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47-582: Thevet was born in Angoulême in southwestern France. At ten years of age, he entered the convent of Franciscans of Angoulême. He visited Italy at the same time as Guillaume Rondelet . In 1549, thanks to the support of John, Cardinal of Lorraine , he embarked on an extended exploration trip to Asia, Greece, Rhodes, Palestine and Egypt . He accompanied the French ambassador Gabriel de Luetz to Istanbul . Almost immediately after this expedition, he set sail again as

94-521: A cave beneath the extension to the north wall of Angoulême called Green Garden which caused the creation of the first abbey: the Abbey of Saint-Cybard, then created the first abbey for women: the Abbey of Saint-Ausone where the tomb of the first bishop of the city is located. In 848 Angoulême was sacked by the Viking chief Hastein . In 896 or 930 the city suffered another attack from invading Vikings but this time

141-490: A court case with another scholar who claimed to have been responsible for the actual writing. An edition of Les singularitez de la France Antarctique was printed in Antwerp by Plantin in 1558, and an English edition, The New Found World, or Antarctike , was printed in 1568. Thevet's use of such a variety of sources not otherwise printed, despite the considerable errors and contradictions, means that his work remains valuable for

188-460: A relative height of 25m. The old part of the city is built on the plateau - a rocky outcrop created by the valleys of the Anguienne and Charente at an altitude of 102 metres (335 feet) - while on the river bank the area subject to flooding is 27 metres (89 feet) high. Angoulême is characterized by the presence of ramparts on a cliff 80 metres (260 feet) high. The plateau of Ma Campagne , south of

235-568: Is a district composed of two former parishes outside the ramparts. At La Bussatte the Champ de Mars esplanade is now converted into a shopping mall, and adjoins Saint-Gelais . Today the city has fifteen districts: The Port-l'Houmeau , the old port on the Charente located in the district of l'Houmeau is in a flood zone and during floods the Besson Bey Boulevard is usually cut. Geologically

282-457: Is the prefecture . Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of the river Charente , the city is nicknamed the "balcony of the southwest". The city proper's population is a little less than 42,000 but it is the centre of an urban area of 110,000 people extending more than fifteen kilometres (9.3 miles) from east to west. Formerly the capital of Angoumois in the Ancien Régime , Angoulême

329-461: Is the northwest extension of the Soyaux plateau. L'Houmeau, the station area, and that of Grand-Font are to the north of the plateau along the small Vimière valley, also a tributary of the Charente, but further north (towards Gond-Pontouvre and L'Isle-d'Espagnac ) than Anguienne is to the south. The highest point of the city of Angoulême is at an altitude of 133m near Peusec located to the south-east near

376-501: Is under an oceanic influence and similar to that of the city of Cognac where the departmental weather station is located. Precipitations are modest all year long, with a slight drying tendency during summer. Since Antiquity and through the Middle Ages, the name of the town has been attested in many forms in Latin and Old French : The absence of any convincing explanation of the origin of

423-527: The Musiques Métisses Festival that contribute substantially to the international renown of the city. Moreover, Angoulême hosts 40 animation and video game studios that produce half of France's animated production. Wes Anderson 's The French Dispatch was filmed in this city. Angoulême is called "Ville de l'Image" which means literally "City of the Image". The commune has been awarded four flowers by

470-726: The National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom . Angoulême is an Acropolis city located on a hill overlooking a loop of the Charente limited in area upstream by the confluence of the Touvre and downstream by the Anguienne and Eaux Claires . Angoulême is located at the intersection of a major north–south axis: the N10 Paris-Bayonne; and

517-616: The chaplain of the fleet of Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon , which intended to establish a French colony near what is now Rio de Janeiro, Brazil . Thevet arrived there on 10 November 1555 but only stayed in the colony for about 10 weeks before returning to France. He was made an almoner to Catherine de Médici and later was employed by the king. Thevet claimed in his Histoire de deux voyages , inaccurately, to have accompanied Guillaume Le Testu to America in 1550. Thevet died in Paris on 23 November 1590. Soon after Thevet's return to France from

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564-471: The "leg of Clovis". During his stay in Angoulême, after putting the garrison to the sword, Clovis pulled down the old Visigothic cathedral dedicated to Saint-Saturnin to build a new one bearing the name of Saint-Pierre. All that remains of the original building are two carved marble capitals that frame the bay of the axis in the apse of the present cathedral. In the 7th century Saint Cybard stayed secluded in

611-530: The 1450s, with many incorporated areas coming to be ruled directly by the French kings. The County was created on the Gallo-Roman civitas of Iculisma , the current Angoulême. It included the following " pays " (lit. countries), or natural regions of France: Ruffec , Horte and Tardoire and part of Confolentais , and was part, with Cognac , of the possessions of the House of Valois-Angoulême when they acceded to

658-621: The Constable of Aquitaine responsible for implementing the Treaty particularly in Angoumois, took possession of the city, its castles, and the "mostier" (monastery) of Saint-Pierre. He received oaths of allegiance to the King of England from the main personalities of the city. The English were, however, expelled in 1373 by the troops of Charles V who granted the town numerous privileges. The County of Angoulême

705-521: The Vikings faced an effective resistance. Guillaume I , third Count of Angoulême, at the head of his troops made them surrender in a decisive battle. During this engagement, he split open to the waist Stonius, the Norman chief, with a massive blow together with his helmet and breastplate. It was this feat that earned him the name Taillefer , which was borne by all his descendants until Isabella of Angoulême who

752-514: The border with Puymoyen. The lowest point is 27 m, located along the Charente at Basseau. Since Roman times ramparts have surrounded the Plateau of Angoulême. Repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, their reconstruction was finally stopped in the 19th century. The Ramparts are classified as historical monuments [REDACTED] and the Ramparts Tour is one of the main attractions of the city. Angoulême

799-674: The caves of Rochecorail at Trois-Palis . He wrote some of his Institutes of the Christian Religion there which first edition was published in Latin in Basel in 1536. Angoulême was affected by the Revolt of the Pitauds peasant revolt: in 1541, the gabelle (salt tax) was imposed on Saintonge and Angoumois. These provinces did not pay the tax on salt. The revolt broke out around Angoulême and farmers from

846-462: The city followed the Arian version of Christianity and was besieged for the first time by Clovis in 507 after Vouillé then taken in 508; "miraculously" according to Gregory of Tours and Ademar of Chabannes . During the battle, however, Clovis was seriously wounded in the leg - probably a fracture. The fact is reported by tradition and on a wall of a tower from the 2nd century a leg is carved called

893-616: The county, survive. Today it is noted for sunflowers and Cognac , the archetypal brandy, one of its small towns being at its origin , as much as its historic mainstay crops of corn and wheat. In the High Middle Ages, an enlarged Aquitaine pledged loyalty to the Angevin kings of England. Their claims in France triggered the Hundred Years' War, in which the kingdom of France emerged victorious in

940-565: The creation of the commune of Angoulême. The King "grants to residents of Angoulême to keep the freedoms and customs of their fair city and defend their possessions and rights". The city celebrated their 800th anniversary throughout 2004. In 1360 the city, like all of Angoumois, passed into the hands of the Plantagenet English with the Treaty of Brétigny . From 16 to 22 October 1361, John Chandos , Lieutenant of King Edward III of England and

987-550: The crusade, was outraged about this brutality and criticized the clergy for not preventing it. From the 10th to the 13th centuries the counts of Angoulême, the Taillefer, then the Lusignan strengthened the defences of the city and widened it to encompass the district of Saint-Martial. In 1110, Bishop Girard II ordered the construction of the present cathedral. On 18 May 1204 a charter was signed by King John of England to make official

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1034-553: The east–west axis: the N14 route Central-Europe Atlantique Limoges-Saintes. Angoulême is also connected to Périgueux and Saint-Jean-d'Angely by the D939 and to Libourne by the D674. The Angoulême-Cognac International Airport is at Brie-Champniers. Old Angoulême is the old part between the ramparts and the town centre with winding streets and small squares. The city centre is also located on

1081-509: The end of the Roman Empire . The rocky promontory overlooking the Charente 80 metres (260 feet) high and over the Anguienne 60 metres (200 feet) high formed a strategic position. It was raised to the rank of capital of civitas (at the end of the 3rd or 4th centuries) and the first fortress dates from the end of the Roman Empire. The rampart called Bas-Empire which surrounds 27 hectares of land

1128-457: The ethnography of both eastern Canada and Brazil. Les singularitez de la France Antarctique contains the first descriptions in European texts of plants such as the manioc , pineapple , peanut and tobacco , as well as of the animals macaw , sloth and tapir . The text also includes an account of cannibalism that was one of the influences on Montaigne 's essay on cannibalism. Once Thevet

1175-477: The form of three or four floors of caves, some of which include antique grain silos. The valley of the Charente is made up of old and new alluvium which provides rich soil for farming and some sandpits. These alluvial deposits were deposited successively during the Quaternary period on the inside of two meanders of the river that are Basseau and Saint-Cybard. The oldest alluviums are on the plain of Basseau and reach

1222-571: The heights of Saint-Cybard, Sillac), at an average altitude of 50m. The city was established on the Plateau (altitude 100m) that dominates the loop of the River Charente, a Turonian (also called Angoumien ) formation which forms a dissected plateau of parallel valleys and a cuesta facing north that extends towards La Couronne to the west and Garat to the east. This limestone plateau contains natural cavities which have been refurbished by man in

1269-596: The most industrialised regions between Loire and Garonne (the paper industry was established in the 16th century, a foundry and electromechanical engineering developed more recently). It is also a commercial and administrative city with its own university of technology, and a vibrant cultural life. This life is dominated by the Angoulême International Comics Festival , the FFA Angoulême Francophone Film Festival and

1316-523: The name of the city has led to several attempts to fit etymological explanations unrelated to the well documented old forms and phonetically unlikely: Some hypotheses have been advanced with a stronger basis: At the time of the French Revolution the city was known by the transient name of Montagne-Charente . The history of the city is not very well known before the Roman period: it is simply known that

1363-529: The near East in 1554, he published an account of his voyage under the title Cosmographie du Levant . On his return from the Americas, Thevet published a book titled Les singularitez de la France Antarctique in 1557. Although purportedly based on his own firsthand experiences, Thevet also used previous published sources as well as verbal accounts from other explorers and sailors and from indigenous Canadians who had been brought back to France. Thevet later settled

1410-404: The old town, has almost the same features and peaks at 109 m in the woods of Saint-Martin. The plateau is elongated and separates the valleys of Eaux Claires, which is the southern boundary of the commune, from that of Anguienne, which is parallel. Both plateaux overlook the Charente valley and the outlying areas such as l'Houmeau, Basseau, and Sillac at their western ends. The plateau of Angoulême

1457-450: The plateau and was portrayed by Honoré de Balzac in "The Lost Illusions" as "the height of grandeur and power". There is a Castle, a town hall, a prefecture, and a cathedral with grand houses everywhere. Unlike Old Angoulême, however, the entire city centre was greatly rebuilt in the 19th century. Surrounding the city were five old faubourgs : l'Houmeau , Saint-Cybard, Saint-Martin, Saint-Ausone, and la Bussatte. The district of l'Houmeau

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1504-523: The plateau was occupied by an oppidum , traces of which were found during excavations in the Saint-Martial cemetery under the name Iculisma . Its currency was Lemovice . The town was not located on major roads and was considered by the poet Ausonius as a small town. No Roman monuments have been found but it benefited from the Pax Romana and from trade on the river. The town had a prosperous period at

1551-569: The possession of a branch of the family of Valois from which came François I, King of France from 1515 to 1547 who was born in Cognac in 1494. In 1524 the Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano returned from the Indies. He told François I he had discovered a new territory that he named New Angoulême in his honour. This area later became New Amsterdam then New York . The duchy, now crown land, thereafter

1598-555: The surrounding countryside took the city in July 1548 Angoumois Angoumois ( French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ɡumwa] ), historically the County of Angoulême , was a county and province of France , originally inferior to the parent duchy of Aquitaine , similar to the Périgord to its east but lower and generally less forested, equally with occasional vineyards throughout. Its capital

1645-560: The title was passed to the Lusignan family , counts of Marche . On the death of Hugh XIII in 1302 without issue, the County of Angoulême passed his possessions to the crown of France. In 1236 Jewish communities in Anjou and Poitou , particularly Bordeaux and Angoulême were attacked by crusaders . 500 Jews chose conversion and over 3000 were massacred. Pope Gregory IX , who originally had called

1692-582: The town belongs to the Aquitaine Basin as does three-quarters of the western department of Charente . The commune is located on the same limestone from the Upper Cretaceous period which occupies the southern half of the department of Charente, not far from Jurassic formations beginning at Gond-Pontouvre . The earliest Cretaceous period - the Cenomanian - is in the relatively low areas (l'Houmeau,

1739-554: The various kingdoms of Aquitaine and the end of antiquity for the city was in 768, when Pepin the Short defeated Hunald II and linked it to the Frankish kingdom. In June 2019, archeologists discovered a prehistoric stone with an engraving of a horse and other animals near Angoulême station. The Palaeolithic stone plate is estimated to be about 12,000 years old. When held by the Visigoths ,

1786-465: Was Angoulême with its citadel and castle above the river Charente . It almost corresponds to the Charente Department which also takes in the east of the coastal comté de Saintonge . This area was a county and province of France , originally inferior to the parent duchy of Aquitaine , similar to the Périgord to its east. Many of the historic churches and castles, or castle ruins in

1833-405: Was a fortified town for a long time, and was highly coveted due to its position at the centre of many roads important to communication, so therefore it suffered many sieges. From its tumultuous past, the city, perched on a rocky spur, inherited a large historical, religious, and urban heritage which attracts a lot of tourists. Nowadays, Angoulême is at the centre of an agglomeration, which is one of

1880-399: Was also known as Isabelle Taillefer, the wife of King John of England . The title was withdrawn from the descendants on more than one occasion by Richard Coeur-de-Lion then the title passed to King John of England at the time of his marriage to Isabella of Angoulême, daughter of Count Aymer of Angoulême . After becoming a widow, Isabella subsequently married Hugh X of Lusignan in 1220, and

1927-439: Was critical of Protestants. He left two unpublished manuscripts. One, Grand Insulaire , was an almanac of islands, and the other, Histoire de deux voyages , was an account of his travels. Angoul%C3%AAme Angoulême ( French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ɡulɛːm] ; Poitevin-Saintongeais : Engoulaeme ; Occitan : Engoleime ) is a small city in the southwestern French department of Charente , of which it

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1974-492: Was described by Balzac as "based on trade and money" because this district lived on trade, boatmen, and their scows . The port of l'Houmeau was created in 1280 on the river bank. It marked the beginning of the navigable part from Angoulême to the sea. Saint-Cybard , on the bank of the Charente, was created around the Abbey of Saint-Cybard then became an industrial area with papermills , especially Le Nil . Saint-Martin - Saint-Ausone

2021-436: Was established as cosmographer to the French court, he compiled his Cosmographie Universelle , intended to describe every part of the known world. A dispute arose with a collaborator, François de Belleforest, who left Thevet's employ to publish his own Cosmographie in 1572 before Thevet's work finally appeared in 1575. In 1584, Thevet published a collection of biographies, Vrais pourtraits et vies des homes illustres , which

2068-446: Was found under the courthouse which is usually related to water supply through an aqueduct. The first bishop of Angoulême was Saint Ausone of Angoulême in the 3rd century. The administrative importance of the city was strengthened by the implementation of a County in the 6th century with Turpion (or Turpin) (839–863), adviser to Charles the Bald . However, the town was always attached to

2115-405: Was given to Louis d'Orléans who was the brother of King Charles VI in 1394 and it then passed to his son Jean d'Orléans (1400–1467), the grandfather of Marguerite de Navarre and François I . The Good Count Jean of Angoulême greatly expanded the County castle after his return from English captivity in the middle of the 15th century. Angoulême, the seat of the County of Angoumois, came into

2162-431: Was maintained until the 13th century. The network of Roman roads were then reorganized to link the town with the surrounding cities of Bordeaux , Saintes , Poitiers , Limoges , and Périgueux. The city of Haut-Empire remained unknown for a long time. Recent excavations have provided details on the power of the Roman city. A well dug in an early era shows that the water table was very high. A large thermal spa complex

2209-414: Was passed on within the ruling house of France. One of its holders was Charles of Valois , the "natural" (illegitimate) son of Charles IX . The last duke of Angoulême was Louis-Antoine (died 1844), eldest son of Charles X of France . John Calvin , the promoter of Protestantism and friend of Jean du Tillet the archdeacon of Angoulême, was forced to flee Paris in 1533 and took refuge in Angoulême in

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