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Abbey of Thelema
“For these reasons, when the time came that one of the Thelemites wanted to leave the abbey, either at the request of his parents or for other reasons, he took with him one of the ladies, the one who had chosen him as a servant knight, and they were married together. And if they had lived well at Thelema in affectionate friendship, they cultivated this virtue still better in marriage; their mutual love was as strong at the end of their days as it had been in the early days of their marriage.”
Excerpt from Gargantua by Rabelais, chapter LVII
Rabelais loves the Vienne. A former student at the University of Poitiers, he does not hesitate to use the decor of the department in his book Gargantua. Thus, his giant walks the streets of Mirebeau, Saint-Rémy-sur-Creuse but also festoons on the dolmen of the raised stone in Poitiers.
In chapters LII to LVIII of the Rablaisian work, Gargantua gives the abbey of Thélème to Jean des Entommeures, after the fight against Picrochole. It is an anti-abbey where its members, unlike monks, live in total freedom and great opulence.
When he imagined the Abbey of Thelema, Rabelais was inspired by the Château de Bonnivet, a Renaissance-style building from the 16th century. The original version mentions this listed monument in 2001, while the sequels also mention the castles of Chambord and Chantilly.
The Mirapolis park around the work of Gargantua in Courdimanche in the Val-d’Oise was only open for 5 years, from 1987 to 1991.
Bonnivet
Located in the commune of Vendoeuvre-du-Poitou in the Vienne, the château de Bonnivet dates from the 16th century.
It is from 1515 that the lord of Bonnivet had this castle built.
This monument was certainly the most ambitious project of the French Renaissance before the castle of Chambord. At the time, it was 98 m long and 30 m high.
Today, however, only ruins remain, notably the northern boundary wall of the main courtyard dating from 1660.
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Gargantua and Pantagruel
Parodying everyone from classic authors to his own contemporaries, the dazzling and exuberant stories of Rabelais expose human follies with mischievous and often obscene humor. Gargantua depicts a young giant who becomes a cultured Christian knight. Pantagruel portrays Gargantua’s bookish son who becomes a Renaissance Socrates, divinely guided by wisdom and by his idiotic, self-loving companion, Panurge.
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By Damien Canteau
Passionné par l'Histoire, les animés, les Arts et la bande dessinée en particulier, Damien est le rédacteur en chef du site spécialisé dans le 9e art, Comixtrip.