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The former Isle of Lero owes its present name to a chapel very probably
built by the crusaders in homage to Saint Margaret of Antioch. In the 14th century
Raymon Féraud used the name Sainte Marguerite to invent a sister for
Saint Honoratus. This imaginary Saint Marguerite was supposed to have
settled in the nearby island with a group of Christian virgins, and was
to be visited by her brother just once a year, when the almond tree
blossomed. She therefore prayed to the Lord with such fervour that one
almond tree came into flower every month.
Occupied by the Romans,
who left many traces that can still be seen on the island today,
Sainte-Marguerite belonged for centuries to the monks of the monastery
of Lérins, who handed it over in 1612 to Claude de Lorraine, Duke of
Chevreuse.
• 1615. The island fell to Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, who in that same year made it over to Jean de Bellon, squire for the City of Brignoles. Construction of the Fort Royal
began at this time. Following the declaration of war with Spain,
Cardinal Richelieu ordered the work on the Fort to be continued so as
to defend the coast of Provence.
• 1635. The Spaniards
captured the building and continued its fortification. They built many
barracks before being expelled on 14 May 1637. Many of them were
affected by lead poisoning caused by drinking rainwater from the lead
gutters.
• Towards the end of the 17th century, the Fort became a state prison,
and housed three companies of invalid soldiers. The soldiers, all
specialised craftsmen, received regular pay and were allowed to marry.
Thus, a civilian population grew around the military establishment.
- In the 18th century there was intense activity around the fort, transformed into a veritable village.
- 1712 : Vauban remanie le Fort Royal
et achève de le fortifier.
- Until the 20th century, the Fort remained a state prison and many famous historic figures were incarcerated there.
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Famous prisoners on the Isle of Sainte-Marguerite
In the state prisons of the 17th century, notable for the remarkable
thickness of their walls, besides the Man in the Iron Mask, historic
prisoners were incarcerated in this island gaol.
- Six Protestant pastors imprisoned after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
- Mamelukes from Napoleon’s Imperial Guard,
about a hundred men sent to the island in 1816 to preserve them from
the wrath of the population of Marseille who had begun to massacre them.
- Emir Abdel Kader and his Smala
(tribe), imprisoned after his capture by the Duc d’Aumale during the
conquest of Algeria in 1843: a total of almost 800 people including
women and children.
- Marquis Jouffroy d’Abbans,
a French engineer who invented the Pyroscaphe, a steam-propelled vessel
inspired by his watching galleys sail past his cell on the Isle of
Sainte-Marguerite. He was imprisoned there between 1772 and 1773
following a quarrel with the Count of Artois over a woman.
- Some 600 Austrian prisoners, interned on Sainte-Marguerite in 1859 after the Battle of Montebello.
- Marshal Bazaine,
who made history by his successful escape on 10 August 1874 (according
to legend he descended from the walls by a rope, but more probably he
was able to walk out thanks to the complicity of friends in the Fort).
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