Map by Carsten Berg
Høgenhoff, 2001.
The distances are short in this map, and between
Créquy and Fressin there is a ten minutes drive by car on the
narrow road passing Sains-des-Fressin on the hilltop between the valleys.
The small village of Créquy
covers an area of 2000 ha, and has 605 inhabitants (2001). Neighbouring
Fressin
has 587 inhabitants and covers a slightly smaller area with its 1720
ha. The more central Fruges
has 2500 inhabitants; all put together, we talk about a densely populated
area. Click on the town names for closer information about the towns.
Note the close distance
to Azincourt (in English often called Agincourt), the site where the
English king Henry V won his famous victory on October 25th, 1415. The
situation in France was confusing prior to this battle: The French king,
Charles VI, was insane, the factions of Burgundy and Orléans
had provoked a civil war, and Henry V used the problems in France to
his own advantage.
The battle of Azincourt
took its toll among the de Créquy family. Living so near, their
presence was obvious, and before the battle was over, four members of
the family had lost their lives: Jacques III de Créquy of the
d'Heilly-branch was executed on the English king's order together with
a number of other prisoners when the British felt their position weak
during the battle. Jean IV de Créqui's eldest son Raoul fell,
and so did his son-in-law de Waurin and a brother of Jean IV also named
Jean, Sr de Moliens.
The picture
above shows a pewter toy soldier version Jacques de Créqui who
lost his life at Azincourt. Available from Newbury Toys - (http://www.toysoldiers.org/knights_of_agincourt.htm)
for 3,95 GBP by April 2001 and later. See also http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/41081.shtml,
with the same figure for USD 9 by February 2005.
The
origins of the de Créquy Coat-of-Arms
The de Créqui
family used the "créquier" as its Coat-of-Arms, a sign
inspired by the similarity between the names of the wild plum tree -
the créquier - and the sleepy, little village Créqui at
the river Créqouise. The village name goes back to the Gallo-Roman
era when it was called Krekiorum -, while many other place names in
this particular region has Germanic roots - like Fauquembergues for
"Falkenberg", etc.
The créquier is
a small-leaved tree, with thin branches all seemingly growing out of
the ground. Among the leaves, there are long thorns which must make
it an ordeal to pick the plums off the tree - thus the motto of Baudouin
de Créqui, the Great Baron: Nul ne s`y frotte!, or "Don't
Get Too Close".
A créquier has
been planted outside the walls of the Chateau de Fressin, where Jean
V de Créqui had his seat. Both photographs above are from this
site.
The
castles at Créquy, Fressin-des-Sains and Fressin
The de Créquy
family's castle at Créquy
The small village of
Créquy as it looked approx. 1600 ("Album de Croy").
Note that the old Créqui castle was already a ruin at this time.
Not much is left of the
original seat of the de Créqui family. On the picure above (Copyright
Michel Mauconduit, reproduced with permission), the ring of trees marks
where the inner moat circled the castle, but the house on the photograph
is of newer date. Only some remains of the moat tells us where the castle
once stood. The original fortifications are described in "Sites
fortifies des Créqui" (Lesage/Perreau 1991).
 The present village
church in Créquy is also of newer date (above, and in
the bottom left corner of the eagle's view above). The memorial
in the forground commemorates inhabitants of Créquy who
gave their lives for France in the 20th Century's world wars. |
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The fortified
house at Fressin-des-Sains 
Fressin-des-Sains lies on the hill between
the Crequy and Fressin valleys.
As in Créquy, only some small signs
in the ground remain after what was once a fortified house.
Where the sheep now graze, we can see traces of the moat that
once surrounded this small fortress, situated on the hill between
Créquy and Fressin.
Also in Torcy (see map above), there are
remains of fortifications built by the de Créquys. |
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St. Martin's
Church at Fressin The construction
of St. Martin's Church at Fressin was started by Jean IV de
Créquy and his wife Jeanne de Roy, who are both buried
in a chapel of their own inside the church.
Until the French revolution in 1789, there
was a statue of Jean IV de Créqui and his wife on top
of the tomb, but it was then ripped down by the angry revolutionaries.
The stone on top of the tomb was hacked with metal sticks -
the marks are still vividly present today. You can almost sense
the atmosphere and picture the outraged crowd as people craved
their revoltionary rights in this quiet chapel.
At the same time, most of the eight Coats-of-Arms
carved in stone on the side of the tomb were destroyed. The
Créqui Coat-of-Arms is relatively well preseved (bottom
right), so one may believe that the revolutionary town people
must still have had some good feeling for this blasson which
is still used by the communities of Créqui and Fressin
today.
In Fressin, the créquier is combined
with an image of the ram from Jean V de Créqui's Order
of the Golden Fleece. |
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Many things
inside St. Martin's Church remind us of the church builders some
500 years ago. Thus, one will find
traces of the frieze which once went all around the walls approx.
three-four metres above the floor, showing the Créquy
Coat-of-Arms (below). It also appears on other place, like on
this wall-column at the gallery in the back of the church where
it has become a detail in the stone decorations (left). The
area where the Coat-of-Arms appears is shown in darker detail.
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A fire left
the right part of the church ruined a couple of hundred years
ago, and when re-constructed the community could not afford all
the artistry from the older church. Thus,
one may find one interesting detail in the decorations of the
arches, where the left side and the arch above the altar are
highly decorated, while the arches on the right side of the
church remain the same form, but without the decorations (left). |
All photographs if not
stated otherwise: Copyright Carsten Berg Høgenhoff, May 2001
The château-fort at Fressin - see
next page
The SIEC Newsletter No 4, illustrations part 1
