A SUM UP IN ENGLISH

Behind me, the river Evre, where my ancestor Jacques Clemenceau was a miller in Gevrise (end 17th-begin.18th century), village of Botz, near St-Florent-le-Vieil. The mill does not exist anymore, just lodges around (photo Jacky Clemenceau, june 2007).

ABOUT MY BLOG (1):

For nearly thirty years, I have been interested in the history of my ancestors and my area which is in Anjou, former province called now "Maine-et-Loire". The capital is Angers, near Brittany in western France (2).

With 2 brothers, I began investigations about the origin of my family in the area of Saint-Florent-le-Vieil (=old St-Florent ) which is a little town just along the river Loire.

Living in the north of this " département" of Maine-et-Loire, we just knew that the father of our grand-father was born here in "St-Florent-the-old".

We did not know much about our ancestors who were millers (3), but we began to dig out discovering that our family was involved in the "Vendée war" in 1793 (4).

An oral tradition still existed among cousins of my grand-father, about an ancestor who was caught by the "Bleus" (= republican soldiers).

Making researches into old files, we discovered step by step the history of our millers and a bunch of cousins coming from the first miller ancestor, Guillaume Clemenceau born around 1635 in Liré (5)!

To share our discoveries with the family, I decided in march 2007, to create this blog "Clemenceau du Petit moulin" (= "Clemenceau from the Little Mill", mill where my last miller ancestor, Pierre Clemenceau worked. Then he was shot in 1793 in St-Florent-le-Vieil during the Vendée War).

I dare say, I wrote this blog in memory of him.


(1) From time to time, I will write articles in english in order to help foreign readers whose the french language is not current and interested in the Vendée war.
I hope it will be also useful for some friends I met a certain time ago and keep contact with them.

(2) Plantagenet kings' country, when England and some french provinces belonged to the Crown of England (12th century). see Google, "Angela Bird's Vendée : a little Vendée history".

(3) From the 17th century until the beginning of the twentieth century (see "the last millers-Le dernier des meuniers" heading with 3 photos of old Clemenceau millers).

(4) After the Revolution (1789), in 1791, the people hope to get the land (mainly territories belonging to the priests and clergy) where their ancestors have worked for centuries.

In fact, the "Bourgeois" (tradesmen, officials, even nobles...) have more money, can buy the land and peasants are quite insatisfied.

In 1792, the catholic priests are persecuted because the new gouvernment want them to swear allegiance to the civil Constitution.

The King, Louis XVI, is guillotined in the beginning of 1793.

Because of the war against Prussia, Austria, England..., the countrymen are obliged to fight to the east border of France in order to help the young Republic. A lot of them refuse to go there and prefer to stay at home.

In march 1793, it is the beginning of the Counter-Revolution with many riots in France.

In western France, the insurgents succeed to get rid of the Republicans.

Now, to sum up this conflict, it is a civil war, "Royalists = Whites" ("catholic party") against "Republicans= Blues" ("atheist party").

It is the beginning of the "Vendée War" which last 2 years and kill more than 150.000 people in our country.

(5) Heading-rubrique "Généalogie de la famille Clemenceau" which starts from Guillaume (9th generation) directly to my grand-father Louis (first generation).
Have a look at the map, rubrique-heading "Rencontre-meeting 30th of june 2007" and see "Itinerary, meeting...".

Vendean family circle, about the family Clemenceau-Humeau-Cognée/Vincent-Girault.
(I will improve this drawing to make it easier to read !)*

SUMP UP : MAIN CAUSES OF THE INSURRECTION IN THE VENDEE

During the Vendée war (1793-1795/1796), the Vendeans are called "Brigands" by the Republicans, because they become insurgents, refusing the laws of the Republic.

After the insurrection in St-Florent-le-Vieil the 12th of March 1793, my ancestor Pierre Clemenceau (°1766 +1793, in yellow on the circle) becomes a brigand with many other people (about 800,000 inhabitants living in more than 700 tiny cities and villages) in an area called in french "Vendée militaire" (a large part ot the Vendée department, Pays (country) de Retz, du Loroux, Bas-Anjou, Bressuirais...), parts of four departments.

In 1796, at the end of the war nearly 200,000 Vendeans have been killed with a high cruelty (drowning, fusillade, guillotine, torture...).

But back to our ancestor Pierre who has a huge family in the St-Florent-le-Vieil area, where all the members share the same way of life and more or less the same ideas. Very soon, they will wear the Sacred Heart ** on their jacket, sign of their faith.

The Vendeans belong to a very religious catholic community whose priests have been persecuted for 2 years because of refusing the allegiance to the republican civil Constitution.

The administration chooses the priests instead of the french clergy whose obedience comes from the Pope. The priests are paid by the government like usual civil officials.

What do the countrymen want exactly?

First, they do no want to fight in the East border ( Belgium, Germany... about 800-900 kilometers from Anjou, Vendée) , where the new Republic needs 300,000 men from all over France to fight against the enemy. This last decree of February 1793 about the abhored conscription provokes the explosion two weeks after.

And they also want a come back of their "bons prêtres" (good priests) who are obliged to hide in the land. Many unlucky priests are jailed and deported (later during the "Reign of Terror"*** a lot are killed, guillotined...).

Instead of them, for at least more than one year, loyalist priests are sent and paid by this régime because they accept the terms of the civil Constitution.
These newcomers try to stay in this country. But they are not at all accepted.
It is a nightmare for them to live in the village, some are even wounded or killed by the populace. Others are obliged to leave the country very, very quickly !

So, during the persecution, the Vendeans prefer to go in the land at night and pray with their "bons prêtres" and give "les prêtres intrus" (intrusive priests) a very rough time !
Just a few part of people attend their church, sometimes help by the "garde nationale".

In March 1793, after many insurrections all over the "Vendée militaire", the countrymen go back to the church to listen their "good priests" again and ask the aristocrats for help to fight the french Republic.

In the St-Florent area, the young Vendeans go and see the marquis de Bonchamps who still stay in his castle near St-Florent. A lot of nobles are abroad (England, Germany...).

Charles de Bonchamps accepts to fight and to lead them. Very quickly, he will be one of the most influential vendean generals in this civil war.

With his own fortune, Charles de Bonchamps equips his cavalry.

François Jacques Clemenceau (whose nickname is "l'homme" ("the man") miller in "le Grand Moulin" becomes captain in the Marquis' cavalry.
He is our ancestor Pierre Clemenceau 's uncle.

* In the circle above, two cousins (the Boré brothers) of my ancestor Pierre (in yellow) were drawn in 1825.
At this time, these vendean Veterans got a pension from the monarchy after its come back. They were not any more brigands !

Below, the three other portraits (Belion, Michel and Cognée) drawn by David D'Angers represent vendean Veterans, friends and comrades in arms in contact with the Clemenceau family (wedding...).

The last two Veterans (Sautejeau and Bouyer) are relative.

All the portraits were drawn in 1825 by David d'Angers whose father was a republican prisoner saved by the general de Bonchamps in St-Florent-le-Vieil (I will give more details about this episode later).

** The Sacred Heart was spread by the priest Grignon de Montfort (°1673 +1716) in lower Poitou (Vendée after the Révolution), which was a calvinist area.

*** After the Vendeans' defeat in December 1793, the government, instead of calming down the country, decides to increase the repression. From January until July 1794, an army (12 "Colonnes Infernales") led by the general Turreau ist sent to destroy the belongings and exterminate the people inside the "Vendée militaire".
See Sophie Masson "Remembering the Vendée" "...12 columns of hell...and inspeakable things they did...".

After the Age of Enlightenment, that is the Age of Darkness !

From "inthevendee.com", "decorative map of the Vendée wars", by Lawrence Dunn.
The town of St-Florent-le-Vieil, midway from Nantes and Angers, is in front of Varades where the Loire river separates the two towns.

From the beginning of the insurrection until October 1793, the Vendeans win a lot of battles (except on the 29th of June in Nantes where Cathelineau is mortally wounded), but the republican pressure keeps up, with always more troops coming from all over France.

The vendean army cracks.

After the Battle of Cholet, where d'Elbée, Lescure and Bonchamps are seriously wounded, the Vendeans (about 80,000 people, half soldiers and civilians composed of women, children) reach St-Florent on the 18th of October, 1793.

They cross the river Loire with their two wounded generals de Bonchamps and Lescure. De Bonchamps dies the same day at the village, La Meilleraie, between St-Florent and Varades.

A few hours before the crossing, Charles de Bonchamps (with Lescure) saves 5000 republican prisoners on the verge to be killed by their bitter enemies in the abbey of St-Florent.

The Vendeans want lo leave the country "Vendée militaire", thinking to escape to the republican troops and ask for some help up North in Brittany and Normandy, then find a port where the english troops and french "émigrés" can land. They know that they cannot manage alone.

This trip of death called later "Virée de Galerne" lasts two months.

The Vendeans do not succeed to take the port of Granville in Normandy.

Mid-November, they come back home always pursued by the republican army. A lot of people are ill (dysentery...).

In different towns where they fight against the "Blues", the "Whites" lost a lot of soldiers and people.

In Le Mans, thousands of Vendeans are slaughtered.

Some royalist troops, with their generals La Rochejaquelein and Stofflet, succeed to cross the river Loire again and continue the guerilla until 1796.

François Jacques Clemenceau "the man" and his three sons are part of these survivors* with other family members such as our ancestor Pierre and his brother Jacques.

On the 23d of December,1793 the remnant of the royalist army, enable to cross the Loire river, finishes its trip in Savenay, at the west of Nantes.

The republican general Westermann writes to the Convention : "...the Vendée is definitively dead... I have just buried it in Savenay, in the marshes and woods. I have crushed the children and slaughtered the women. No prisoner has escaped..."

This "soldier" has won his nickname : "the butcher".

On January, the Convention puts the finishing touch in sending the "Colonnes Infernales" (Columns of Hell) with another "butcher" called Turreau de Linières.

But this one will work on a larger scale ! In spite of that, he has his name written (during the Napoleon's Empire) on the "Arc de Triomphe"** in Paris.

* In 1825, "The man"'s widow, Renée Musset asks for a pension to the King's administration.
She says that her husband (died in 1807) and their three sons did the Vendée War and the "outre-Loire" war (Virée de Galerne).
Her husband became a cavalry captain named by the general de Bonchamps (whose castle was about one kilometer from the mill).
Their mill "le Grand Moulin" was pillaged and burnt by the Republicans. She says too that she suffered a lot in jail.
It was the same song for de Bonchamps family. The castle was burnt. Madame de Bonchamps lost his unique and young son, Hermenée during this "Virée de Galerne". The general's widow was then jailed in Nantes. Help by some Republicans, owing to the general de Bonchamp's reputation, she was released after Thermidor (conventional Robespierre's execution) in 1794.
In 1825, their daughter Zoé de Bonchamps was drawn by David d'Angers in St-Florent-le-Vieil.

** See the photograph, in the heading "Les cousins Clemenceau de St-Germain" the last article "Terreur au moulin de la Foye à St-Germain".
Not very far from Cholet, the 5th "Column of Hell" directed by the general Cordelier, another "butcher" (he is known to have slaughtered about 500 people including babies in Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne) go through the village of St-Germain several times (from February to June) killing 61 people.
François, the eldest son of François Jacques "the man", arrives in this village of St-Germain in 1800 where he marries a miller's widow.

Delpech's lithography (1825) representing the marquis Charles de Bonchamps.

When I visit the castle with my family in 1981, the owner Mrs de Bodard shows us her castle around (1).
The text below in english comes from the owner's leaflet who gives me the recent authorization to use it.

"When the french Revolution began in 1789, the owner of the property of the Baronnière was the marquis Anne de Bonchamps.
The Baronnière had been in the same family since early in the 15th century.
The marquis was joined there by his son, Charles Artus de Bonchamps, in 1791.

Charles had become an officer cadet in the regiment of Aquitaine at the age of 16, and at 18 had been posted to India to serve with the troops under the command of the Bailli de Suffren.
After his return to France, he was in garrison at Mézières. He refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new Republic, and resigned his commission.
He was then 33, had married, and had reached the rank of captain. He decided not to emigrate, as his father later did, but to remain quietly at the Baronnière until the upheaval was over.

This was a vain hope. Religious persecution was intensified. The king and the queen were arrested and guillotined.
The republican Assembly decreed a call-up of 300.000 men to re-inforce the armies that had become heavily engaged around the frontiers.

It was this call-up that provoked the antigovernment uprising in the North West, an uprising that became known as the "War in the Vendée".

Recruiting offices were opened by government officials in the towns and villages of the Mauges to popular cries of "We will not go !", and on the 13th of March 1793, the young men from around Saint-Florent-le-Vieil came to the Baronnière to persuade Charles de Bonchamps to lead them against the forces of the revolutionary government.

Charles de Bonchamps was clear-sighted and practical, and competent. The historian Gabory said of him that he was the only one capable of overthrowing the government.
But on the 17th of October in the same year he was mortally wounded at the battle of Cholet.
He was carried 50 km on a stretcher to Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, and from there over to the north bank of the Loire with the "Grande Armée", where he died.

Before crossing the river, he persuaded his colleagues not to execute their 6.000 republican prisoners, but to release them.
The monument commemorating this act is in the church at Saint-Florent.
It was carved by David d'Angers, whose father had been one of the 6.000.

Charles de Bonchamps had given his life and his fortune to the cause..."

(The end of this text below).

See in this blog "Rencontre, la première (first encounter)".

Postcard representing the "new" castle of the Baronnière in a neo-gothic-troubadour style.

"...The chateau of the Baronnière had been burned by the Republicans. It had been totally destroyed, along with all the surrounding farms.
Nothing remained standing except the roofless walls of the buildings that had once surrounded the square courtyard of the chateau.

Charle's widow was ruined. She refused the inheritance of the property, whose sale would have paid off the creditors, and it was put under sequestration.
This was lifted in 1798, and in 1800 the property was put up for sale, without finding a buyer. Up for sale two years later, it was bought by Joseph Arnous-Rivière, member of a ship-building family in Nantes.

There was not a single farm standing on the 2.000 acres, and in a period of small farms this could have meant the destruction of 80 per cent during the short-lived war. Everything had to be re-built.

Reconstruction occupied Joseph and his son, Baron Jules, until about 1840, when a new chateau was commissioned.
The architect for this was René Hodé, who chose for it a neo-gothic-troubadour style.
Building was finished in 1850. Below ground level the construction is in granite, with tuffeau above.
Stonework around doors and windows is carved to represent different trades. Style and execution combine to give the chateau a light-hearted and vivacious air.
Some of the large trees standing in the park date from the time of the de Bonchamps.

The Baronnière today is still in the Arnous-Rivière family..."