Situated at the intersection of a line drawn from Paris to the coast and another drawn from the Cnannel ports to the south, Alençon is a natural staging post and has long been a place of strategic importance. Travelling by car, Alençon is:
1 hour south of Rouen by Autoroute A28
30 mins north of Le Mans by A28 or the N138/D438
2 hours from Ouistreham (Caen) and Le Havre by the N158 - this will be halved when the new A88 is opened
2.5 hours from Dieppe by A28
3.5 hours from Calais by A28
2 hours from Paris by the N12
Many travellers pass Alençon without visiting the town or the surrounding region - don't make the same mistake. Either make this your next holiday destination - it's good to get away from the usual tourist throng - or add a day or two to the begining or end of your holiday and take the time to explore a little of this wonderful region of Normandy and the Pays de Loire. You won't be disappointed. Take a look at "What to See"for sightseeing opportunities and "What to Do" for a sample of the many activities in Lower Normandy and the Pays de Loire - golf, fishing, walking, cycling, riding, canoeing, climbing - take your pick, there is something for everyone.
Short History of Alençon
Alençon is thought to have been founded during the 4th century, at the time when the area was being converted to Christianity and the bishopric of Sées was founded just to the north. The name Alençon is first seen in a document dating from the 7th century.
During the 10th century Alençon was part of a buffer state between Normandy to the north and the Maine to the south. In 1047 William Duke of Normandy, better later known as William the Conqueror, laid siege to the town. The citizens of Alençon insulted William by hanging animal skins from the walls, in reference to his being the bastard son of Duke Robert and a tanner's daughter. On capturing the town William chopped off the hands of some twenty citizens in revenge - an act he later repeated at Le Mans.
Alençon was later occupied by the English during the Anglo-Norman wars of 1113 to 1203.
The town became a dukedom in 1415, the title of Duc d'Alençon being bestowed upon the younger brothers of the King of France until the French Revolution. Several Dukes of Alençon played important roles in French history; one such was François, son of Catherine de Medici and Henri II of France.
The château of the Dukes d'Alençon once stood in the centre of marshland, which made it difficult to attack. It was largely dismantled over the centuries and the stone reused on other buildings, but the still substantial remains of the château are now preserved as a national monument. Three enormous towers and part of the curtain wall are preserved and now house the town jail, though there are plans to move the prison elsewhere to Condé sur Sarthe and to open the château to the public, perhaps as a museum. During the Second World War the château served as the Gestapo headquarters.
In the 17th century Alençon became famous for its lace called "Point d'Alençon" which is still regarded as among the finest, if not the best, in the world. The Alençon lace technique is very painstaking and laborious but allows for extremely sophisticated designs and is known as the "Queen of Lace." The Alençon lace industry was promoted by Jean-Baptiste Colbert during the reign of Louis XIV, who established a Royal Lace Workshop here.
Lace production in general went into decline following the French Revolution, but Alençon lace regained prominence in the 19th century in both France and the United Kingdom. In 1976 the National Alençon Lace Workshop was established to ensure that the Alençon lace-making technique survives into the future. The Musée de la Dentelle in the centre of Alençon has a permanent exhibition and the lace workshops (not open to the public) are housed in an adjoining building. Samples of lace can be bought from the museum.
Saint Thérèse de Lisieux was born in Alençon in 1873 and spent her childhood here; the house where she grew up is now a museum and place of pilgrimage.
On June 17, 1940, the German army took occupation of Alençon. The old castle keep near the Halle de Blé became the headquarters for the Gestapo in the area during the Occupation. The story of the Occupation is told in a small exhibition hall next to the Tourist Office at the Maison d'Ozé near the Eglise de Notre Dame. On August 12, 1944, the city was liberated by the French 2nd Armoured Division (2 D.B.) under General Leclerc, which had broken through the German 9th Panzer Division lines at Ancinnes and Champfleur the previous day. The French entered the town unopposed as the Germans had shortly before abandoned the town and withdrawn to positions further north in the forest of Ecouves.
There is a Sherman tank on display in a clearing in the forest of Ecouves and a memorial to those who died during the battle which took place there as the French forces drove north towards Argentan.
Fierce fighting took place in the Forest of Ecouves as the Germans unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the forces of Leclerc from linking with American forces at Argentan. The intention of the Allies was to trap in a pincer movement the retreating German forces, 150,000 strong, who were retreating east from Caen towards Paris through a narrow corridor between Argentan and Falaise.
Due to 'misunderstandings' betweeen the various Allied forces, nearly 100,000 German troops (two-thirds of their total strength) succeeded in slipping through the Argentan-Falaise passage between 12th and 20th August 1944. One crucial misunderstanding involved General Leclerc ignoring instructions to advance to the east of Argentan - instead he advanced to both east and west. This blocked the roads west of Argentan to the advancing US 5th Armoured Division and led to the Germans being able to reinforce their defences there. As a result the German defenders at Argentan held out for much longer than they would otherwise have done and kept the passage from Caen to Paris open for several extra days.
However, the Germans did have to leave most of their equipment behind them in their retreat, along with 50,000 prisoners and 6,000 dead. When General Eisenhower visited the area known as the "Falaise Pocket" and saw it piled high with the bodies of men and animals, and the debris of burnt-out vehicles, he described it as “one of the greatest bloodbaths of the war”.
There is an important memorial and military museum at Coudehard, high on the hillside overlooking the valley through which the German forces poured in their retreat and where the final action in the battle of Normandy took place.
Born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, Saint Thérèse de Lisieux was born in Alençon on January 2, 1873. Also known as Sainte Thérèse de l'Enfant-Jésus et de la Sainte Face, she was a Roman Catholic nun who was canonized as a saint and is recognized as a Doctor of the Church. She is also known by many as "The Little Flower of Jesus."
St. Thérèse de Lisieux was born the daughter of Louis Martin, a watchmaker, and Zélie-Marie Guérin, a lacemaker. Both her parents were very religious. Louis had attempted to become a monk, but a lack of knowledge of Latin hindered him. Zélie-Marie had tried to become a nun, but was told she didn't have the vocation. Instead, she vowed that if she married, she would give all her children to the church. Louis and Zélie-Marie met in 1858 and married only three months later. They had nine children, of whom five daughters - Marie, Pauline, Léonie, Céline and their youngest, Thérèse - survived to adulthood; the family, like many at that time, was subject to tuberculosis.
Her mother died of breast cancer in 1877 when Thérèse was only four years old, and her father, unable to continue to work, sold his business and moved to Lisieux in the Calvados region of Normandy. There they lived with her maternal uncle Isidore Guérin, a pharmacist, with his wife and two daughters.
When Thérèse was nine years old her sister Pauline, who had acted as a "second mother" to her, entered the Carmelite order of nuns. Thérèse too wanted to enter the Carmelite order, but was told she was too young. At 15, after her sister Marie also entered the same Carmelite convent, Thérèse renewed her attempts to join the order, but the bishop of Bayeux stillwould not allow this on account of her youth. Her father took Thérèse on a pilgrimage to Rome. During a general audience with Pope Leo XIII, she asked him to allow her to enter the Carmelite order, but the Pope stood by the decision of the bishop.
Shortly thereafter, the bishop reversed his decision and in April of 1889 she became a Carmelite nun at the still tender age of fifteen. In 1889 her father suffered a stroke and was taken to a private sanatorium, where he lingered for three years before dying. Upon his death her sister Céline, who had been caring for their father, entered the same Carmelite convent that her three sisters were already in; her cousin, Marie Guérin, also became part of that community. Léonie, after several failed attempts, would eventually become a nun in the Order of the Visitation.
She became mistress of novices at the age of 20. Within the Carmel Therese strove to perfect her "Little Way" of consecrating to God everything she did, no matter how trivial. Therèse tells the story of her years in the Carmelites and the formation years within her family in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Ame). This account tells something of the great love for Jesus that inspired every action of her brief life.
At the age of 22, Therèse contracted tuberculosis. She died on September 30, 1897 at the age of 24. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925 and is often referred to as the greatest saint of modern times. She is the patroness of the Missions and was declared Doctor of the Church, an honour bestowed upon precious few, by Pope John Paul II in a public ceremony in St Peter's Square on 19 October 1997. Her feast day is October 1st.
The home where Therèse spent her early years and where her mother died is preserved in the centre of Alençon and there is a chapel next door which pilgrims visit. Visits to the house, morning and afternoon, are free - voluntary donations are welcome. Back to top
The title of Count of Alençon came into being under the House of Bellême at the beginning of the 11th century; it passed to the royal Capet dynasty from the early 13th century and remained there until 1291 when Charles of Valois, brother of Philip IV of France, was given the county. In 1291 it was bestowed upon Pierre, son of Louis IX of France, and then to Charles of Valois, brother of Philip IV. Charles's second son, also called Charles, was killed at the Battle of Crécy in 1346. The title was thereafter conventionally awarded to a younger brother of the French sovereign.
The county of Alençon was raised to a dukedom in 1414. Jean 1st Duke of Alençon was killed at Agincourt in 1415, after having himself slain the English Duke of York. His son Jean (who features in Shakespeare's Henry VI) was dispossessed of his duchy in the Battle of Verneuil in 1424 when he was defeated and taken prisoner by English forces led by the Duke of Bedford. However, Jean reconquered his domain in 1449.
In 1524 Duke Charles II died childless and the title passed to his wife Marguerite, sister of Francis I of France. After her death the title was given to Catherine de Medici, wife of Henri II of France, in 1559 and to their youngest son François in 1566.
The title of Duke of Alençon was last given to Ferdinand of Orleans, who died in 1910.
Hercule François (1555 – 1584) was the youngest son of Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici.
In 1572 he became Duke of Alençon; in 1574, following the death of his brother Charles IX of France and the accession of his other brother Henry III of France, he became next in line to the throne. In 1576 he was made Duke of Anjou, Touraine and Berry, but relations with his elder brother, the King, were strained.
The same year he negotiated the Peace of Beaulieu during the French Wars of Religion. In 1579 he was invited by William the Silent to become hereditary sovereign to the United Provinces of Holland. On 29 September 1580 the Dutch (with the exception of Zeeland and Holland) signed the Treaty of Plessis-les-Tours with François, who would assume the title "Protector of the Liberty of the Netherlands" and become their sovereign.
Meanwhile in 1581 arrangements began to be made for François of Alençon's marriage to Elizabeth I of England. Alençon was in fact the only one of Elizabeth's many suitors to court her in person. He was twenty-six and Elizabeth was forty-seven. Despite the age gap the two became very close, Elizabeth dubbing him her "frog". Whether or not Elizabeth truly planned on marrying Alençon is doubtful, although she was said to be fond of him. She brought him beef tea every morning and gave him a jewel-encrusted toque to wear until she could give him a crown of his own. However, the English people were very much against the marriage. There were complaints over Alençon's Catholic religion, his French nationality and his mother (Catherine de Medici). English Protestants warned that the "heart of the people would be galled by such a marriage...even the very common people know that he is the son of the Jezebel of our age". Elizabeth also feared childbirth at her advanced age. However, she was engaged to be married to him for three months, possibly to warn Phillip II of Spain what she might do if it became necessary to strengthen her hand against Spain. In the end, however, nothing became of the proposed match.
François left Britain for the Netherlands where he arrived early in 1582 and was officially welcomed by William the Silent.
Alençon was no more popular with the Dutch people than with the English, and like the English they continued to see the Catholic French as enemies. The provinces of Zeeland and Holland continued to refuse to recognise François of Alençon as their sovereign and William was widely criticised for his French politicking. Despite this, when François' French troops arrived in late 1582 William's plan to strengthen the Dutch position against the Duke of Parma seemed to be paying off.
However, Alençon himself was dissatisfied with his limited power and decided to attempt take the cities of Antwerp, Bruges, Dunkirk and Ostende by force.
He decided to personally head an attack on Antwerp on January 18, 1583. In an attempt to fool the citizens of Antwerp, Alençon asked to be permitted to enter the city in order to honor them with a parade. However, as soon as the French troops entered the city the gates were slammed shut behind them. The French troops under François were trapped and bombarded from above by stones, rocks, logs and iron chains. Then the city's garrision then opened fire on the troops. Over 1500 French troops died, many hacked to death by the citizens of Antwerp.
Antwerp marked the end of François of Alençon's military career. His position in the Netherlands became untenable and he eventually left the country in June 1583.
Soon afterwards, François fell seriously ill with what was said to be "tertiary ague". Catherine de Medici brought him back to Paris, where he was reconciled to his brother, King Henri III of France in February 1584. Henri even embraced his brother, who he had famously called 'le petit magot' (the little ape). By June 1584 Alençon was dead.
François of Alençon's premature death meant that the Huguenot Henry of Navarre became heir-presumptive to the French throne, leading to an escalation in the French Wars of Religion.
