I was on my by now monthly road warrior trails of my belle France, I was out with my boys and my good dog Rex riding into the wonderful regions near me. This even if passed by before, is my first time in the town of La Fléche, full of architecture and history monuments. I will leave this post as the introduction to the town in my black and white series, no pictures. The town of La Flèche is located in the Sarthe department 72 in the Pays de la Loire region of my belle France , Therefore, here is my take on this is La Fléche !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The town is 42 km from Le Mans, 49 km from Angers, 92 km from Tours, 71 km from Laval, 263 km from Paris, and 275 km from my current home.The town is a member of the Pays d’art et d’histoire network. The town is accessible from the A11 motorway, the “Océane,” which connects Nantes to Paris via exits 10 Sablé-La Flèche, near Le Bailleul, and 11 Durtal-La Flèche; the former is preferable when coming from Paris, and the latter when coming from Nantes. La Flèche is an important crossroads, at the intersection of the RD 323 linking Paris to Nantes via Le Mans and Angers, and the RD 306, linking Tours to Laval, which connects the town to Sablé and Le Lude. Other less important departmental roads serve the town such the RD 308 leads to Baugé and Saumur, the RD 37 leads to Fougeré and the RD 104 leaves La Flèche in the direction of Savigné-sous-le-Lude; To the north, D41 leads to Villaines-sous-Malicorne, and the RD12 connects the town to La Suze-sur-Sarthe. We came from Pluvigner along the N24 to Rennes, N136 rocade then N157 to D57 by Laval to D21 dir Sablé sur Sarthé here took the D306 to rond point already in town took left into the D323 voie de la Liberté then promenade du Maréchal Foch and parked next to it on Rue du Maréchal Foch, walking distance easy to all sights,
A bit of history I like tell us that born after the year 1000, the town of La Flèche took off at the beginning of the 17C under the leadership of Guillaume Fouquet de La Varenne, then by the creation of the Henri-IV college, run by the Jesuits, which would become the Prytanée national militaire by decision of Emperor Napoleon in 1808. An important religious center in the 17C with the presence of twelve religious communities on its territory, in 1078, La Flèche was besieged by Foulques IV le Réchin, Count of Anjou, supported by Duke Hoël II of Brittany, who accused Jean de Beaugency of supporting the Normans, enemies of the Counts of Anjou. Jean de Beaugency received the support of William the Conqueror. La Flèche remained the property of the Plantagenets, Counts of Anjou and Kings of England, until the end of the 12C and its passage into the family of the Viscounts of Beaumont-au-Maine. In 1230, while the army of Blanche of Castile (maternal granddaughter of Henry II) went to Brittany to fight the troops of the Duke supported by Henry III of England (another grandson of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine), his son Saint-Louis, King of France, stayed for two days at La Flèche. He meditated before the statue of Notre-Dame-du-Chef-du-Pont, whose name comes from the location of the chapel at the entrance to the Carmes bridge spanning the Loir. The sanctuary was also visited by Thomas Becket barely a century earlier. The feudal castle of La Flèche, built on the Loir, was dilapidated and without comfort after having been devastated by the English during the Hundred Years’ War. Françoise d’Alençon then began the construction of a new residence, the Château-Neuf, to the north of the old castle. In 1543, Françoise d’Alençon obtained from François I the erection of several of her baronies, including that of La Flèche, into a duchy-peerage under the name of Duchy of Beaumont. Upon her death in 1550, her son Antoine de Bourbon, father of Henri IV, inherited her possessions, and in particular the Château-Neuf de La Flèche where the future king of France stayed several times during his youth.
On September 3, 1603, Henry IV signed the Edict of Rouen, which authorized the return of the Jesuits to France, and then decided to cede his Château-Neuf of La Flèche to them so that they could create a college there: this was the birth of the Royal College Henri-le-Grand, which welcomed within its walls the man who would become a great philosopher, René Descartes, as well as the future first bishop of Quebec, François de Montmorency-Laval. By the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1607, Henry IV confirmed his attachment to the College of La Flèche, indicating that he wished for his heart to be taken from his remains after his death and then placed in the church of this college. The heart of the deceased king was then entrusted to the Jesuits and brought to La Flèche, where the procession made its entrance on the morning of June 4, 1610, commanded by the Duke of Montbazon. On September 3, 1614, the young Louis XIII and the regent went to La Flèche and were welcomed at the Royal College. In September 1615, the king established the town of La Flèche by an edict. On December 1, 1640, the community of Carmelite Fathers obtained the transfer of the old feudal castle of La Flèche from King Louis XIII. The Visitandines settled in La Flèche in 1646 and founded a monastery, which became the town’s hospital after the French revolution. On April 12, 1643, in accordance with the wishes of Henri IV, the heart of Marie de Médicis was transferred to La Flèche and joined that of her former husband in the chapel of the Collège Royal. In 1762, the Collège de La Flèche was closed, like all the other Jesuit establishments in France, after the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from the kingdom. In 1764, letters patent from King Louis XV established a cadet school there, preparatory to the Royal Military School of the Champ de Mars. In 1776, Louis XVI entrusted the management of the establishment to the Doctrinaires under the name of “Collège royal et académique”. When the French departments were created in 1790, La Flèche, like seventeen other parishes of the former province of Anjou, was attached to the department of Sarthe. On September 24, 1793, the royal hearts of Henri IV and Marie de Médicis, kept in the church of Saint-Louis, were thrown into the pyre on the orders of the representative on mission Didier Thirion. Doctor Charles Boucher, surgeon at La Flèche, collected the ashes which his heirs returned to the Prytanée militaire in 1814. The locals witnessed the passage of the Vendéens twice during the Virée de Galerne. On its return from Normandy, the Vendée army stayed at La Flèche on December 1 during the preparation for the siege of Angers. Napoleon I decided to transfer the Prytanée militaire de Saint-Cyr to the former college of La Flèche by an imperial decree issued in Saint-Cloud on March 24, 1808. The transfer became effective the following June. After Napoleon’s second abdication in 1815, La Flèche was occupied for several weeks between July and August by Prussian troops of the 10th Hussar Regiment. During the Franco-German War of 1870, an ambulance was established at the Prytanée to treat the wounded. It received up to 670 wounded at the end of 1870. The Prussian army reached La Flèche and Saint-Germain-du-Val on January 19, 1871. On Sunday, August 2, 1914, the day after the general mobilization order, many locals residents attended the departure by special train of the battalion of the 117th Infantry Regiment garrisoned at the La Tour-d’Auvergne barracks since 1907. On Wednesday, June 19, 1940, the nazis entered La Flèche and organized its occupation the following day, installing the kommandantur at the City/town hall. On June 22, the nazis soldiers of the 615th Artillery Regiment arrived in garrison at La Flèche, where they remained for eleven months. The town was definitively liberated on August 10, 1944, by the American army.
The town of La Fléche on its heritage : https://www.ville-lafleche.fr/loisirs/tourisme/patrimoine/
The town of La Fléche on its history: https://www.ville-lafleche.fr/la-ville/lhistoire/
The local Loir Valley tourist office on La Fléche : https://www.loir-valley.com/things-to-see-to-do/sites-to-visit/
There you go folks , a nice quant town worth a detour me think. The area is wonderfully located to visit other wonders of my belle France, Again ,hope you enjoy this post on this is La Fléche !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 