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Remarkable market halls in the Park
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The Market Hall in Dienville |
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The
visitor who passes through the villages in the Forêt d'Orient
Regional Nature Park will be surprised by the majestic
presence of four sumptuous market halls.
Coming from Troyes the first to be seen is in Piney. It
stands proudly in the centre of the village. The market
hall in Lesmont serves as a gate towards the interior
of the village and the nearby church .
Its sister in Brienne shows the past grandeur of the town
but also by its surroundings the martyrdom of the last
war.
Dienville, has the only stone market hall. Rebuilt under
the reign of Napoleon III with money paid for war damage;
the historic and sumptuous wooden market hall had disappeared
in 1814, this late construction gives the town the look
of a town in the south of France.
Alas, the one in Vendeuvre has disappeared. |
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These
market halls, the site of weekly markets during the
Ancien Regime were also the sites for annual
fairs that were never successful.
The special economic evolution of southern Champagne
meant that labourers preferred to go to Troyes rather
than use the small local market. On the other hand,
these market halls are a symbol of the glory and
authority of the local nobility.
The market hall in Piney shows this. Rather than build
a chateau, the duke created a ducal square like in
Charleville or in Richelieu, he surrounded it with
his own house, the seat of his administration and the
houses of his officers (the fire of 1926 destroyed
a large part of it). In the centre of the square,
stands the market hall that bows towards the duke's
former house, as if it was still paying him respect.
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The market hall in Piney |
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of prosperity and trade these rural cathedrals
are above all symbols of power, that of the duke of Piney
peer of France, the count of Lesmont, the count of Brienne,
the baron of Dienville, the Marquis of Vendeuvre,. In
effect, all titled lands and these alone possessed a market
hall, because the right to hold a fair and to receive
taxes on goods could only be granted by the King. Only
nobles of the first rank obtained this privilege. |
The market hall of Brienne
- Le - Château |
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Two different examples derive slightly
from this model for historic reasons: Le Villeneuve -
Au - Chêne and Dienville. La Villeneuve - Au - Chêne,
could have had its own, its Lord Jean IX of Mesgrigny,
had become a state councillor and the king had granted
him the right to hold fairs in 1631, three years before
this the lord's domain was raised to a barony. However,
in 1638, the new baron of Le Villeneuve purchased
the neighbouring barony of Vendeuvre and its market
hall. He had now no more need to construct a new one.
Nor his son, who become first President of the parliament
of Provence, and obtained from the king the right
to change the two baronies into a marquisate, the two
villages were one until the Revolution. On the other hand,
the baron of Arzillières in the Marne, Lord of Dienville,
couldn't get the right to change his lord's domain into
titled lands, the powerful count of Brienne his
neighbour guarded legal powers in Dienville. The baron
thus preferred to get from the King the right to construct
a Covered market in this commune. |
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The market
hall of Brienne - Le - Château |
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Four
market halls border the Forêt d'Orient, five if
one includes the one that has disappeared in Vendeuvre.
They are the sisters of it. Only the presence of the
rich oaks forests and the considerable revenues that
they gave allowed the creation in such a confined space
of so many titled lands. The absence of a market hall
in the south of the forest might surprise one. The lords
of this part were monks, and their abbots who were mitred
with the rank of important lords, could have built them.
But the Cistercians of Larivour faithful to their
rule wanted to remain in the " desert " so their symbolic
market halls are the sumptuous granges of their once
isolated farms which are now however situated on the
route around the Lake. As for the Benedictine monks
of Montieramey,the richest, they had the distinguished
privilege of being considered a closed town with the
right to hold fairs from the C15th, which cost
them in return the displeasure of their neighbours and
complete destruction. The cost of reconstructing their
abbey that was only finished on the eve of the Revolution
did not give them the time to rebuild a new market hall.
On the other hand, the labourers enriched by the excellent
economic conditions of the C18th, constructed
their own barn like a miniature market hall.
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Brienne,
Piney, Vendeuvre became at the time of the Revolution
the administrative capitals of their counties (cantons). Lusigny
sur - Barse smothered until then by two powerful abbeys
took advantage of their closure and became an administrative
capital. Once they got rid of their powerful Lords, the market hall became municipal, several markets were held there
but they served as well for festive rendezvous', dances
, and feasts, where you might meet your future partner...
From symbols of power, the market halls became the sign
of a happy life. Must we then be astonished today if the
communes lucky enough to possess a market hall restore
them and those that do not have the luck of such an historical
gift would like to construct them? Whilst the former ecclesiastical
granges - like the market halls for labourers are threatened
with ruin, is it not better to save them so they can decorate
the centre of villages as a symbol of the good life? Market
halls are written into the history of rural life and the
memory of villagers. They are in the countryside the
equivalent of theatres, the essence of cultural life.
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Sylvain
Michon PNRFO © PNRFO
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