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Hercules' mother was named Françoise
Leucate possesses a grand history: in 1590 a woman, Françoise de Cezelli, distinguished herself during a battle resisting the Spanish, who executed her husband. Henri IV rewarded her by giving her the responsibility of governing the city until her eldest son, Hercules, came of age. Today, her statue sits enthroned in a square and vintages bear her name.
With its pretty name coming from the Greek "leukos", meaning white, and its heroine Françoise de Cézelli, Leucate can be proud of its history.
The events in question unfolded in 1590. Françoise de Cézelli, the governor's wife from Montpellier, saved the city by sacrificing her husband. The story begins in 1577 with her marriage to Jean-Antoine Bourcier, seigneur of Pantnau de Barri, with whom she had five children: Hercules, Anne-Françoise, Antoine, Paul, and Françoise. Her husband later became governor of Leucate. At the time, this strategic fortress guarded the border between France and Spain.
During the civil war, Languedoc was torn between Catholics and Protestants, as was the rest of the country. The accession of Henri de Navarre (a Protestant) to the throne in 1589 led to renewed violence. The governor of Leucate took a stand: he rallied to the side of the new king and consequently faced the anger of the members of Marshal de Joyeuse's confederation.
They belonged to the Catholic League, a politico-religious movement that absolutely refused to let a Protestant king govern. As a result, the Marshal appealed to Spain, who sent troops. The governor of Leucate set out on 22 July 1590 to warn the Duke de Montmorency that 500 Spanish and German soldiers had just landed at the port of Franqui. He fell into an ambush, and the Catholic Leaguers imprisoned him in Narbonne. He found a way to warn his wife and ask her to organise Leucate's resistance, which the Leaguers were getting ready to attack. Françoise de Cézelli prepared the city's defence. The Spanish troops attacked in August. Ardently from the front lines, she galvanised the courage of Leucate's garrison and its inhabitants. They pushed back every attack. The Leaguers then gave her a horrible ultimatum: the keys to the city in exchange for the life of her husband, the governor. A great lady, she answered the cowards: "My fortune and my life are mine. Take them; I give them willingly for my husband. But the city belongs to the king and my honour to God. I must preserve them until my last breath."
Furious, the Leaguers executed her spouse before her eyes–a pointlessly cruel act, since the enemy abandoned the siege after three weeks. Françoise de Cézelli had saved Leucate. Three years later, she revisited Paris on the request of King Henri IV. In return for her courage and sacrifice, he granted her the government of Leucate until her son Hercules reached his majority. She ran the city for 27 years. When she died at age 56 in Montpellier, her remains were laid to rest alongside her husband's, in Saint Paul's cathedral in Narbonne.
Françoise de Cézelli was then forgotten. A planned monument dedicated to "Languedoc's Joan of Arc" on a Peyrou site was approved in 1896 in Montpellier's municipal council.It was then shelved. However, on 16 August 1899, local authorities unveiled a bronze statue of the heroine in Leucate, by the sculptor Ducuing. Dressed in a coat, the statue boldly brandished the keys to Leucate. In May 1942, the Vichy government ordered its destruction in order to recover the bronze. When the statue toppled from its pedestal, the hand holding the keys broke off and fell onto the square. A Leucate resident recovered it and carried it symbolically to the city hall, where it remains, displayed prominently. Leucate unveiled a new statue on 17 August 1975, which still stands. Today, Cap Leucate's wine growers honour the memory of this figure, considered a heroine across Europe, through their prestigious vintages.
