Ok first off, Centre isn't in the centre of France, it's more like middle-and-up-a-bit-and-left-a-bit. Secondly, it's probably the least poetic bit of administrative naming in the history of administrative naming. The locals aren't too chuffed about this, especially since Centre contains the majestic Loire valley with the finest collection of renaissance châteaux etc etc. Recently they discovered that the bureaucrat responsible for the renaming of their region is a town planner called Norman. They were led to Norman by his earlier, unsuccessful suggestion that the Côte d'Azur be renamed The Seaside. (See our Provence blog). I wouldn't like to be in Norman's shoes.
Orléans is the capital of Centre and gets its name from the Roman Emperor Aurelian (214-275.) Aurelian rose to power through his military exploits, and his imperial motto was "Harmony between Soldiers." He was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard. Orléans was overrun in 408 by Vandals and Alans. Them again. The Alans' legacy lives on in place-names like Allaines and Allainville. See our Rhône-Alpes blog for more tales of the Alans' escapades in fifth-century France.
'Maid of Orléans' was of course the nickname bestowed on Joan of Arc when she lifted the siege there in 1429 and defeated the "feelthy Eenglish." Poor Joan was condemned to death in 1448 - in an ecclesiastical trial which even contemporary commentators described as "well dodgy." Twenty-four years later, the Vatican overruled the original court judgement and declared her innocent. A bit bloody late. Four hundred years later, in 1868, a Paris pharmacist found an old jar of charred bones labelled "Joan of Arc's bones, honest." "Joan's bones" were venerated for a century before carbon-dating revealed that they actually belonged to a sixth-century BC Egyptian mummy.
La Résidence - THE French Property People
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