IX.

/Epernay./

The connection of Epernay with the production of wine of remote date--The town repeatedly burnt and plundered--Hugh the Great carries off all the wine of the neighbourhood--Vineyards belonging to the Abbey of St. Martin in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries--Abbot Gilles orders the demolition of a wine-press which infringes the abbey's feudal rights--Bequests of vineyards in the fifteenth century--Francis I. bestows Epernay on Claude Duke of Guise in 1544--The Eschevins send a present of wine to their new seigneur--Wine levied for the king's camp at Rethel and the strongholds of the province by the Duc de Longueville--Epernay sacked and fired on the approach of Charles V.--The Charles-Fontaine vendangeoir at Avenay--Destruction of the immense pressoirs of the Abbey of St. Martin--The handsome Renaissance entrance to the church of Epernay--Plantation of the 'terre de siége' with vines in 1550--Money and wine levied on Epernay by Condé and the Duke of Guise--Henri Quatre lays siege to Epernay--Death of Maréchal Biron--Desperate battle amongst the vineyards--Triple talent of the 'bon Roy Henri' for drinking, fighting, and love-making--Verses addressed by him to his 'belle hôtesse' Anne du Puy--The Epernay Town Council make gifts of wine to various functionaries to secure their good-will--Presents of wine to Turenne at the coronation of Louis XIV.--Petition to Louvois to withdraw the Epernay garrison that the vintage may be gathered in--The Duke and Duchess of Orleans at Epernay--Louis XIV. partakes of the local vintage at the maison abbatiale on his way to the army of the Rhine--Increased reputation of the wine of Epernay at the end of the seventeenth century--Numerous offerings of it to the Marquis de Puisieux, Governor of the town--The Old Pretender presented at Epernay with twenty-four bottles of the best--Sparkling wine sent to the Marquis de Puisieux at Sillery, and also to his nephew--Further gifts to the Prince de Turenne--The vintage destroyed by frost in 1740--The Epernay slopes at this epoch said to produce the most delicious wine in Europe--Vines planted where houses had formerly stood--The development of the trade in sparkling wine--A 'tirage' of fifty thousand bottles in 1787--Arthur Young drinks Champagne at Epernay at forty sous the bottle--It is surmised that Louis XVI., on his return from Varennes, is inspired by Champagne at Epernay--Napoleon and his family enjoy the hospitality of Jean Remi Moët--King Jerome of Westphalia's true prophecy with regard to the Russians and Champagne--Disgraceful conduct of the Prussians and Russians at Epernay in 1814--The Mayor offers them the free run of his cellars--Charles X., Louis Philippe, and Napoleon III. accept the 'vin d'honneur' at Epernay--The town occupied by German troops during the war of 1870-1.

[Illustration]

If Reims be the titular capital of the Champagne wine-trade, Epernay can boast of containing the establishments of some of the most eminent firms engaged therein. Its connection with the production of the wines of Champagne is of the remotest. The vineyards stretching for miles around the ancient Sparnacum claim indeed an antiquity far exceeding that of any existing portion of the town itself, which, despite the remote date of its foundation, and the fact that it was a place of considerable importance as early as 445, presents a thoroughly modern aspect. Unlike Reims--so rich in the remains of antiquity--it possesses no mementoes of the days when its lord Eulogius gave it to St. Remi,[428] and he in turn bequeathed it to the Church.

[Illustration]

The reason is simple, for the history of Epernay may be briefly summed up in the words--fire, pestilence, and pillage. From the days when misfortune first overtook it, after the division of the Frankish monarchy on the death of Clovis, it has been burnt down on half a dozen occasions, repeatedly depopulated by the plague, and captured and sacked times out of number. The contending sovereigns of Austrasia and Neustria alternately obtained forcible possession of it, and the rival counts of Paris and Vermandois snatched it repeatedly from each other's hold, like hungry dogs contending for a bone; whilst the Normans, the Hungarians, the vassals of Charles of Lorraine, and the followers of Otho of Germany added their quota to the work of destruction during the long period of anarchy preceding the establishment of the Capetian race upon the throne of France. The founder of the said race, Hugh the Great, distinguished himself in 947 by plundering the town of Epernay, ravaging the surrounding country, and profiting by the fact that it was vintage-time to carry off all the wine of the neighbourhood.[429]

Even during the epoch of comparative tranquillity which prevailed up to the English invasion, Epernay became from time to time the prey of robber knights like Thomas de Marlé and rebellious nobles like Count John of Soissons; and at the commencement of the thirteenth century Count Thibault of Champagne was fain to burn it, in order to prevent it from serving as a rallying-place for the lords who had risen against Queen Blanche and her infant son Louis IX. After the battle of Poitiers it was pillaged by the partisans of Charles the Bad of Navarre; Edward the Black Prince entered it twice as a conqueror; and John of Gaunt exacted a heavy tribute from it. In the struggles which followed the death of Henry V. of England it was again taken and re-taken, partially burnt and utterly ruined, remaining for three years absolutely depopulated after the unwelcome visit paid it by the Duke of Burgundy in 1432.

Yet during all these ravages the vineyards clothing the slopes around the town were gradually developed, chiefly by the fostering care of the good fathers of the Abbey of St. Martin. The charter of foundation of this abbey, which was endowed in 1032, makes mention of vineyards amongst its possessions, and they are also spoken of in the confirmation of donations and privileges granted by Pope Eugenius III. in 1145. Count Henry of Champagne in 1179 gave the canons of the abbey the hospital of Epernay, with the fields and vineyards belonging to it; and twenty years later, Abbot Guy purchased from Abbot Noah, of the monastery of the Chapelle aux Planches, near Troyes, the fields, vineyards, house, barn, and garden adjoining the 'ruisseau du Cotheau' at Epernay for 110 livres. In 1203, Parchasius, a canon of Laon, left by will to the abbey the 'vigne du Clozet,' which is still celebrated for the excellence of its products, at Epernay; and in 1217, Abbot Theodoric gave the 'terres de la Croix Boson' at Mardeuil to sundry of the inhabitants of that village, on the condition of planting them with vines and paying a yearly rent of fourteen hogsheads of wine obtained therefrom as vinage. Tithes of wine at Oger, Cuis, Cramant, Monthelon, &c., and the vineyards of Genselin, Beaumont, and Montfelix also figure amongst the possessions of the abbey in the thirteenth century.[430]

A certain proportion of the tithes of the 'fields, meadows, and vineyards' owned by the abbey at Epernay was assigned to the dependent priory in the faubourg of Igny-le-Jard by Abbot Richard de Cuys in 1365. The cultivation of the grape seems to have been carried on in even the most distant of the numerous possessions of the abbey, which drew 'rentes de vin' from Chatillon and Dormans; and in 1373 we find Abbot Gilles de Baronne compelling an unfortunate inhabitant of Romains, near Fismes, to demolish forthwith a wine-press he had dared to erect to the prejudice of the 'droits seigneuriaux et bannaux' which the abbey had over that village. The military orders had their share, too; for the Commandery of the Temple at Reims owned at Epernay at the commencement of the fourteenth century a house and some vineyards, still bearing the name of 'Les Tempières.' In 1419, Philippe le Maître and his wife left to the curé of Epernay a little vineyard at Montebon to pay for a yearly mass; and at a somewhat later date, Isabelle la Linotte bequeathed to the abbey the vineyard De la Ronce at Mardeuil.[431]

[Illustration: FRANCIS I.

(From a portrait of the time).]

Indeed, the history of Epernay is most intimately connected with that of its wine, which figures throughout its records as a constant attraction to friends and foes. After the final expulsion of the English, the town gradually recovered its prosperity, and became an appanage of the Dukes of Orleans. At the commencement of the sixteenth century we find Francis I.--to whom it had reverted on the death of Louise of Savoy--presenting it to Claude, Duke of Guise, and the eschevins resolving in 1544 that their new seigneur should be offered 'twenty poinçons of the best wine that can be found in the cellars of the district, and that after the vintage twenty more of the new crop shall be sent to him.'[432] A levy of one hundred poinçons had already been demanded of them for the camp formed by the King at Rethel two years before; and the various strongholds of the province had been freely supplied with wine exacted from Epernay by the Duke de Longueville, lieutenant-governor of the Champagne.

[Illustration: THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.

(From a portrait of the time).]

[Illustration]

On the advance of Charles V. in 1544, the Dauphin, afterwards Henri II., following the example successfully set by Anne de Montmorency in Provence, pitilessly sacked the entire district of the Marne, in order that the enemy might find nothing to live on, and stored the product, which included an enormous quantity of wine, in Epernay. The Emperor advanced, meeting with but little opposition, and having taken up his quarters in the Abbey of Avenay, amused himself with building the vendangeoir known as Charles-Fontaine on the adjacent slope, as a testimony of his intention to make, if possible, a permanent sojourn in a province, the vinous products of which he so highly esteemed.[433] But whilst the illustrious patron of Titian and his 'swarthy grave commanders' were snugly tippling the choicest vintages contained in the abbey cellars, and his followers camped outside Epernay were waiting for the hour when they should revel at pleasure on the wine stored in the town, their hopes vanished literally in smoke. For Francis, fearing the town would be unable to hold out, had sent word to Captain Sery to burn it, and destroy the accumulated store of provisions, in order to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy. This was accordingly done on the 3d September, and amongst the property consumed were the immense pressoirs of the Abbey of St. Martin. In this conflagration the church of Epernay was no doubt also destroyed, as the handsome Renaissance doorway--the sole ancient portion of the existing edifice--was evidently erected in the latter half of the sixteenth century. The misfortunes of the town did not cease with this calamity, for a great pestilence seems to have marked the return of the inhabitants to their ruined dwellings at the epoch of the following vintage.[434] Five years later, six arpents of the 'terre de siege' where the Spaniards had encamped were planted with vines by the Count de Nanteuil-le-Haudouin, and received the name of the Vineyard de la Plante.[435]

[Illustration: MARIE STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTS.]

[Illustration: RENAISSANCE DOORWAY TO THE CHURCH OF EPERNAY.]

[Illustration: ATTACK ON THE HUGUENOTS AT EPERNAY.]

As a matter of course, the hapless fate of the town pursued it during the religious wars of the sixteenth century. In 1567 the Huguenots, under Condé, seized on Epernay--then a portion of the appanage of the unfortunate Marie Stuart of Scotland--and exacted a ransom of 10,500 livres, towards which the Abbey of St. Martin contributed 3451 livres,

## partly in money and partly in wine, calculated at no more than eleven

livres the queue. A higher price appears to have ruled on the recapture of the town by the Duke of Guise the same year, when the levy made consisted of 500 pièces of wine, estimated at twenty-four livres the queue.[436] Guise was driven out by the inhabitants in 1588; but after one fruitless assault, the Leaguers under Rosné succeeded in obtaining forcible possession of Epernay four years later.

On Henri Quatre laying siege in turn to Epernay in 1592, the vineyards around the town were again literally watered with blood. One notable episode of this siege was the death of Maréchal Biron, the most devoted of Henri's adherents. On the 27th July the King and Biron were returning on horseback from Damery to the camp. As they advanced up the road leading from Mardeuil to the faubourg of Igny, the wind blew off Henri's hat, adorned with the famous white plume, and Biron, picking it up, jestingly placed it upon his own head. At this moment the white plume unluckily caught the eye of Petit, the master gunner of Epernay, and he at once pointed a cannon at it from the Tour Saint Antoine. 'For the Béarnais!' he exclaimed, as he fired; and the ball carried away the head of the Maréchal, to whom Henri was speaking, and upon whose shoulder the King's hand was actually resting. 'Ah, mordieu, the dog has bitten the Béarnais!' cried the exulting gunner, believing it was the King who had fallen, and alluding to the name of the cannon, which was known as the 'Dog of Orleans,' from its having been captured from the English at the siege of that city, and bearing on its breech the figure of a dog.[437]

[Illustration]

[Illustration: HENRI QUATRE BEFORE EPERNAY.]

The death of Maréchal Biron, and the fact that Henri was devoting quite as much attention to his 'belle hôtesse' at Damery, the fair Présidente Anne du Puy, as he was to the siege, encouraged St. Paul, who commanded at Reims for the League, to despatch a strong body of Walloon pikemen and musketeers to the relief of the beleaguered town. They approached by the hollow road leading from the Faubourg des Ponts Neufs to the slope of the Vignes des Capinets, and passing between the vineyards Dure Epine and Gouttes d'Or. Attacked by the Royalists, they drew up in good order in the latter spot, and prepared to defend themselves with all the stubborn valour of their race, their dense array of pikes bristling amongst the bright green leaves--for it was the close of summer, and the vines were in all the glory of their luxuriant foliage. Vainly for a long time the Royalists assailed them. Attack after attack was repulsed, till the 'golden drops' were turned to drops of gore; and it was not until the white plume of King Henri came dashing on in the forefront of his choicest cavalry that the Walloons were finally broken and routed, after inflicting upon their assailants a far greater loss than they themselves sustained. The vineyard thus baptised in blood was thenceforward known as the Vigne des Sièges.[438]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Though data may be lacking to connect the 'bon Roi Henri' directly with the wine of Epernay, there can be no doubt that the sovereign whose triple talent for drinking, fighting, and love-making has been handed down to us in song[439] found a fair opportunity of exercising all three of these attributes during the siege. Of fighting, as we have seen, he had plenty, and, Anacreon-like, he seems to have blended love and wine together.[440] He who, when a new-born babe, had his lips wetted in the old castle of Pau by stout Antoine de Bourbon with a cup of the generous wine of the South, and who gloried in the title of the Sieur d'Ay, was not likely to neglect the nectar vintaged on the slopes around Epernay. And probably the recollection of the raven-haired, black-eyed, bronze-skinned Bernais peasant-girls, whom tradition vows he used to woo when in the first flush of youthful manhood beneath the trellised vines of Jurançon and Gan, served by contrast to heighten the fairer charms of the blonde Anne du Puy, in whose honour he is reported to have sung:

'Morning bright, Thy pure light I rejoice when I see; The fair dove Whom I love So, is rosy like thee.

She is fair, None so rare, With a waist matched by none; By my hand It is spanned, And eyes bright as the sun.

Wet with new Fallen dew, The rose sparkles less bright; Freer from spot Ermine's not, Nor is lily more white.

Fair Dupuis, All agree, On ambrosia is fed; From her lip When I sip Nectar's perfume is shed.'[441]

At the outset of the seventeenth century Epernay had its full share in the troubles that marked the early part of the reign of Louis XIII., being taken in turn by Condé, by the Count de Soissons, acting for the malcontent nobles leagued against Richelieu in 1634, and by the King's forces the year following. The peaceful records are, however, plentiful and interesting. In 1631 we find the town council deciding to present 'six caques of white wine, the best that can be found,' to M. de Vignolles, and the same to M. d'Elbenne; and two years later protesting to the 'treasurers of France' their inability to pay 70,000 livres, demanded towards the maintenance of the army, owing to the all but total failure of the wine crop. The council were fully aware of the merits of their vintage, and of the advantages of appealing to the heart by way of the stomach. Six 'feuillettes' of the best wine were ordered to be sent in September 1636 to M. de Vaubecourt, and one to his secretary, 'to retain their good-will towards the town,' and induce the former to use his influence with a committee appointed by the King for repaying loans and advances, and also towards getting rid of the garrison. A little later the Marquis de Senneterre received a queue of wine to withdraw his troops from the town. The Maréchal de Chatillon, M. de Vaubecourt, M. de Belfonds, and the Count d'Estaing were in frequent receipt of such gifts; and it is noteworthy that amongst them figure 'two caques of wine in bottles,' sent to each of the two first at Sainte Ménéhoulde in 1639.[442]

[Illustration]

The successful efforts of Turenne against his great rival Condé during the wars of the Fronde were encouraged by frequent presents of the wine of Epernay. As the brother of the Duc de Bouillon, to whom the town of Epernay had been given in 1643 in exchange for Sedan, and as the protector of the district against the Spaniards, he received numerous tokens of the citizens' good-will. In September 1652 twelve caques of wine were sent to him, with the result that he at once ordered his soldiers to repair the broken bridge across the Marne. In the following January a chevreuil and two caques, and in June wine, fowls, and game, were presented to him. In June 1654 it was resolved that a deputation should be sent to the coronation of Louis XIV. at Reims, 'to render the homage due to the King,' and to present 'a caque of wine in bottles' to M. de Turenne, which helped no doubt to spread the fame of the Epernay wine amongst the nobility present on that occasion.

The same social lever was applied in 1660 to the 'traitant général' of the so-called 'don gratuit' exacted on the occasion of the King's marriage, two feuillettes being proffered in order to get him to reduce the assessment. Representations made to an eschevin of Paris, despatched to Epernay in 1662 to see if there was any store of grain in the town that could be sold to benefit the starving poor of the capital, to the effect that the district was a wine-growing and not a corn country; and the despatch of a deputation in August 1666 to Louvois, to request that the garrison might be withdrawn to allow of the vintage being gathered in--the inhabitants of the surrounding country having fled to avoid sheltering soldiers,--serve to show the importance of the Epernay wine-trade. In 1671, on the passage of the Duke and Duchess of Orleans from Châlons, fruit and sweetmeats were presented to them, and wine to the lords of their suite, at a cost of 211 livres 7 sols; and two years later, Louis XIV. partook of the local vintage during his sojourn at the 'maison abbatiale,' when on his way to the army of the Rhine.

Towards the close of this century the wine grew in repute, and was eagerly sought after. In November 1677 two caques were sent to 'a person who enjoys some credit,' and who was willing to accord his protection to the town in the matter of quartering troops upon it; and the following January twelve more caques were despatched to this 'unknown,' who may have been Louvois himself. As to Roger Brulart, Marquis de Puisieux et de Sillery and Governor of Epernay, a joyous companion, if we may credit St. Simon, his appreciation of the local vintage is borne ample testimony to. In 1677 six caques of 'the best' were sent to him by the town council; but by 1691 he must have become used to larger offerings, as in September a letter was addressed to him begging him to be satisfied with the like amount, as 'the inhabitants could not manage more,' and could only promise, with regard to three caques still due, that they would 'make an effort' to supply them the following year. Wise in their generation, they sent at the same time 'twelve bottles of the best wine' to his intendant, and a similar gift to his secretary; but the following year they were forced to write again that it would be impossible to supply the wine promised unless he obtained a permission to levy it.[443]

The Old Pretender, or, as he is styled in the local records, 'Jacques Stuart III., roy d'Angleterre,' arrived at Epernay in September 1712, and was presented with 'twenty-four bottles of the best;' whilst the Marquis de Puisieux, who accompanied him, was satisfied with nothing less than a 'carteau,' or quarter-cask. And when the latter announced his intention of paying a visit in the autumn of 1719 to Maître Adam Bertin du Rocheret, conseiller du roy and ex-president of the Grenier-à-sel at Epernay, a resolution was passed to offer him wine on his arrival, and to send 'a hundred _flasks_ of the best' to his château of Sillery. The use of the word 'flaçons' clearly implies that the discoveries of Dom Perignon were being acted upon at Epernay, and that the gift in question was one of sparkling wine.

[Illustration: JAMES EDWARD FRANCIS STUART, THE OLD PRETENDER.]

In June 1722 the Sieurs Quatresous and Chertemps, despatched to congratulate the marquis's nephew and successor, Louis Philogène Brulart, on his appointment to the governorship of the town and his marriage with Mademoiselle de Souvré, granddaughter of Louvois, took with them a similar offering. At the coronation of Louis XV., in October, deputies were sent to compliment the Prince de Turenne, representative of his father the Duc de Bouillon, seigneur d'Epernay, and to present him with 'game, trout, and other fish,' and 'a basket of a hundred flasks of the best.' In August 1725 the bourgeois were drawn up under arms, and four dozen bottles were got ready, on the passage through the town of the Duke of Orleans, son of the late Regent, on his way to espouse, as the King's proxy, Marie Leczinska. This was, however, a sad year for the wine-growers, for ten months of incessant rain, beginning in April, not only ruined the at first promising crop entirely, but caused floods which wrought some havoc. The terrible hail-storm of 1730, which devastated the vineyards of Reims, fortunately spared those of Epernay; but a frost in October 1740 destroyed the vintage, and led to a dearness of provisions which pressed even on the most well-to-do.[444]

For the next three-quarters of a century Epernay continued quietly to profit by the yield of 'the slopes laden with vines producing the most delicious wines in Europe,' to quote the expression of Stapart, who in 1749 notes the importance of the trade in wine carried on, not only with Paris, but with foreign countries; though at the same time complaining of the decreasing size of the town, and the fact of vineyards being planted where houses had formerly stood.[445] The only events of importance were from time to time an unusually good or an uncommonly bad crop, or--as the manufacture of _vin mousseux_ gradually swallowed up that of still wine--a disastrous _casse_, like the memorable one of 1776, varied by an occasional royal visit or so. By 1780, Max Sutaine notes that a single manufacturer would turn out from five to six thousand bottles of sparkling Champagne, and exults over the fact that seven years later an enterprising firm risked a _tirage_ of fifty thousand, though people at the time regarded this as something prodigious, and wondered where an outlet would be found.[446] Very likely a bottle of this identical _tirage_ was 'the excellent _vin mousseux_' with which Arthur Young regaled himself, at a cost of forty sous, on the 7th July of the same year, at that 'very good inn' the Hôtel de Rohan, at Epernay.[447] At this same inn the hapless Louis XVI. stopped to dine on his return from the intercepted flight to Varennes; and when we recall his timid nature, we may fairly surmise that it was Champagne which inspired him, amidst the insults of the mob, to remind the authorities that his ancestor, Henri Quatre, had entered the town in a very different fashion, and by implication to assert that he might yet do the same.[448]

The Emperor Napoleon, the Empress Josephine, the King of Westphalia, and the other members of the Bonaparte dynasty, who from time to time visited Epernay and partook of the hospitality of Jean Remi Moët, showed a healthy appreciation of its vintage. Indeed King Jerome, in giving an order for six thousand bottles _premier cru_, remarked with a strange foresight that he would have taken more, only he was afraid that it would be the Russians after all who would come and drink it. Sure enough the eventful year 1814 witnessed the arrival at Epernay of a host of self-invited guests, all equally appreciative of the merits of Champagne, and gifted with an almost unlimited power of consumption, but entertaining insuperable objections to pay for what they consumed. The Prussians and Russians who came hither in February and March misconducted themselves in a very sad manner, burning and pillaging houses, insulting and maltreating the inhabitants, requisitioning all the wine they could lay hands on, and drinking in a manner recalling the Bacchic exploits of Gargantua and Pantagruel. The mayor, Jean Remi Moët, moved by the state of affairs, offered the invaders the free run of his cellars rather than that they should pillage those of others, doubtless under the idea that the reputation his house would thus acquire abroad would soon enable him to retrieve the temporary loss--a proviso happily and amply realised. Beyond the facts that Epernay has profited, and continues to profit, by the ever-increasing development of the taste for sparkling wine; that Charles X., Louis Philippe, and Napoleon III. have successively favoured it with their presence, and accepted the _vin d'honneur_ offered on such occasions; and that during the war of 1870-1 the town, in common with the rest of the province of Champagne, was occupied by the German invading army, there is nothing more to be said respecting its history.

[Illustration: THE RUE DU COMMERCE (FAUBOURG DE LA FOLIE), EPERNAY.]

[Illustration: THE PACKING-HALL AT MESSRS. MOËT AND CHANDON'S, EPERNAY.]