La Flèche


La Flèche is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most populous city of the department. The city is part of the community of communes of the Pays La Flèche. The inhabitants of the town are called Fléchois.
The Prytanée National Militaire is located in La Flèche.

Geography

La Flèche is located on the Loir River and is also on the Greenwich Meridian. It is located halfway between Le Mans and Angers.

City communes

The origin of the name La Flèche is uncertain; the word flèche means "arrow" in French. Historian Jacques Termeau, in La Flèche Book No. 9, p. 5-11, has documented several hypotheses which most likely are related to the ancient Latin name Fixa meaning "stuck", that is to say "rock stuck in the ground". In fact La Flèche was a city situated on the border of Maine and Anjou. An ancient megalith boundary would have given this the name Fixa that can be found in early manuscripts in full as Fixa andegavorum, often translated later as La Flèche in Anjou, but more precisely meaning the boundary of Anjou.
In the Middle Ages, La Flèche was a parish of the Diocese of Angers and as such formed an integral part of the province of Anjou and more specifically the Upper Anjou, also called Maine Angevine.
Jean de la Flèche also known as Jean de Beaugency, succeeded his father as the second Seigneur of la Flèche, where he held the original castle. He was a younger son of Lancelin I de Beaugency lord of Beaugency. Jean was granted lands in Yorkshire, England by William the Conqueror. He is the progenitor of the Fletcher family. He was succeeded by his son, Elias I, Count of Maine, a grandfather of King Henry II of England.
In 1343, salt became a state monopoly by order of King Philip VI of Valois, who established the Gabelle, the tax on salt. The Anjou was among the regions of "high salt tax" and contained sixteen special tribunals or "salt warehouses", including La Fleche.
La Flèche was at the head of Angevine seneschalship under the Old Regime: the Seneschal of La Flèche was dependent on the principal Seneschal of Angers.
In 1603, Guillaume Fouquet de la Varenne, lord of La Flèche and then Sainte-Suzanne and Angers, and a friend of Henry IV of France, contributed to the enhancement and diversification of functions of the Angevine city. Henry IV founded a college in which management was entrusted to the Jesuits. They were expelled in 1762 and the college became a "cadet school" in 1764, a pre-military academy of Paris.
Also in the seventeenth century, settlers from La Flèche, under the leadership of Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, founded Montreal, Quebec.
In 1790, during the creation of the French departments, the entire northeastern part of the Anjou region, including La Flèche, Le Lude and Château-du-Loir, was attached to the new department of Sarthe.
On 8 December 1793, during the War in the Vendée, the city was stormed by the Vendéens at the battle of La Flèche.
In 1808, Napoleon built the military academy.
In 1866, the town of Sainte-Colombe was integrated with La Flèche.
On 1 January 1965, La Flèche absorbed the communes of Saint-Germain-du-Val and Verron.

Coat of arms

Gules, an arrow in pale, the point upwards between two towers argent, a chief azure, three fleurs de lis or.

Urban environment and green spaces

La Flèche and the Loire Valley have been certified Cities and Regions of Art and History since 2006.
The Parc des Carmes in La Flèche has improved the quality of its flowers as part of the town's participation in French Villages and Towns in Bloom rankings, attaining a three flower rating since 1997.
The quality of garbage collection in the communes of the La Flèche region has been recognized through the 2007 'Qualitri label, a label of the ADEME, which is a first in Sarthe. The city has also put into service municipal vehicles running natural gas.
Since July 2008, La Flèche, in partnership with the town of Cré, has had a regional nature reserve, the first in the Sarthe. This preserves the alluvial marsh area and varied biodiversity present on the reserve that extends over 65 hectares.
Parc des Carmes, situated at the foot of the town hall, next to the old gardens of the château of Fouquet de la Varenne, allows visitors to explore and discover a few animals as well as an aviary. This park has some remarkable trees, including Araucaria and a young Ginkgo biloba. There is also a path from the park to the lakes of Monnerie, along the Loir, under the shade of the trees.

Economy

The La Flèche economy is organized as follows:
  • 65% commercial,
  • 22% in industry,
  • 7% in construction,
  • 6% in agriculture.
The print tradition is still alive in La Flèche with the factory Brodard and Taupin , a leading European manufacturer of paperback books.

Demographics

With 14,956 inhabitants, La Flèche is the 617th most populous commune in France.

Local gastronomy

The La Flèche breed of chicken from the towns of La Flèche and Malicorne-sur-Sarthe is known for its fine flesh, and once made the reputation of La Flèche.
Other regional specialties include macarons with lemon, violet or rose; the "Prytanéens" chocolate-flavored nougat with crushed praline, so named in reference to Prytanée National Militaire; and "Fiches", small confectionery formed of piles of dark chocolate, chocolate orange and finely crushed nougat. Jasnières 6 wine is produced with the Chenin blanc grown on the slopes of the Loire and Anjou and accompanies the tasting of potted meat or refined goat.

Notable people connected with the city

  • Elias I, Count of Maine second lord of La Flèche.
  • Jean Picard or "Father Picard" : astronomer and priest.
  • Lazare de Baïf : diplomat, priest, poet and humanist.
  • Jacques Bouillault: naturalist and founder of La Flèche Zoo in 1946.
  • Jean de la Flèche: first lord of La Flèche.
  • Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, Sieur de La Dauversière : the man behind the departure of the settlers for the foundation of a city on the island of Montreal, "Ville Marie", which has since become Montreal.
  • Jean-Baptiste Lemire : composer and conductor buried at La Flèche.
  • Léo Delibes : composer, author of the opera Lakmé and the ballets Sylvia and Coppélia.
  • Felix John Bayle : lecturer at the National Prytanée military schools in the city, he also restored and managed the town band. He also composed music: a "cantata Leo Delibes' and many operas.
  • René Descartes : philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He attended the Royal College Henri IV.
  • Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset : poet and satirist, professor at the College Henri IV. He left the Jesuits later.
  • Louis-Adrien Lusson : architect, designer, born in La Flèche. He created and managed the paintings in the dome of the Little Theatre, which he entrusted to the artists of the Royal Academy of Music.
  • Pierre-Claude Fontenai : a historian, he died in La Flèche.
  • David Hume : British philosopher. He wrote A Treatise of Human Nature in La Flèche between 1735 and 1737.
  • Marie Pape-Carpantier : organizer of the first kindergartens.
  • Joseph Gallieni : General of the First World War, a student at Prytanée.
  • Pierre-Félix Delarue: architect of the Little Theatre in 1839 and the sub-prefecture in 1861. He also designed many castles in the area at that time.
  • Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant : diplomat, MP, senator, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1909.
  • Paul Gauthier : theologian and humanist.
  • Balinec Yan : writer and poet.
  • Alain Pellegrini : Major General.
  • Marquis de Turbilly : agronomist.
  • Guillaume Fouquet de la Varenne : Officer and friend of Henry IV.
  • Anne-Marie Chassaigne, also known as Liane de Pougy : dancer and courtesan of the Belle Époque.
  • Francis Theodore Latouche: former mayor, died in 1861. A mausoleum funded by public subscription was erected in 1862, representing the city of La Flèche mourning the disappeared. This monument by the sculptor Eugène-Louis Lequesne is in the cemetery of St. Thomas.
  • Joseph-Étienne Richard, deputy at the time of the French Revolution
  • Joseph Sauveur : French scientist, inventor of physical acoustics and professor at the College de France.
  • Michel Virlogeux : architect involved in the completion of the Millau Viaduct.
  • Adrien Fainsilber, architect of the town hall of La Flèche and of the City of Science and Industry in Paris.
  • Jean Vilain, born 3 August 1836, in Poitiers, and died 30 April 1863, during the Battle of Cameron, a French officer of the Foreign Legion, hero of the Mexican campaign. Student of Prytanée of La Flèche and Knight of the Legion of Honor. He was appointed patron of the 2006-2007 cycle of the 4th Battalion of the Special Military School of the Schools of Saint-Cyr-Coëtquidan, and patron to promote the 1999 - 2001 Corniche Brutionne of the National Military Prytanée.
  • , known for writing, between1627 et 1642, three treatises of construction on locksmithing, carpentry and stereotomy: La fidelle ouverture de l’art de serrurier, Le theatre de l’art de charpentier and Le secret d’architecture. These works are among the first of their type in France.

    International relations

La Flèche is twinned with: