Belleforest's plan - part 1
This plan is the oldest known plan of the city of Auch. We offer you a series of 3 articles to tell you about this exceptional document: its origin, the portrait it traces of the XNUMXth century town century and the way it bears witness to the history of the city. These articles have been prepared with the indispensable contribution of Mr. Gilbert Sourbadère.
Part 1: The cosmography of François de Belleforest
François de Belleforest, who gave him his name, is a Gersois born in 1530 in Samatan and died in 1583. After solid studies, he became a tutor in Agen in 1549. Collaborator of the cosmographer André Thevet in Angoulême from 1553, he undertook the drafting of a “Universal cosmography of everyone“, After getting angry with his former master.
He took advantage of the troubles linked to Saint Bartholomew (1572) to publish his “Cosmography” from 1575, before that of his rival.
What is a cosmography?
Cosmographies were then works made popular by Sebastien Münster in Germany and then elsewhere in Europe. It was about geography treatises presenting the world, its territories and its cities.
La Cosmographie de Belleforest comprises 163 plates including 59 portraits of French towns in cavalier representation, including the famous presentation of Auch.
The publication of this work had a certain success which made the renown current of François de Belleforest.
On the other hand, it is interesting to note that the plan was not drawn by Belleforest, which did not visit all the territories, but ordered from Auch and carried out by the Sieur de L'Isle, an Auscitain on which, to this day, we have not no information.
Continuation of the article: Belleforest's plan - part 2
