Second Empire / Deuxième Empire in Anjou

Hippolyte Flandrin, Napoleon III

• December 2, 1852. Napoleon III crowned Emperor, establishing the Deuxième Empire.
• 1870. Franco-Prussian war, in which French armies suffered grave defeats and Paris was occupied.
• February 1871. Provisional government under President Adolphe Thiers. Beginning of the Third Republic
• 1940. Fall of the Troisième Republique with the German occupation.

In Anjou, the advent of the Second Empire was welcomed by the catholic parti de l'Ordre. The foundation of the Université Catholique de l'Ouest in 1875 represents the prominence of the Church and its commitment to public influence and higher education. However, royalist politics were strongly contested by the Ardoisiers, the slate-workers who remained a bastion of Revolutionary ideology and even anarchism. Their constant agitation for workers' rights and protections were part of the syndaclist movement of the period. In this they were joined by the textile workers, the largest group of artisans in Anjou.

In the nineteenth century, agriculture underwent a remarkable development, due to new social practices and technological advances noticeable as early as the Restoration. The fighting in the Vendée had been particularly tough on viticulture, but vines were strengthened by introduction of new species. The wine country that was famous in Rabelais' days now became even more productive and profitable (at least until the devastating effects of the phylloxera virus introduced into France from the United States in the 1860s).

Gate (porterie) of the chateau du Rouvoltz, roofing and castellation added ca. 1850.

During this time, nobles took up residence on their estates, partly to avoid participation in the July Monarchy, but also to take advantage of a new idyllic and tasteful rural life. The old chateaux were renovated and modernized, often under the supervision of architect René Hodé, who could provide appropriate additions in Gothic, Renaissance, or Louis XIII style. Now the estates included farms where large-scale profit-making agriculture was practiced. In keeping with their ideas of social reform, the nobility practiced a benevolent paternalism toward the local residents, providing employment and patronizing local institutions, even while exercising a quasi-feudal authority. Agricultural prosperity, royalist sympathies and Catholic piety went hand in hand in the Angevin west.

Les anciens construisaient toujours les villes ou les villages autour d'un édifice à usage social et à utilité commune : cathédrale, église, château. Aujourd'hui les villes sont édifiées en fonction de considérations économiques : les activités sociales étant reléguées au second plan.

Alphonse duc d'Anjou et de Cadix dans une allocution prononcée lors du Colloque "L'enfant citoyen de demain" tenu au Sénat le 8 octobre 1988. Source

Nicholas Tamagno, Cointreau Poster, 1898.

Numerous industries and other institutions of Angers were developed in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was in 1849 that the Cointreau brothers of Angers developed their technique of distilling a clear liqueur with the flavor of orange peels that is known by their name.

The look of Angers owes much to urban design of the late nineteenth century. Increasing population and the expansion of public services required new building and the opening up of areas outside the historic city center with grand avenues and generous public spaces. One new quarter was built around the Place du Ralliement, with the Théâtre in 1876, and a new Post Office in 1887; the layout of the place du Mail was in 1857. Angers got a public water system in 1857 and gas lighting in 1858.

Personalities of the Period

HODÉ (René) Né à Marans, dans le Segréen, en 1811, l'architecte René Hodé construit, agrandit ou rénove quelque ving-sept châteaux en trente ans (1840-1870) dans le Maine-et-Loire et les départements voisins. Ses réalisations se caractérisent par leur style "troubadour", ou néogothique, et par leur gigantisme.

DENAIS (Joseph) Né à Beaufort-en-Vallée, l'écrivain et journaliste Joseph Denais (1851-1916) rassemble une étonnante collection d'objets qu'il rapporte de chacun de ses voyages: de la momie égyptienne jusqu'au bout de pain provenant de la Commune de Paris. Son objectif: éduquer la population. Un musée lui est aujourd'hui dédié a Beaufort-en-Vallée qui abrite ses "trésors".

BAZIN (René) Grand-oncle de Hervé Bazin, l'écrivain René Bazin (Angers, 1853-Paris, 1932) vécut avant lui dans la même maison de famille, "Le Patys", à Marans, au coeur du Segréen, que l'on retrouve dans Ma tante Giron (1886). Auteur de très nombreux romans, il se fait le chantre de la nature et des liens qui unissent l'homme à son terroir.

Resources

Websites of Interest

Musée Denais , in Beaufort-en-Vallée

Distillerie Cointreau

For more information about cointreau (and if you are of legal drinking age), visit www.cointreau.com

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