in the middle of the village, is still today the St. Peter's Church. One might think that it is already established at the foot of the cliff at the end of the twelfth century, at the time of its first mention in the texts. Nevertheless, in the middle of the thirteenth century, the population wants the construction of a church in the heart of the village. This mention logically suggests that the inhabitants do not yet have a place of worship close to the habitat. Has it been moved to become the parish in the heart of the village, as the population wants during the 13th century? Hard to say.

During the two and a half centuries that followed the time of his administrative emancipation, Cotignac was considerably enlarged. The first enlarged enclosure in 1555, quickly proved insufficient. In fact, in 1604, the town buys, outside the doors, a vast land on which it builds the Place de l'Hotel-de-Ville. To overcome a lack of space, two naves are added to the church (1657 and 1678). The records of the deliberations teach us, in fact, that on May 18, 1657, "the awarding of a price-made for the enlargement of the church, in favor of a mason of Aups, is proceeded, at 2,975 pounds ". From 1710 to 1789, the church knows new changes. During this period, Mass is celebrated in the chapel of the White Penitents on the course.

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An organ in 1846

Thanks to the combined intervention of the municipal council and a certain Marius Roux, a native of Cotignac and residing in Marseille, the church of St-Pierre has been endowed with a high quality organ. At this time, an Alsatian organbuilder installed in Paris, the house Daublaine and Callinet, knows a particular boom. A sucursalle, led by Theodore Sauer, moved to Lyon, in order to honor the demands of the south of France. Many municipalities in the region, have an organ, Aix-en-Proence, Arles, Solliès-Pont, Brignoles (which is the twin brother of that of Cotignac). The instrument was rebuilt in 1914 by the company Vignolo brothers of Marseille, before being again converted in 1972 by the Renévier house of Marseille.

Hiring a bell ringer

On May 12, 1652, the municipal councilors ratify the market of six books a year with Balthazar Figanière, to ring the bell of Notre-Dame in case of bad weather. This practice of ringing the bells to dissipate the storm has been maintained in Provence in several localities like Cotignac. When the clouds pile up, the sky darkens and seems to cover the earth with a black veil, the pastor of the village rings the bells whose plaintive voice still increases the sadness of the storm. However, it is no longer as before with the thought of chasing clouds, and even less of warding off the evil influence of wizards carrying hail. It is simply a matter of calling the faithful to the church to ask God to preserve the crops. But before we managed to separate the material effect produced by the bells, from the all-spiritual effect of the prayers, there was a transition in religious beliefs. A doctor of theology said in 1721 "The sound of bells dismisses thunder and storms, by the divine virtue which is impressed upon them, in view of the prayers that the church makes when they are blessed, and that they are struck against the meteors ".

Another ecclesiastical author, Bishop de Thou, bishop of Chartres, had already given, at this time, a more Christian explanation "By the sound of the bells storms naturally dissipate, however, this natural cause is helped more effectively by the invocation of the name of God, to which all things obey, and there is no doubt that they are diverted, when he pleases, to save what he has made grow and multiply on earth. "

Cotignac - sommaire 24 - Local personalities 26 - Freedom, Equality, Fraternity

Freedom, Equality, Fraternity

The promotion of the clergy committed during the Revolution, continued during the Commune is affirmed durably in the marble of the law by the Third Republic. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 1791 was a founding step in imposing on the emissaries of the Vatican respect for the principles of the Republic. From this time, when the Republic imposes on the Catholic Church that it bends the backbone in front of the triptych "Liberty, equality, fraternity", there are some memories still inscribed on the facades of some churches. Whether they are erased and difficult to discern or maintained in good condition to ensure better reading, these republican marks recall that a religion adheres to the principles of freedom, equality and fraternity only under duress and contradiction total with the so-called sacred texts, in which one would look in vain for a sketch of individual freedom or a hint of equality with, for example, unbelievers or between men and women.

It was in February 1848 that the Second Republic formally decided that the formula "Liberty Equality Fraternity" would be its motto. After a long eclipse under the Second Empire, it is taken over by the Third Republic and undergoes another interruption under the government of Petain. The three terms that compose it have already appeared in various ways during the Revolution but without being inseparable. In the clubs (Jacobins, Cordeliers), in the national or departmental official documents, on the flags of the Paris districts, they are found in association or alternation with other terms like Union, Vertu, Justice, Reason, Humanity, Force, Law, etc.

Cotignac - sommaire 25 - St-Peter church 27 - The Saracen towers

The Saracen towers

The two towers of Cotignac have the particularity of being largely built using tuff. Tufa is a so-called vegetal rock, because it is formed with limescale deposits on vegetation such as moss at water source emergence levels or on waterfalls. Almost all of the construction of the two towers is built with local material, easy to cut, and especially available in quantity on site. The cliff seems to be the main place of extraction.

These two towers, rectangular in shape, are of different size. This is a watchtower (the smallest) and a fortress (the largest). In any case, these are two defense towers. They have, as a door, an opening located several meters above the ground. It was accessed by a ladder which was then raised to prevent enemies from entering. The great tower was accessible from the Great Hall inside the rock. It would seem, according to archeological studies, that there would be a vaulted room at its base, in which one stored food, arms ... One reached the interior of the tower by a small passage located in the center of the vault. An opening is 6 meters high

On its north wall, we can see that at the level of the murderer, there was before it a geminate window (a double window separated at its center by a column) with cushions (kind of benches built in the wall of both sides of the window which were often used for surveillance). Indeed, these towers were probably used as watch to monitor the plain of St Martin in the north and the valley in the south. Their dating seems difficult. They could come from the eleventh century, date of the first castle that existed in 1032. The Lord had built his castle at the bottom of the Rock, where the village had settled in the eleventh century to protect themselves from looting and destruction. invasions thanks to this huge bar of tuff. But according to recent geological studies (2017), they would date from the 14th century.

They were damaged during the wars of religion and have deteriorated over the centuries, losing their base. They were completely renovated in 1994 under the control of Mr. Farhner, architect of the Buildings of France, and have found their grace and nobility at the top of the rock, overlooking the village still today.

Cotignac - sommaire 26 - Freedom, Equality, Fraternity 28 - The agricultural year from XVIIIe

The agricultural year from XVIIIe

The different meteorological phenomena (rain, wind, frost, drought, etc.) are not perceived in the same way throughout the annual cycle, depending on whether they favor or hinder the activities in progress. For the inhabitants of Cotignac, a "happy new year" is approximately as follows.

During the winter, rains are not appreciated during harvesting. When nevertheless it rains, we wish the appearance of the Mistral to sweep the sky, while accepting the inconveniences, such as the significant drop in temperatures or the damage it inevitably causes to crops but also to homes, even if for the most part they are sheltered by the rock. The snow remains a rare phenomenon. Short-lived, it is estimated as a protective and fertilizing field cover. Too much rising temperatures in early spring inspire fear. It makes cultures defenseless against possible relapses. The April rain, accompanied by a significant increase in temperatures, is never too abundant.

At the beginning of the summer state, the weather must be dry and warm. The storms that escort the sudden rise in temperatures are observed with much apprehension. They are sometimes punctured with hail and can compromise harvests and to a lesser extent, grape harvests. Some thunderstorms are however welcome to "inflate the grapes". Finally, in the autumn, the rains are eagerly awaited after the drought, to feed the springs, to moisten the land ready for sowing and to repel the grass for the herds returning from the pastures. However, the winegrowers are afraid of seeing the rains arrive before the end of the grape harvest which may be compromised.

Cotignac - sommaire 27 - The Saracen towers 29 - St-Martin's chapel

St-Martin's chapel

The chapel was built in the fifth century. For more than 600 years, it is regularly enlarged as the population increases. From the year 1100, under the pressure of invasions, the inhabitants of the village near the sources Gautier and St-Martin, as well as those who lived in the plain, gathered around the small castle at a place called Escaillons. In 1266, a new place of worship was built or rebuilt in Cotignac. The priest will have the title of prior priest. The church had a single nave with three semicircular vaulted bays separated by pilasters and double arts. At the beginning the entrance was made laterally by the north. The lighting of the very first building was very minimalist. A window in the main apse and two windows in each chapel.

During the thirteenth century, the north chapel was replaced by a new, larger, designed as a large rectangle. The vault preserves murals of great beauty, figures draped in long robes, angels, saints, a personage with a superb expressive face. The dating of his paintings situates them between 1320-1330. They are the work of a confirmed artist whose name has not reached us. In the sixteenth century, the hamlet was gradually abandoned, probably because of the violent floods of the Cassole and many invasions. The population settled at the foot of the rock in what is today's Cotignac. A prior, however, continued to celebrate Mass there for the few bastides who had chosen to remain there. In 1726, the locals asked the consuls that their parish be "repaired". The wish will be exalted. After the revolution of 1789, the chapel will be alienated by the German family and will become an agricultural building.

In 1840 she returned to worship. By order of King Louis Philippe dated January 26, the treasurer of the factory of the curial church of Cotignac is authorized to accept the donation of a chapel dedicated to Saint-Martin located on the territory of the town of Cotignac and estimated at two hundred francs. 1905, separation of the church and the state, the chapel becomes public building, but only the part ceded by the German family. The upper part of the south apsidiole remains private. The chapel is left for the use of worship and clergy. Mass is said on Saint Martin's Day until the 1960s.

Cotignac - sommaire 28 - The agricultural year from XVIIIe 30 - St-Martin's cooler

St-Martin's cooler

Few villages in Provence did not have a cooler. That of Cotignac was not used to make the ice, but to keep it to be distributed, all summer, to the inhabitants. The ice came from the Sainte-Baume massif about 30 km to the southwest. Large blocks were carried by donkey or man sometimes. Wrapped in a skin fabric, they traveled, preferably at night, by stopping coolers in coolers during the day, to avoid too much loss.

The use and trade of ice has always existed in the Mediterranean basin. In our Provence, it is from the Renaissance that this activity has developed strongly. Quickly, it is controlled by the public authorities because the ice was used in many ways: for the conservation of fresh fish, food, in hospitals, for drinks, in sorbets ... It was a juicy market, but which involved significant risks.

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Ice making

The manufacturing principle, even at that time, was quite simple. The hardest thing was to find the right place to install the freezing ponds and build the huge tanks that are the coolers. It was necessary that the site is close to sources, it is as much as possible away from the sun, and it enjoys a draft of fresh air.

Summer and winter, people were busy around the coolers, but they did not do the same job. In winter, they filled the coolers. From the springs that sprout at the foot of the hills, the water was transported to large deep freezing tanks of about fifteen centimeters and containing about 250 cubic meters each. Thanks to the cold nights and the dry winds blowing at the edge of the basins, the water turned into ice. It took up to four jellies to fill a basin.

During the day, the local peasants, hired to "round off" their ends of the month, saw the ice in blocks and carried it to the coolers where other employees packed it and compacted it at the bottom of these huge tanks. The walls were covered with straw and insulating material. Then once the cooler full, it was sealed with a triple door.

In the summer, work was done in the evening and all night. This time it consisted of taking out the ice and transporting it to the points where people needed it, the big cities (Marseille, Toulon, Aubagne, ...), but also the small surrounding villages. With the help of cylindrical molds, the ice was extracted from the enormous frozen mass. These loaves were then unmolded and loaded onto carts, protected from the heat by skin blankets and straw. Once the cart was full, the carter hastened to leave to deliver his precious goods before the arrival of the fishermen and the sunrise.

It should be known that, as nowadays, the first comer was sure to sell all his merchandise. Also, all means were good to arrive before the competitors. The richest equipped themselves with horses and drove like crazy on the narrow roads. Accidents were not uncommon.

The development of the railway has allowed the natural ice of the Alps to compete with the coolers of the region. A little later, it was the advent of industrial ice cream. It sounded the death knell of the natural ice which resisted until the 1940s before dying out.

Cotignac - sommaire 29 - St-Martin's chapel 31 - Apparition of the Virgin Mary

Apparition of the Virgin Mary

Two kilometers in the woods, by the road on your left, is the sanctuary of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. In this place, August 10, 1519, the Virgin appears to a saint named John of the Mire. It orders him to mobilize the inhabitants of the country so that they go in procession on the place of the apparition and that they build there a church, under the name of Notre-Dame-of-Graces. The procession takes place in the following September, the day of the exaltation of the Holy Cross. The church was built and its divine patron keeps her promise to make many wishes. Ex-votos cover the walls of this new sanctuary. Two years later, Pope Leo X honored him with many rich indulgences.

120 years later, in Paris, a second apparition draws the attention of the Christian world to this church. In 1637. Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, married for 23 years, are still waiting for the birth of an heir. This long sterility of the queen quickly raises the problem of succession. On November 3, 1637, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Brother Fiacre, who was praying in the church of his convent, to announce that Anne of Austria would soon be a mother.

She invites him to bring this news to the queen and to engage him to do a series of prayers for nine days. The circumstances of this apparition were recorded the next day, the 4th of November, in the archives of the convent. This document, signed by all religious of the order, present at the declaration of the brother Fiacre, remained intact until the Revolution. Soon, the promise of the mother of Christ is fulfilled. Anne of Austria feels in her heart the child who will be a great king. At the request of the Queen, Louis XIII orders Brother Fiacre and his superior, Father Jean Chrysostome, to go to Cotignac and fulfill the Queen's wish.

Cotignac - sommaire 30 - St-Martin's cooler 32 - The visit of Louis XIV

The visit of Louis XIV

1660, the king must go to St-Jean-de-Luz to marry the Infanta of Spain. On the occasion of this trip, he decides to go through Cotignac, to give thanks to the virgin of his birth. After spending a day in Toulon and one night in Belgentier, Louis XIV arrived at Notre-Dame-de-Grâces on February 21st. The king is accompanied by the queen-mother, Anne of Austria, her brother the duke of Anjou and Mademoiselle, eldest daughter of the duke of Orleans.

Arrived at the church, the king and his mother prostrate themselves before the Blessed Sacrament, time for some prayers. It is with great emotion that the queen mother contemplates the image of the Blessed Virgin represented on the picture of the revelation, behind the altar. Louis XIV lays down the blue cord with which he is clothed at the feet of the Blessed Virgin. Before departing from Our Lady of Grace, the King accepted the snack which the consuls had had prepared. He has a long journey to go.

On January 1, 1684, anticipating its imminent end, Brother Fiacre sent a request to Louis XIV. Allow his superiors to wear his heart, after his death, in the church of the reverend fathers of the Oratory of Notre-Dame-de-Graces, in Cotignac. Brother Fiacre dies on February 10th of the same year. Louis XIV fulfills this wish. Fathers Léon and Cirile arrive at Notre-Dame-de-Grâces on May 7th with the heart of Brother Fiacre in a lead box. After celebrating Mass, the heart is placed on a table placed in the middle of the church. At the end of the prayers used at burials, it is placed under the steps of the altar of the Virgin Mary.

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Brother Fiacre, whose memory is venerated in Cotignac, is still considered one of the patron saints of the city.

On the 1st of January, 1684, foreseeing his imminent end, Brother Fiacre addressed the following letter to Louis XIV. "Sire, poor Brother Fiacre, religious Augustine, unchained of the Little Fathers of the Convent of Paris, humbly begs your sacred majesty, to allow his superiors to have his heart worn, after his death, in the church of the reverend fathers of the Oratory of Notre-Dame-de-Grâces, at Cotignac, in Provence, to be put and put down below the step-foot on the altar of the Most Blessed Virgin, in thanksgiving for the happy birth of your Majesty, and he prays to our Lord for her in gratitude for this favor, if it please him to grant it to his superiors". Paris, January 1, 1684, F. Fiacre, of Sainte-Marguerite.

Brother Fiacre dies on February 10th of the same year. His letter is brought to the king by the prior of the Augustinians barefooted. Louis XIV said to him, "You have lost a great servant of God, I will give my orders to carry his heart to Our Lady of Grace." And, indeed, he addressed to the Fathers of the Oratory, a letter published for the first time, in 1722, by the author of the life of the brother Fiacre:

"Dear and well-loved, having been informed that Brother Fiacre, a religious Augustin relieved from the convent of our good city of Paris, recently deceased, has testified, by his disposition and last wish, to desire that his heart be carried in your church, To be there under the steps of the altar of the Blessed Virgin, we write this letter to you to say that our intention is that you should receive the heart of Brother Fiacre, which is to be carried by two religious of his order. To put it at the place he intended for that purpose, because that is our pleasure.. Versailles, February 28, 1684, signed: Louis and lower Colbert.

The king gives this letter to the Fathers Leon and Cirile. The two Augustinians arrive at Notre-Dame-de-Graces on May 7th. After having celebrated the mass, they place themselves at the entrance of the church, the father Léon with the king's lettre de cachet, and his companion carrying, on a black veil, the heart of the brother Fiacre enshrined in a box of lead . The superior of the house, in a black cope, preceded by his community, starts from the sacristy to the sound of the bells. Arrived near Father Leo, he stops. The latter, before giving him the letter of His Majesty, made a very edifying speech on his mission, to which the Superior replied with much accuracy. Then the community advances towards the altar, the heart is placed on a table placed in the middle of the church and after the prayers used in the burials, it is put under the footstool of the altar of the Virgin Mary.

Cotignac - sommaire 31 - Apparition of the Virgin Mary 33 - St-Joseph apparition

St-Joseph apparition

In the early days of July 1660, a young shepherd, named Gaspard Ricard, feels great thirst as he keeps his flock in the hills west of Cotignac. His gourd is empty and he is far from any stream. In this moment of suffering, he has the happy inspiration to pray. No sooner has he made the sign of the cross than he sees a handsome old man appear with a venerable and sweet face, who asks him to lift a stone situated a short distance away and announces that it covers a spring. . This stone seems very heavy and Gaspard observes, the old man insists. Without making the least effort, Gaspard moves the stone. At the sight of the water that suddenly springs up, the young shepherd thinks only of satisfying his thirst, without caring for the charitable person to whom he owes this benefit. When quenched he seeks him to thank him, the old man is gone.

The next day Gaspard tells his adventure. All the peasants in the neighborhood go to the place. The oldest in the country declare that there has never been a source in this part of the mountain. Gaspard is certain, this old man can only be Saint Joseph. He throws himself on his knees and addresses prayers to Mary's husband. All those who accompany him prostrate like him, before traveling the country, to announce the miracle achieved by St. Joseph.

Very quickly, a large crowd goes to the miraculous fountain. Some skilful traders decide to set up cabarets not only at St. Joseph, but also at Notre-Dame-de-Graces, where pilgrims do not fail to go. The idea is very interesting, however, as everyone claims the best place, the situation quickly generates disputes. The municipal council deliberates and regulates the situation. Cabarets must pay an annuity for their location and stock up on Cotignac wine. Calm returns. The chapel of the "Font de St-Joseph" is built, thanks to the alms left by thousands of visitors.

Cotignac - sommaire 32 - The visit of Louis XIV