Saumur

Life and movement are so stagnant there that a stranger might think them uninhabited, were it not that he encounters suddenly the pale, cold glance of a motionless person whose half-monastic face peers beyond the window-casing at the sound of an unaccustomed step.

Such elements of sadness formed the physiognomy, as it were, of a dwelling-house in Saumur, which stands at the end of the steep street leading to the chateau in the upper part of the town.

This street, now little frequented, hot in summer, cold in winter, dark in certain sections, is remarkable for the resonance of its little pebbly pavement, always clean and dry; for the narrowness of its tortuous roadway; for the peaceful stillness of its houses, which belong to the old town and are overtopped by the ramparts.

Houses three centuries old are still solid, though built of wood, and their diverse aspects add to the originality which commends this portion of Saumur to the attention of artists and antiquaries.

It is difficult to pass these houses without admiring the enormous oaken beams, their ends carved into fantastic figures, which crown with a black bas-relief the lower floor of most of them.

In one place these transverse timbers are covered with slate, and mark a bluish line along the frail wall of a dwelling covered by a roof en colombage, which bends beneath the weight of years, and whose rotting shingles are twisted by the alternate action of sun and rain.

A perpetual duel goes on between the heavens and their terrestrial interests.

The barometer smooths, saddens, or makes merry their countenances, turn and turn about.

Who were they and why did they matter?

They originated from a French Protestant theological academy at Saumur, primarily led by a theologian named Mugiz Amirol.

They were trying to find a middle ground, a compromise between Orthodox Calvinism and Armenianism.

So what did they believe?

available in the Loire Valley?

Well, there's a cricket club in Saumur, but that's about two hours away from us.

He plays on his own.

Oh, stop it.

Yeah, I've heard.

Um, and then there's Saumur, where they make, um, uh, a Crémant, um, in the same method that you make champagne.

Mm-hmm.

And you can go and visit the caves where they make it, and it's like champagne, only a quarter of the price.

Wolfgang Grappe has argued unconvincingly, to my mind, that the tapestry was designed and constructed in Normandy.

George Beach suggests that the bio-tapestry was commissioned by William the Conqueror from the abbot of Saumur and former lord of Dor in Brittany, England.

and that he did this around 1070 as a celebration of the military victory that put him on the throne of England.

Beach shows that the Abbey of Salmeau was renowned for its textile embroideries, but fails to explain adequately the biotapestry's old English orthography and its narrative debt to Canterbury traditions.