MONTAIGNE ❘ IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF
Clockwise from above: Montaigne spent eight days in Lyon on his way back to Bordeaux; Plombières-les-Bains, where Montaigne took the waters; his Journal du Voyage; Plombières- les-Bains; Place du Parlement in Bordeaux; a portrait of Michel de Montaigne by an unknown artist; the Cathédrale Saint- Étienne de Meaux
been protected as a historical monument since 2001. Montaigne also visited the silver mines at Bussang, the last French- speaking village before crossing the Alsace border into Switzerland. His ultimate destination was the Vatican Library where he was delighted to see ancient Roman and Chinese manuscripts, the love letters of Henry VIII and the classics of history and philosophy. While in Italy, Montaigne was surprised with the news that he had been elected mayor of Bordeaux in absentia. The news didn’t hasten his return, however: instead he took a leisurely 45 days to return home, a journey which the courier had made in less than a month.
Montaigne returned to France via the mountainous Savoie region. Attempting Mont-Cenis was impossible for his horses, so he hired eight burly men to carry him up the mountain in a sedan chair. He travelled back down on a sleigh. On the return trip to Bordeaux, Montaigne passed through many small, mercantile towns set among the mountains, where he enjoyed good views and good wines, collecting and polishing ideas for his third book of essays.
17 MONTHS LATER… After spending eight days in Lyon, Montaigne stopped overnight at an assortment of villages in central France, including Thiers, which at the time was renowned for the manufacture of playing cards and carved knives. Four hundred years later, the town is still the capital of French knife-making.
After delivering his Essais to King Henri III, Montaigne began the French leg of his journey near Beaumont-sur-Oise. He visited Meaux, a small fortified town on the Marne which he considered very beautiful, noting its great stone walls and the riverside market which exists today in the south quarter of the old city. He also saw the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne, a beacon of Gothic architecture. Montaigne’s path continued through the wine villages of Charly-sur Marne and Dormans. At Épernay, he visited the Église Notre-Dame and Saint-Martin’s gate, which today is all that remains of the original building. Montaigne thought the large town square at Vitry-le-François was one of the handsomest in France. The town was a crucible of gender politics where a group of young women habitually dressed as men: days before Montaigne’s visit, one such impersonator had met their end at the gallows.
Montaigne passed through the small villages of the Meuse and Vosges departments and stayed at Domrémy, the birthplace of Joan of Arc; the 15th-century building she grew up in has been restored and is now a visitor centre. Claiming never to travel without books, Montaigne acquired a few along the way too. He examined the well-stocked church library at Neufchâteau but found nothing rare; of greater interest, it appears, was the town’s new waterwheel. Montaigne frequented mineral spas all the way along his route, their waters soothing the pain he suffered as a result of his kidney stones. He stopped at Plombières-les-Bains to take advantage of the thermal springs and spent his 11-day stay at the Angel Inn, the best in town where the landladies were very good cooks. The Angel is now the Residence des Bains at 7, rue Stanislas. The thermal baths bearing Montaigne’s name have
Established in 2015, the GR89, aka the Chemin de Montaigne, is a long-distance (326km) hiking route that faithfully follows Montaigne’s footsteps from Lyon to the village of Felletin, through the small towns he encountered on his route back home. It’s quite likely he was cooling his heels in these hamlets to delay his return to public life as Bordeaux’s mayor as long as possible.
After a journey lasting 17 months and eight days, Montaigne returned to his château on November 30, 1581. His later travels included a one-day incarceration at the Bastille, and vagabond days avoiding the plague.
He died in 1592 at the Château de Montaigne Montaigne. He was 59. To this day, he remains an inspiration to get out, travel in the face of adversity, and to embrace new cultures and customs. FT
www.reservation.château-montaigne. com
Feb/Mar 2023 FRANCE TODAY ❘ 59
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