Description du produit

For over six centuries, the Tour de la Recluse has stood at the western corner of the old town of Joyeuse. Sometimes mistakenly referred to as Charlemagne’s tower (since it was built more than five centuries after the death of the famous emperor), the tower is better known by its name of Recluse. Reclus was the name given in the Middle Ages to monks or nuns who, in the spirit of penitence, locked themselves up in cells to spend their lives. Spiritually, monastic seclusion is a renunciation of life, through the voluntary adoption of confinement. The recluses lived in small cells with small openings that allowed them to receive food and water from passers-by. It is said that the bishop himself would come and seal the door of the recluse’s cell. We can assume that it was a nun and not a monk who was recluse inside our tower, but her name remains unknown. In addition to its function as a lookout, because it was built at the highest point in the village, this tower also played an essential role in protecting the Porte de la Recluse (now demolished), which was located at its foot. This gate was the most vulnerable of the town’s access gates, as it was protected only by a dry moat and a drawbridge to the west, and did not benefit from the natural defensive topographical advantages of the town’s other gates. The gate was demolished around 1855, to widen access to the Grand-Rue, and today you can still make out the hangings in the facades of the Grand-Rue houses that supported it. The square that bears his name was a suburb of Joyeuse, outside the ramparts. It was a tradition, which continued until the mid-twentieth century, that this area formed a village within the old town. In the early years of this century, there were even festivals organised by the residents of La Recluse. Beneath this square is a huge drinking water reservoir, built in the mid-19th century when Joyeuse was first supplied with water from the source known as the Fada. All the public fountains, including the one in Place de la Peyre, were supplied from this reservoir. Until the early 20th century, livestock fairs were held on this square, in other words on the town’s drinking water reservoir!