Introduction

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A Short History

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Richard the Lionheart

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The Pilgrims Way

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Food glorious food

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LIMOUSIN

There are very few large towns in the Limousin although the countryside is dotted with charming, authentic little villages and, thanks to the legacy of the 'builder monks' and the masons of the Creuse, castles, manors, Romanesque abbeys and churches, often concealing elaborate enamelled casks, finely wrought altar-pieces and stained glass.

The region was at its best between the X and XIII centuries when the great chateaux and fortified towns were built, and the abbeys and churches were endowed. No region in France had more saints or more sacred waters and the 'Ostensions', the septennial parade of relics through the streets of every village and town, are unique in France. The pilgrim road to Compostella is still signalled by its emblem, the shell of St Jacques (Santiago). The region was also an important centre for the Knights Templar.

The region is of course world-renowned for the porcelain and enamels of Limoges and the tapestries of Aubusson and has been the subject of many artists, most famously perhaps the Ecole de Crozant, the name covering all the impressionist painters inspired by the beautiful gorges along the Creuse river. Many other contemporary applications of traditional decorative arts, crafts and industries are still thriving, among them weaving, haute couture, pottery and goldsmithing.

From the end of the XVIIIc the population declined. Even the arrival of the railway and the porcelain industry didn't help and agricultural mechanisation further reduced the essentially peasant inhabitants, down from 985,000 in 1891, to 730,000 in 1962. In the first world war 110,000 men from the Limousin were killed, one and a half times the national average, mostly young and the fathers of children who were never born. The legacy persists. The Haute Vienne is the least fecund department in France; in 1993, 140 communes in the Limousin registered no births, but recently, attracted by low property values, (and an agreeable ambiance, to which we can testify), people, admittedly often retired, are immigrating to a region which will increasingly depend on tourism.

Yet, in such a rural setting, many folk traditions, even some superstitions redolent of Georges Sand (who spent much time in the Creuse), have managed to survive into the 21st century. The ancient folk songs, called 'chabrettaires', still ring out at local fetes. Fascinating and serene, rich yet unspoilt, the Limousin offers its own brand of quality time.

*Reproduced from France News*

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