imbroglio around a millennium in Normandy

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On July 31, 1910, the city of Rouen announces the organization of celebrations commemorating the thousandth anniversary of the constitution of the Duchy of Normandy in 911. It provides for the creation of local committees responsible for designing and implementing three highlights, scheduled for June 10 and 11, 1911: a scientific congress, a historical and artistic exhibition and popular festivals.

Louviers, in demand… but not very motivated!

In February 1911, the city of Rouen is launching a call for subscriptions celebrating the international craze which is created around his initiative: « From Sweden, from Norway, from Sicily, from Denmark, from the United States, from England, from Canada, from the Channel Islands, from everywhere where a little of our blood flows, enthusiastic adhesions reach us” (Call for subscription of the city of Rouen, February 11, 1911). Louviers will contribute 100 francs.

The municipality also accepts that its Beauty Queen accompanied by her two bridesmaids parade on a decorated float during a large parade. However, if the travel and accommodation of the young girls are well taken care of by the organizing committee of the parade, negotiations fail on the financing of the Norman costumes that the young ladies must wear. The organizers refer to the tourist office or the local corporations who will be only too happy to offer the three Lovériens something to shine in front of thousands of people! A solution is finally found and the young girls will go to fly the colors of Louviers from Rouen to Dieppe, under the vigilant supervision of their mothers, who are also defrayed.

Loan under constraint…

Tension rises between the two cities when the organizing committee decides to borrow for its major historical and artistic exhibition, several works kept at the Louviers museumnamely some paintings by Gustave Bertinot and a lithograph by Paul de Saint-Martin. The curator declines the request, under the pretext of not taking away from the “poor” (sic) collections of the museum the few works which attract tourists in the summer! Mayor Raoul Thorel is then invited to bring the applicant to his senses, ordered to lend the paintings.

When at the end of March, a census of remarkable works from Normandy libraries was launched, the same curator offered a new refusal, Henri Loriquet, director of the Rouen libraries, then brought into play the highest supports at his disposal.

On May 9, the director of higher education requested from Raoul Thorel, in the name of the Minister of Public Education, the loan of “the most beautiful specimens of [sa] collection “. A list is transmitted on May 29: a bible and a sacred history from the 14th^e century, two works by Saint Thomas Aquinas from the 15th^e century, a fragment of a missal and another from a book of hours. The matter was heard and the loan granted from June 4 to September 15, 1911.

Where have the Louviers documents gone?

On September 22, Henri Loriquet asked the town of Louviers for a little patience in recovering the works at the end of the millennium exhibition. On October 6, disaster struck: the fragment of the book of hours and a Rouen calendar dating from 1757 remained untraceable, despite the librarian’s research, who cited their low value and small format, attracting the wrath of his Loverian counterpart who denounces his poor organization. Finally, after months of fruitless research, the city of Rouen paid, via its insurance, a sum of 255 francs as compensation.

June 1915, a dramatic twist: the two documents were found in the outbuildings of the Rouen museum! The case is closed at the beginning of July: the manuscript and the calendar are returned… by post (but by registered mail!) and the insurance company hastens to demand reimbursement of the compensation which it considers unduly received by the municipality of Louviers…

2027: Guillaume’s 1000th birthday!

Another century, another millennium. From February to May 2025, local communities and associations will be invited by the Normandy Region to submit their ideas to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of William the Conqueror. Let’s just hope that the organization of the festivities will not give rise to such incredible adventures!

Regularly find an article written in partnership with the Pôle Archives de l’Agglomération Seine-Eure. Objective: to highlight the treasures of the archives through local stories and anecdotes that shed light on events from our past.

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