Cher 18

 

Cher is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. It is named after the Cher River. Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. Most of it was created, along with the adjacent department of Indre from the former province of Berry. The south-eastern corner of the department, however, was part of the Duchy of Bourbon. The department is part of the current administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire. It is surrounded by the departments of Indre, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, Nièvre, Allier, and Creuse. The inhabitants of the department are called Berrichons from the former province of Berry.

The historical languages are Berrichon and the northern version of Bourbonais. These are both dialects of French, or the Langues d’oïl. They are named respectively after the former Province of Berry and the former Duchy of Bourbon. Some 11 communes in the extreme South used to speak Occitan. The old dialects were in widespread use until the middle decades of the twentieth century and incorporated major regional variations within the department, influenced by the dialects of adjacent regions near the departmental frontiers. During the twentieth century government educational policy promoted a more standardised version of the French language. In the extreme south of the department influence from the southern Occitan language begins to appear, with “chambrat” being used in place of “grenier a foin” (hayloft), “betoulle” in place of “bouleau” (birch tree) and “aigue” in place of “eau” (water).

Bourges on the Yèvre river is the capital of the department of Cher and also was the capital of the former province of Berry.

 

Bourges

History

The name of the city derives either from the Bituriges, the name of the original inhabitants, or from the Germanic Burg (French: bourg. Spanish: burgo. English, others: burgh, berg, or borough), for “hill/village”. The Celts called it Avaricon; Latin-speakers: Avaricum.

In the Gallic Wars of 58-50 BC, the Gauls practised a scorched earth policy, but the inhabitants of Avaricum begged not to have their city burned, and it was spared due to its good defences provided by the surrounding marshes and a strong southern wall. Following the siege of Avaricum in the winter of 52 BC, Julius Caesar‘s forces destroyed the city and killed all but 800 of its inhabitants.

Rome reconstructed Avaricum as a Roman city, with a monumental gate, aqueducts, thermae and an amphitheatre, reaching a greater size than it would attain during the Middle Ages. The massive walls surrounding the late Roman city, enclosing 40 hectares, were built in part with stone re-used from earlier public buildings.

The third-century AD Saint Ursinus, also known as Saint Ursin, is considered the first bishop of the city. Bourges is the seat of an archbishopric. During the 8th century Bourges lay on the northern fringes of the Duchy of Aquitaine and was therefore the first town to come under Frankish attacks when the Franks crossed the Loire. The Frankish Charles Martel captured the town in 731, but Duke Odo the Great of Aquitaine immediately re-took it. It remained under the rule of counts who pledged allegiance to the Aquitanian dukes up to the destructive assault by Pepin the Short on independent Aquitaine starting in 760, when Basque troops are found defending the town along with its count.

The Gothic Cathedral of Saint Etienne, begun at the end of the twelfth century, ranks as a World Heritage Site. It is considered as one of the earliest examples of the High Gothic style of the thirteenth century.

During the Middle Ages, Bourges served as the capital of the Viscounty of Bourges until 1101. In the fourteenth century it became the capital of the Duchy of Berry. The future king of France, Charles VII (reigned 1422-1461), sought refuge there in the 1420s during the Hundred Years’ War. His son, Louis XI, was born there in 1423. In 1438, Charles VII decreed the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges.

The city has a long tradition of art and history. Apart from the cathedral, other sites of importance include the 15th-century Palace of Jacques Cœur and a sixty-five-hectare district of half-timbered houses and fine town-houses.

Bourges sits at the river junction where the Auron flows into the Yèvre. The disused Canal de Berry follows alongside the course of the Auron through Bourges.

See also: Timeline of Bourges

 

 

 15th-century Palace of Jacques Cœur

Personalities

 

 

 

Map of the Berry with its four departments

showing the provinces that existed on its territory in the XVIII century.

 

Berry is a region located in the center of France. It was a province of France until départements replaced the provinces on 4 March 1790, when Berry became divided between the départements of Cher (High Berry) and Indre (Low Berry).

The Berry region now consists of the départements of Cher, Indre and parts of Creuse. The city Bourges functioned as the capital of Berry. Berry is notable as the birthplace of several kings and other members of the French royal family, and was the birthplace of the famous knight Baldwin Chauderon, who fought in the First Crusade. In the Middle Ages, Berry became the centre of the Duchy of Berry. It is also known for an illuminated manuscript produced in the 14th–15th century called Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.

The name of Berry, like that of its capital, Bourges, originated with the Gaulish tribe of the Bituriges, who settled in the area before the Roman armies of Julius Caesar conquered Gaul.

La Brenne, located west of Châteauroux and east of Tournon-Saint-Martin in the Indre department, is a region which of old straddled on the former provinces of Berry and Touraine, and is now a protected natural area (Parc naturel régional de la Brenne) as well called Pays des mille étangs, because of its many ponds created since the 8th century by the monks of the local abbeys for pisciculture.

 

 

 

Google Maps – Cher