Angles sur L'Anglin
This quiet and fascinating little village, where everything invites to the stroll and the dream will lead us on the paths of History. The history of Angles-sur-l'Anglin or rather of the city of Angles-sur-l'Anglin if we respect the past, is certainly linked to that of its region Poitou, but it nevertheless seems to have forged a specific identity to which its inhabitants Are very attached. Located on the borders of Poitou, Touraine and Berry, Angles has known, throughout the centuries, to benefit from its geographical situation to be at the same time a condensed of different cultures and an entity of exception.
The origins: the origins of the village seem more than controversial. Indeed, modern tourist guides favor the thesis that Angles should be named after a Germanic people from Schleswig, now the German Land of the Northern Plain: the Angles, whose descendants Would have settled near Anglin in the seventh century. Whatever the origins of Angles, it is well before our era that the civilization leaves its imprints to Angles, which is not yet Angles... Indeed, the discovery of the prehistoric site magdalénien of the "Roc aux Sorciers" Left an astonishing testimony: the Man lived about 14 000 years ago on the banks of the Anglin. This site covers about fifty meters and comprises two distinct parts:
The cellar Taillebourg otherwise known as cellar to Lucien Jacob where are traces of the Middle Magdalenian as early as 1927 by Mr. Rousseau. In 1947, Madame de Saint-Mathurin and Madame Garrod resumed excavations of this cellar and discovered a bison in relief;
The Bourdois shelter where the ladies of Saint-Mathurin and Garrod opened a trench that led them to the discovery of the Magdalenian sculpted frieze.
These discoveries and the interest they provoke make Angles-sur-l'Anglin one of the high places of prehistory in the same way as Lascaux. But 14,000 years ago, Angles-sur-l'Anglin did not exist as such, in fact, its history begins roughly with the second millennium.
The history of Angles revolves around three monuments: the fortress, the Sainte-Croix chapel and the Saint-Pierre chapel.
The fortress: probably chosen for the strategic position constituted by the cliffs of Angles (they dominate about 50 meters the valley of Anglin), the castle thus built is cited from 1025. At the beginning of the fifteenth, two bishops undertake To reconstruct the old fortress. Hugues de Combarel has built a dwelling house that already evokes the Renaissance. The concern for pleasure begins to prevail over the concern for defense. He also modifies the old donjon and signs his work by affixing his carved arms: 3 scallops and a half spur. The end of the 15th century announces the end of the beautiful days of the fortress. Pierre d'Amboise built the episcopal residence of Dissay, which is preferred to the châtellenie d'Angles. There followed the wars of religion, the sling. An assessment of the condition of the fortress was commissioned in 1708. The Paris parliament exempted the bishops of Poitiers from their duty of maintenance. In 1792, the ruined fortress was still confiscated and the municipality decided to use it as a stone quarry. But the access being so difficult and the demand small, the ruins will be saved. The municipality bought the fortress for the symbolic franc in 1986 and has been working to save it since.
The chapel Sainte-Croix: Isembert I around 1040 is at the origin of the abbey. In 1088, Hugh VI of Lusignan offers the church to the abbey Saint-Cyprien of Poitiers. Around 1094, Pope Urban II had the Benedictine monks replaced by regular canons of the order of St. Augustine, who held the abbey until the Revolution. But it was not until the end of the 12th century that the abbey church was built. Begun in 1175, it was consecrated in 1192, during the reign of Philip Augustus. The abbey soon grew rich with many gifts and exchanges with that of Merci Dieu. But at the end of the war of one hundred years, in 1428, the resources decreased so much that there remain only 10 monks instead of 24. The abbots succeed each other and from the end of the sixteenth century, Sainte- Croix becomes an abbey in commende. In 1768, at the end of the reign of Louis XV, there are still five monks. During the Revolution, the houses of the canons were sold as national property to private individuals, but the abbey remained the property of the State and no one maintained it. In ruins, the road linking Angles to Saint-Pierre de Maillé was built through the rubble in 1835.
The Saint-Pierre chapel: it was erected on the highest point of the cliff. Around the chapel remains of a feudal mound are still visible today. The chapel is separated from the fortress by the "trench of the English": natural fissure arranged by the man. Legend has it that after the defeat against the English at Maupertuis of King John the Good, the latter arrived at Angles to seize the castle "by carving this passage in the rock, in one night, in order to surprise the guards". In the same way, Bertrand Du Guesclin would have taken over the castle from the English by this passage. The chapel was built in the 12th century. The present choir of the chapel presents a quarter-circle shape as the choir of the chapel collapsed with the cliff in the fifteenth and was roughly rebuilt following the new ledge. Currently it is home to many exhibitions and is one of the most outstanding views of Angles.
To see also: the Cueille, paved pedestrian alley which ensures the communication between high and low city. It owes its name probably because the inhabitants gathered water down this lane.
The arch: the cellars located at the level of the arch served as warehouses for the salt traded during the great fairs of Angles and for the salt of contraband. Its architecture is inspired by that of the Spanish cities (Sarragosse).mpany.
