FORMIGNY
FORMIGNY!!! Who hasn't heard this name at least once in his life? If the War of 1914-1918 left this date unforgettable in the military annals, the victory of Formigny, over the English, was another just as great for our ancestors, because this name recalls the liberation of our Normandy in 1450. the route to the end of the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) - war like no other, because we can say, without being contradicted. that none of those who attended the first fighting survived for the last - it was the time of these iron-barded giants whose troubadours peddled the exploits around the world and that our very old grandmothers, during the long winter vigils, while the wind raged, through the big trees - helping the spinner to turn the wheel where the thread of the destiny of humans was and that the vilaine witch with the galloche chin went on the Sabbath horse on a broomstick - sitting in front of the monumental chimney, where the log burned with bloody And yet, many tourists who frequent our beaches do not know this place! They are proud of having had a good holiday and visited our Bessin! Yet 4 kilometers from these beaches is Formigny, with its memories, its commemorative column, its chapel, its monument, its church, each stone seems to evoke the past and each field tells something. They did not make this journey and never even thought that it too was the pivot of the liberation of the soil of France and that the whole history of our Normandy and our Bessin is summarized in these eight letters:
FORMIGNY!
At the place where the road from Trévières to the sea meets that of Paris to Cherbourg, we see the most recent memory of the victory of April 15, 1450. In opposite, in the corner of the field where every year, the first Monday and Tuesday of July, the Fair and the Saint-Martin Festival are held is the Memorial of Dead Soldiers for France from 1914 to 1918. Both frame the Calvary facing the City Hall. Thus we have grouped the tributes paid to the One who died for the entire flood and to those who fell for France. This crossroads is one of the most beautiful in Normandy.
Very imposing is the monument erected on June 1, 1903 with the help of a subscription in which all the good French of Normandy and other provinces took part. On a green mound, the pink granite pedestal, soberly carved in the flamboyant style of the 15th century, brings together three bronze statues. Forward, the two generalissimos of 1450: Arthur of Brittany, Count of Richemont, Constable of France, and Jehan of Bourbon, Count of Clermont, Lieutenant of the King. He has just been armed as a Knight on the battlefield and swears to protect France symbolized by the three lily flowers on a shield. The Connétable, bare-headed. announces to him that he is going to sleep with his soldiers in Trévières (in the neighborhood called since then -rue des bretons
A little higher and behind, a crowned woman, representing France, brings the laurels deserved by the two generals and shows with her right hand, still armed, the English, to be expelled from the Cotentin.
On the face of the pedestal we read the Inscription: Gloriae maiorum (to the glory of the ancestors) above a bronze bas-relief, work of the sculptor The Duke, as well as the statues. This bas-relief represents on the one hand, the General Staff, where we see the Connétable authorizing Pierre de Brézé to pursue the English, and the Curé de Carentan who was charged by the Count of Clermont to invite the army of Brittany to strengthen that of France. The other side of the bas-relief presents the banks of the Stream of Formigny and its bridge that we dispute. At the top, in Heaven, Joan of Arc encourages and supports the Combatants: excellent idea of the sculptor because twenty years earlier Richemont had shared the glory of Joan of Arc in Patay, as Bishop Amette recalled before blessing the Monument of 1903 "no doubt that from the top of the sky she did not follow him with her eyes as he delivered the supreme battle in Formigny, and that she did not pray to God to bless her army".
Moreover, the Constable of Richemond, remembering that Saint Michael had helped Joan of Arc fulfill his mission, went to thank him in his Norman basilica for facilitating the Victory of Formignv.
150 meters from the modern and grandiose Monument, and on the same side of the National Road, towards Cherbourg, we salute the modest Chapel that the Count of Clermont had promised God on April 15, 1450
Although this promise was made in 1450, the Count of Clermont could not have this Chapel built until 1486. He endowed her with a hundred pounds of rent. The two Chaplains serving the Saint-Louis Chapel enjoyed it until the Revolution in charge of maintaining it and celebrating mass alternately every day of the year for the souls of the deceased on April 15, 1450 (eight or ten dead among the French, while, according to the historians of Coucy and Montrelet, three thousand seven hundred and sixty-four English were killed, twelve to fourteen hundred taken prisoner, out of six to seven thousand enemies. After the day "about the setting sun" the Generals Richemont and Clermont appointed heraults and priests to bury the bodies that were put the next day in fourteen large pits.
In the sacristy of the chapel we keep balls, fragments of weapons and a glue of meshes found in 1812, containing a skeleton. It is composed of small iron rings that are not welded but with their ends beaten and stopped by a kind of nail. Copper links closed the opening from above and below. A modern sword could cross that kind of breastplate.
The Sanctuary of the Chapel is adorned with the statutes of Saint-Martin and Saint-Louis. This one is made of unfortunately painted wood. The altar is currently surrounded by frequently renewed flowers; but the mass is no longer celebrated there, since the separation of the Churches and the State.
Disused by the first Revolution, it was sold in 1795 by the Government and bought by Mr. Sansrefus who, in order to keep it in wire, a shed for the distance, without taking away its architectural style. More bacon, the Châtelain d'Aignerville, Mr. Duny, bought it back to offer it to Louis-Philippe who had it restored. His direct descendants still have it and ensure its conservation.
Moving forward a little, we find the Commemorative Column, on the same side of the road, but on the territory of Aignerville, marking the place where the battle became fierce and decisive; this column was raised on August 25, 1834, at the expense and in the presence of Arcisse de Caumont, the great archaeologist. Restored several times by the Municipality of Aignerville, it is surrounded by a grid and bears this inscription:
HERE WAS THE BATTLE OF FORMIGNY DELIVERED
April 15, 1450
UNDER THE REIGN OF CHARLES VII
The English lost a large number
Of their warriors and were then forces
to abandon Normandy of which they were
masters since 1417
The grasses behind this column still bear the significant names of "Champ aux Anglais" and "Tombeau des Anglais".
About 150 meters further, it is the . Carrefour Bérigot tragically famous by a car accident that occurred on October 30, 1927, which cost the lives of engineer Jean Hubert, one of the glories of French aviation and Mr. Thomine-Desinazure and counted several injuries. The modern layout of this intersection should inspire caution to motorists.
Returning to the Monument, we take the direction of the sea and arrive at the Church of Formigny.
Although restored more than once since its construction, this church dates back partially to the 12th century. The base of its tower is Romanesque as well as the triumphal arch of the entrance to the nave. Likewise, also the large pillars that support the arcades putting this nave in communication with the lower side. The altar and the sanctuary were recently arranged in the style of the 14th century.
At the bottom of the nave we see the painting that was in the Saint-Louis Chapel until the revolution. Saint-Louis was painted in royal clothes, the crown on his head, a flowery scepter in his left hand, a shrouth and the crown of thorns in the right. A, next to the holy King, a representation of the chapel, the path and the river, the houses and the harvesters. On the other hand, a cavalry charge; a marching troop led by a hallebardier; all are dressed in red, helmeted and armed with spears. The banners are red and white A Latin inscription meaning: "The year 1450", during the reign of Charles VII Jean de Bourbon chased the English from here and offered this perpetual trophy of his victory to his ancestor Saint-Louis".
Roger and Roudin, chaplains, year 1754.
Outside, the facade of the Romanesque-based nave. But we see in the tip of the gable the trace of a large ogival window. It was replaced in the 17th century by a Greco-Romanesque opening framing the image of the patron saint of the parish: Saint-Martin, on horseback giving half of his calving to a poor man. Below where you see the weapons of the Marguerie, donors of this stone group.
The forever famous name of Formigny was recently given to a ship by its shipowner, M Heuzey, from a very old family that once owned the black ma de la Prairie in Rubercy. Mr. Heuzey's maternal ancestors had taken part in the conquest of England in 1066.
Edited and printed by P FERE. 1932