A Slice of France #4: Paris, La Veuve Cliquot, Merimée's Dictation
Why is Paris called Paris? The Veuve Clicquot: the pioneer of businesswomen. When dictation was a hobby!
Why is Paris called Paris?
In the 3rd century BC, a Celtic tribe settled in this region of Gaul which would later become Paris. Their name? The Parisii.
Two centuries later, Julius Caesar conquered Gaul and changed the name of the city of Parisii to Lutetia (frenchified in Lutèce). Lutetia can be literally translated as “the town near the swamp”. The waters of the river (La Seine) were in fact described as muddy and very smelly.
After the Roman conquest, the city really took off under Augustus, favored by the Pax Romana and river exchanges. It develops on the left bank of the Seine and quickly reaches a population of 10,000 inhabitants. The Parisii people keep living on the Ile de la Cité.
In the middle of the 3rd century, the Barbarian invasions forced the Romans to withdraw towards the Île de la Cité, which offered a better protection against the invaders. It was around this time that Lutèce became Paris, which only became capital in 508, under the reign of Clovis.
Remember that the capital of Roman Gaul was not Paris (Lutetia) but Lugdunum (Lyon).
The Veuve Clicquot: the pioneer of businesswomen
When we talk about “Veuve Clicquot” we immediately think “Champagne”!
If the brand of this famous French champagne is known worldwide, the origin of its name is probably less so. Why “Widow” (“Veuve” in French)? Isn't that a rather curious noun for a sparkling and festive drink!
Here is the explanation.
Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin was born in 1777.
She married François Clicquot at the age of 21. When her husband died in 1805, she was only 27 years old.
By the time of his death, François had considerably developed the Maison de Champagne established by his father in 1772. In 1805, the company sold more than 100,000 bottles compared to only 6,000 in 1976.
The widow Clicquot convinces her father-in-law to let her take over her husband's business. Under the Napoleon code of the time, women were not allowed to manage a business without the permission of their husband or father.
Widows, on the other hand, were free to go into business!
In July 1810, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin launched her own company: "Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin" and thus became the first woman producer of Champagne and one of the very first businesswomen in the world. She will be nicknamed “the great lady of Champagne”
In 1814, after Napoleon's exile, the "Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin" company was the first to ship its production of champagne to Russia, a drink highly prized by the aristocracy and the Tsar's family in particular.
With this publicity, sales soar. The company acquired a worldwide reputation and shipped its production to many countries including the United States.
When Madame Clicquot died in 1866 (at the age of 89), the production reached 750,000 bottles.
The champagne was then very sweet in the order of 150g/l (i.e. like Port wine), responding to the taste of the time, in particular that of the Russian court.
Many bottles over 100 years old have been found intact in various shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea. It turned out that thanks to the cold and the darkness, the precious liquid had retained all its taste qualities!
Since 1987, the Maison “Veuve-Clicquot” has been part of the French group LVMH (Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton). Its annual production is… 22 million bottles!
When dictation was a hobby!
Dictation was one of the pastimes of the court of Emperor Napoleon III. Imagine what these people had to go through before TV and Facebook!
One dictation in particular, written and dictated by the writer Prosper Mérimée in 1857, put sovereigns and their guests to the test.
Napoleon III committed 75 faults, the Empress Eugénie, 62, Alexandre Dumas fils, 24. Only a foreigner, the Prince de Metternich, the Austrian ambassador, only made 3.
You can find the original text of the dictation below. Test your family and friends, and see if anyone does better than the Emperor!
Merimée’s Dictation
Pour parler sans ambiguïté, ce dîner à Sainte-Adresse, près du Havre, malgré les effluves embaumés de la mer, malgré les vins de très bons crus, les cuisseaux de veau et les cuissots de chevreuil prodigués par l’amphitryon, fut un vrai guêpier.
Quelles que soient et quelqu’exiguës qu’aient pu paraître, à côté de la somme due, les arrhes qu’étaient censés avoir données la douairière et le marguillier, il était infâme d’en vouloir pour cela à ces fusiliers jumeaux et mal bâtis et de leur infliger une raclée alors qu’ils ne songeaient qu’à prendre des rafraîchissements avec leurs coreligionnaires.
Quoi qu’il en soit, c’est bien à tort que la douairière, par un contresens exorbitant, s’est laissé entraîner à prendre un râteau et qu’elle s’est crue obligée de frapper l’exigeant marguillier sur son omoplate vieillie. Deux alvéoles furent brisés, une dysenterie se déclara, suivie d’une phtisie.
Par saint Martin, quelle hémorragie, s’écria ce bélître ! À cet événement, saisissant son goupillon, ridicule excédent de bagage, il la poursuivit dans l’église tout entière.