France Road Ways Two on the Loose. Dan with down travels anywhere.

Car-Dan orientation crossing borders. Two trips to France; this one on to Spain.

Orientation. France to Spain this time. The Car-Dan car this time.

Car-Dan Tour Company rental car. Drive modestly, park easily.

I. Car-Dan, our ersatz duo tour company that exists in our own minds, began by focusing on one country, one trip. Now, we cross borders at will. As to France, this post represents the conclusion of our second road trip in France, each finding different destinations. In navigating here, find our earliest ventures at the first set of posts: Paris, the Somme, Normandy, the Loire, and Central France to Dijon, and back to Paris.

II.

Jan

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Gateway to Roncesvalles, A Route on Way of Saint James. Modern Scallop Shell Marker

Saint Jean Pied de Port. Basque country. Distinctive deep-red shutters, peaked roofs, white stucco.

Saint-Jean-de-Port, Basque house facade

This strategic medieval area has served interests of the military, traders, pilgrims on the way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain (Way of Saint James), invaders and defenders -- Christians and Saracens and others in that centuries-earlier conflict.

Jan

Lourdes. Institutional makeover. The female principle overcome.

Lourdes. Mary, appearing to Bernadette. A tale of competing dogmas, and a child hidden away.

The story of a saint kept from her own healing. Not allowed to heal herself.

Lourdes and Doctrinal Bootstrap. A convenient affirmation of new dogma.

A child put in a convent and hidden away. Why?

Is the institution enacting its own agenda? The angle fits.

1. Background.

Jan

Chateau de Pau: Royal Birth: Henri IV, the Bourbon King. And the modern Necessary

Dan Widing at gates, Chateau de Pau, France. Pau Castle

The Bourbon family came into its own with its first king in this ruling dynasty. Henri IV was born here, born Catholic, raised Calvinist. It is 1553. Hurry the mother, one Protestant Jeanne D'Albret, whose father is Henry II of Navarre and whose mother is sister to King Francis I of France. Hurry her by carriage down winter roads from Paris.

Jan

Pau, Chateau de Pau, Henri IV, birthplace of Henri IV. History.

Pau, France. Chateau de Pau. Birthplace of Henri IV

The first fortifications at Pau date from the 11th Century, and the hilltop location was the seat of bishops, counts and viscounts. There were (are) dungeons, and an early legislative body like a house of lords perhaps convened here.

In 1553, Henry IV was born here. He was an heir but not established as the sole legitimate heir -- others had claims-- to the throne.

Dec

Auch. D'Artagnan; Cathedral of Saint Mary; World Wars memorial

Auch.

D'Artagnan, War Dead, and Cathedral

Auch. How to pronounce a Gascon city name, a regional capital. It is not ouch as in ET with a hurt, but instead (long-o) Osh. See http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/auch.html/ The appearance of the word is German, but so far we see no connection.

Auch has a splendid history with Basque roots, and Roman, and BCE tribes. A favorite son of Auch is fictitious: D'Artagnan, of Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers fame.

Dec

Toulouse - Battle of Toulouse 1814; Comte de Las Cases; Napoleon

The Battle of Toulouse in 1814 was one of the British Wellington's lesser claims to fame in the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon was already about to abdicate, and Wellington's armies and allies suffered far greater casualties than the French. See http://napoleononline.ca/2011/03/battle-of-toulouse/

Toulouse, France. Battle of Toulouse 1814, commemorative relief.

Emmanuel, Comte de Las Cases 1766-1842. He was a fine historian, and great creator of atlases. He admired Napoleon greatly.

Jan

Toulouse - Religious Crossroads. St. Sernin; and Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse. Albigensian Crusade. Religioius Wars and Milestones

Toulouse: Religious Wars and Milestones

From haven to slaughter. Toulouse stands for protection and sustenance for pilgrims, and for the killing of those other Christians, dissenters from dogma, that the institutional church found threatening to its authority: Albigensians, or Cathars.

Basilica of Saint Sernin, Toulouse, France

Toulouse is a waystation for pilgrims on the Way of Saint James, the medieval route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, said to be the burial place of Saint Ja,es.

Nov

Lavaur. Saint-Alain. Rome Did Not Prevail Here After All. Is That So?

Enough people cared about the brutal end of the Cathars in the Languedoc to keep representations of it in this church, Saint-Alain at the now-backwater town of Lavaur. See the paintings here.They preserve the crusades' brutal history, but are ignored.

Oct

Lavaur. Saint-Alain and Malignant Neglect. Visit Before It Falls Apart.

Church of Saint-Alain.

Malignant Neglect. An Ugly Old War-Horse Fortress

Obfuscates a Violent History.

Nice Jaquemart in the Clock Tower.

Saint-Alain, Lavaur, France. Rotting. Built 1244. Bishopric 1317-1802. Albigensian Crusade coverup and fall-out.