La Flèche (French pronunciation: [la flɛʃ] ) is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most populous city of the department. The city is part of the community of communes of the Pays La Flèche. The inhabitants of the town are called Fléchois.
The Prytanée National Militaire is located in La Flèche.
Contents
Geography
La Flèche is located on the Loir River and is also on the Greenwich Meridian. It is located halfway between Le Mans (45 km) and Angers.
City communes
Sainte-Colombe
Saint-Germain-du-Val
Verron
Neighboring municipalities
Bazouges Cré sur Loir
Crosmières
Villaines-sous-Malicorne
Bousse
Clermont-Créans
Mareil-sur-Loir
Thorée-les-Pins
Baugé-en-Anjou (Maine-et-Loire)
History
The origin of the name La Flèche is uncertain; the word flèche means "arrow" in French. Historian Jacques Termeau, in La Flèche Book (No. 9, pp. 5–11), has documented several hypotheses which most likely are related to the ancient Latin name Fixa meaning "stuck", that is to say "rock stuck in the ground". In fact La Flèche was a city situated on the border of Maine and Anjou. An ancient megalith boundary would have given this the name Fixa that can be found in early manuscripts in full as Fixa andegavorum, often translated later as La Flèche in Anjou, but more precisely meaning the boundary of Anjou.
In the Middle Ages, La Flèche was a parish of the Diocese of Angers and as such formed an integral part of the province of Anjou and more specifically the Upper Anjou, also called Maine Angevine.
Jean de la Flèche (c. 1030 – c. 1097), also known as Jean de Beaugency, succeeded his father as the second Seigneur (lord) of la Flèche, where he held the original castle. He was a younger son of Lancelin I de Beaugency lord of Beaugency. Jean was granted lands in Yorkshire, England by William the Conqueror. He is the progenitor of the Fletcher family. He was succeeded by his son, Elias I, Count of Maine, a grandfather of King Henry II of England.
In 1343, salt became a state monopoly by order of King Philip VI of Valois, who established the Gabelle, the tax on salt. The Anjou was among the regions of "high salt tax" and contained sixteen special tribunals or "salt warehouses", including La Fleche.
La Flèche was at the head of Angevine seneschalship under the Old Regime: the Seneschal of La Flèche was dependent on the principal Seneschal of Angers.
In 1603, Guillaume Fouquet de la Varenne, Lord of La Flèche and then Sainte-Suzanne (Mayenne) and Angers, and a friend of Henry IV of France, contributed to the enhancement and diversification of functions of the Angevine city. Henry IV founded a college (the Royal College of La Flèche) in which management was entrusted to the Jesuits. They were expelled in 1762 and the college became a "cadet school" (the École de cadets) in 1764, a pre-military academy of Paris.
Coat of arms
Gules, an arrow in pale, the point upwards between two towers argent, a chief azure, three fleurs de lis or.
Urban environment and green spaces
La Flèche and the Loire Valley have been certified Cities and Regions of Art and History since 2006.
The Parc des Carmes in La Flèche has improved the quality of its flowers as part of the town's participation in French Villages and Towns in Bloom rankings, attaining a three flower rating since 1997.
The quality of garbage collection in the communes of the La Flèche region has been recognized through the 2007 'Qualitri label, a label of the ADEME, which is a first in Sarthe. The city has also put into service municipal vehicles running natural gas.
Since July 2008, La Flèche, in partnership with the town of Cré, has had a regional nature reserve, the first in the Sarthe. This preserves the alluvial marsh area and varied biodiversity present on the reserve that extends over 65 hectares.
Parc des Carmes, situated at the foot of the town hall, next to the old gardens of the château of Fouquet de la Varenne, allows visitors to explore and discover a few animals as well as an aviary. This park has some remarkable trees, including Araucaria and a young Ginkgo biloba ("the thousand crowns tree"). There is also a path from the park to the lakes of Monnerie, along the Loir, under the shade of the trees.
Economy
The La Flèche economy is organized as follows:
65% commercial,
22% in industry,
7% in construction,
6% in agriculture.
The print tradition is still alive in La Flèche with the factory Brodard and Taupin (group CPI), a leading European manufacturer of paperback books.
Demographics
With 14,947 inhabitants (as of 2023), La Flèche is the second most populous commune of the Sarthe department.
Local gastronomy
The La Flèche breed of chicken from the towns of La Flèche and Malicorne-sur-Sarthe is known for its fine flesh, and once made the reputation of La Flèche.
Other regional specialties include macarons with lemon, violet or rose; the "Prytanéens" chocolate-flavored nougat with crushed praline, so named in reference to Prytanée National Militaire; and "Fiches", small confectionery formed of piles of dark chocolate, chocolate orange and finely crushed nougat. Jasnières 6 wine is produced with the Chenin blanc grown on the slopes of the Loire and Anjou and accompanies the tasting of potted meat or refined goat.
Notable people connected with the city
Elias I, Count of Maine second lord of La Flèche.
Jean Picard or "Father Picard" (21 July 1620 - 12 July 1682): astronomer and priest.
Lazare de Baïf (1496–1547): diplomat, priest, poet and humanist.
Jacques Bouillault: naturalist and founder of La Flèche Zoo in 1946.
Jean de la Flèche: first lord of La Flèche.
Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, Sieur de La Dauversière (1597–1659): the man behind the departure of the settlers for the foundation of a city on the island of Montreal, "Ville Marie", which has since become Montreal.
Jean-Baptiste Lemire (1867–1945): composer and conductor buried at La Flèche.
Léo Delibes (1836-1891): composer, author of the opera Lakmé and the ballets Sylvia and Coppélia.
Felix John Bayle (1843–1920): lecturer at the National Prytanée military schools in the city, he also restored and managed the town band. He also composed music: a "cantata Leo Delibes' and many operas.
René Descartes (1596–1650): philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He attended the Royal College Henri IV.
Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (1709–1777): poet and satirist, professor at the College Henri IV. He left the Jesuits later.
Louis-Adrien Lusson (1788-1864): architect, designer, born in La Flèche. He created and managed the paintings in the dome of the Little Theatre, which he entrusted to the artists of the Royal Academy of Music.
International relations
La Flèche is twinned with:
Obernkirchen (Germany),: Obernkirchen (9,744 inhabitants) Since 1968.
Chippenham (England) (approximately 45,620 inhabitants) Since 1982.
Markala (Mali) (approximately 56,644 inhabitants).
Złotów (Poland) (approximately 18,468 inhabitants).
St. Lambert (Canada) (21,772 inhabitants).
Monuments and historical buildings
Civil heritage
During the 16th century, Françoise, duchess of Alençon, and grandmother to the future Henry IV established a castle in La Flèche, where Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, and his wife Jeanne d'Albret, future parents of Henry IV, resided in 1552. The castle was given to the Jesuits by Henri IV in 1604 to found the Collège royal Henri le Grand, in order "to select and train the best minds of the time".
In 1764 following the expulsion of the Jesuits the school was transformed by Louis XV and Choiseul into a military institution (the École de cadets) designed to train young cadets for admission to the École Militaire. The buildings now accommodate one of six military schools in France. The buildings are arranged around three courtyards which are dominated by the imposing stature of the Church of St. Louis (1607). The work followed a plan developed by Louis Métezeau with a row of courtyards roughly the same size. The architect was Étienne Martellange. The work was completed in 1655 with the construction of the gate of honour with the pediment and the bust of Henri IV.
The castle, now the City Hall, was originally the mid-eleventh-century fortress that defended the river crossing. Jean de Beaugency and his son Hélie, the future Count of Maine, expanded and strengthened it towards the end of the eleventh century. It was a wooden fortress sitting on an island and spanning two neighboring islands, and was the subject of several sieges in the twelfth century to the fifteenth century. The castle was rebuilt in 1450, and the ruins of the keep of this period are still standing, with marks left by arrows on the drawbridge and battlements.
In the seventeenth century, Louis XIII donated it to the Carmelites who had established and transformed the city. The main building and cloister date from this period. During the Revolution, it became private property of the family Bertron Auger who transformed it again. Having become mayor in 1909, he was the victim of a fire in 1919. It was rebuilt with a different style in the years that followed. The castle is now part of the wedding hall of the town of La Flèche, and has two temporary exhibition rooms.
Created in 1946 by Jacques Bouillault, a naturalist, La Flèche Zoo is the oldest private park in France. It includes 1,200 animals of 150 species on 14 hectares (35 acres). This is the premiere tourist destination of the department of Sarthe, with over 300,000 entries per year. The zoo has participated in the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) since 1989. Many new exhibits are added every year. In 2008 the zoo showed the extremely rare white lions of Kruger, of which there are only 200 specimens in the world.