June 22, 1622
“Yes, that’s one protestant that will be answering for his blasphemies as we speak! “ Jacques, the old Master-at-arms, managed, a throaty cough rising from his chest as he spoke.
“ I could see the life fade from his eyes.” said Jacques, the youngest among them, recounting his experience as his voice trailed off. “One second he was there, the next he was not,” this last in a whisper. Many of the older retainers nodded. They had all been in the throes of battle before. The slipknot of life was tenuous at best. It could come undone at any time. One wrong parry, one undefended thrust and, as the playwright Shakespeare had said, “They’ve made worm’s meat of me”.
They’d all recounted their moments over the past few months. The Baron de Montlaur himself had offered his most vivid recollections of the battle. What else had they to do, shuttered away in this fetid dungeon. As high summer approached, and the flies made fools of the less than tolerant, a good story, well embellished, was a diversion that they all needed.
“When the wall was breached,” breathed Henri, “I knew they would be coming.” He leaned into his chains , even sitting as he was on the cold, stone floor. “I knew. And I knew I would have to be there, in the breach to meet them, What else was there to do? “ Anguish stole like a thief into he voice.
“There was nothing for it.” The Baron said, “ You did what you had to do.”
“But it was my friend Gaston, whom I saw first. “ Tears streamed silently down his face in the darkness. “He was screaming as he charged us. We grew up together near Montpellier. Played in the forest together. Why did it have to be him?”
“There is no answer to that question. “ Odilon, an older soldier, offered from the dim recesses of the dungeon. “We can only face the challenges that we face in life with all that is in our hearts, and do all that we are able. Beyond that God has no right to ask of us.”
The Baron peered into the blackness, gathering the few atoms of light that penetrated the gloom. In a far off corner he thought he made out the wounded Odilon, cradling his injured sword arm. “I’ll have to find something for him to do after this is all over.” He thought to himself. “Too good a man to let go.”
Looking up toward the front of the Chateau de Montlaur
June 22, 2009
I’m going to have to highly recommend this time of year to people. First of all the weather has been and is projected to be clear, cloudless and beautiful. It’s slightly breezy with cool winds from the north, coming off the Cevennes. Low humidity and temperatures in the high 70’s and low 80’s. It’s comfortable to walk in, work in or drive in so long as you’re not exposed to it constantly. And of course finding a wee bit of shade to rest in is never very hard. Inside the farmhouse the temperature seems a relative constant 68, the winter cold in the thick, stone, walls slowly giving way to the summer warmth. And f course the French have not yet fully begun their vacation season and so have not swarmed the area.
I’m in the thick of some flu or bad cold I picked up in the States. It saps the strength and leaves me listless but I did manage to spend a good part of the day cleaning and tidying up. I watered the plants and had time to try a new experiment, planting tomatoes upside down in a basket I’ve hung on the wall of the old chicken house. My dad would be interested to see how it works. He could grow pretty much anything and was always tinkering with new ideas for the garden. I hope to have that kind of time and effect here in the days to come.
Corinne stopped by to get a shopping list for the dinner I am throwing tomorrow. I offered her some money but she refused saying (I think) that it was really inexpensive and from some good local producers. I’m inviting her and Christian as well as Alexandrine, the local archeologist who has been doing the preparatory work on the Chateau. We plan to discuss developments for the Chateau. In France it seems that work, of the type that will be required by the Chateau, is best administered through an Association. This Association can have a variety of rights and obligations to the owners, to the community and to the government that make its work transparent for everyone. The advantage is that it can raise funds to support its mandate, has preferential tax status and is generally seen as benign by most of the other bureaucratic institutions that it has to deal with, from the Mayor’s office, to the fire station, police and emergency crews, and to the regional and national governments. Active associations are responsible for a majority of the restoration work of National or Classified monuments due the expensive nature of restoration of these treasures.
The disadvantage is that it is often beyond the control of the owners and when things don’t go according to the mandate or charter of the particular association, or there is significant disagreement with respect to direction, it can be a lengthy and expensive process to end that relationship.
The Chateau has been under one just such Association for a long time with the past few years seeing the relationship terminated by the courts. Hervé de Montlaur, the proprietor of the Chateau and the brother of Jean, wants a relationship with a different association that can bring preservation money, expertise, and direction to the project. His concerns are safety and security as well as stabilization of the structures.
With that as background, I’m hosting this discussion because I will be bringing Monte Lauro Vineyards and my client base to the table as proponents of and participants in the Chateau’s restoration. Alexandrine has committed to heading up an Association that will be chartered to preserve and protect the Chateau and will do so by taking the necessary steps to secure funding, both private and government, as well as local fundraising with the Chateau as a backdrop. This might include concerts, tours and such and will also include, as time and resources permit, further exploratory archeological digs. The principal near term focus is on stabilization of the existing structures, which carries a price tag of about 80,000 euros. It is my intention that we be charter members of the Association and that as much as 10% of company profits go into the Association’s fundraising efforts.
I spent most of the rest of the day preparing for some tiling work in the bedrooms upstairs. Corinne returned around three with a couple of bags of groceries including a big leg of lamb from the local shepherd, who grazes his flocks across a number of La Ferme’s fields. It’s meant to be roasted over an open fire she said. Perhaps with a little olive oil and rosemary picked fresh from the farmhouse walls..
Around 6 o’clock Christian called me to his house for a meeting with a local resident who heads an association with the charter to support the life of the local community and preserve its standards of living. It really is a group that is opposed to the community’s development plans, scheduled over the next 2-3 years and they want to development an alternative. Part of their thinking is that the future of the Chateau is of primary importance to the community and so their plans include it as a integral part of their alternative.
It’s clear that no matter which side of the fence you are on here, the Chateau is a beloved part of the local history and color and everyone has a stake in it. Me, I’m a simple man; I just want to rebuild it.
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