“A defeat changed the color of the world”: why the shutters on the Île de Ré are green

Since the beginning of the 16th century, blue has been the signature of the Ponant Islands . This woodwork would be painted with what remained at the bottom of the pot, once the ship was protected: a working boat with cachou sails for fishing sardines and tuna, setting lobster pots or dredging scallops. This tradition would have survived the white plastic of contemporary boats.

This story annoys Daniel Bernard . The man from Ré questions common sense: "If there was paint left over, why didn't the sailors apply it in excess to the hulls? And why is Ré la Blanche an exception with its green shutters, a shade also found on Oléron?"

green on the islands of Charente-Maritime.">

Seen from this angle, popular belief is perplexing. In museums, universities, and the salons where he speaks, this writer and lecturer specializing in the history of dyes and natural pigments casts it out to sea. A major backwash on the "Route of Blue Gold" (the title of his book published by Éditions La Découvrance) that he takes.

"A defeat will change the color of the world, April 1250," he states in the preamble to his book. The wave of triumphant Islam then encircles the Seventh Crusade. Saint Louis is captured. His ransom paid, the King of France reports to the Pope. He surely describes his failure, associated with the green of the standard of the Mamluks (members of a militia formed of freed slaves, of non-Muslim origin, in the service of various Muslim sovereigns, Editor's note).

Volumes of pastel such that the surplus is heading to the port of La Rochelle

Innocent IV saw red and pondered a hue that could unite the Christian world. Consultations were launched. It will be recalled that a century earlier, the Cistercian monk Bernard of Clairvaux believed that colors should be reserved for illuminations. He favored a neutral white. His contemporary, Suger, the abbot of Saint-Denis, had a completely different interpretation; he opted for blue, explaining: "The God of the Christians is light, and light is blue." From then on, the Middle Ages would be blue. The King of France wore it, and the Church also imposed it for representations of the Virgin Mary.

The pastel of Lauragais

"The problem," continues Daniel Bernard, "is that the dyers don't have any pigment." The Normans and Picards hold the alchemy for this secret of "dyers' blue." As early as 1066, when it came to dyeing the woolen threads for the story of the conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy, they chose Isatis tinctoria. The small herbaceous plant thus delivered its woad to the 70 meters of the "Bayeux Tapestry." Driven by the Hundred Years' War, the recipe traveled south to Lauragais. In this triangle between Toulouse, Carcassonne, and Castres, the mild weather allowed for several annual harvests. The generic term "land of plenty" comes from these ancient times; this is the name given to the rolled and dried leaves of Isatis, the first step in the production of woad.

From the beginning of the 15th century until the middle of the 16th, woad was experiencing its golden age. The economic heart of Europe beat in the North. Scottish and Flemish weavers competed in skill; they demanded large quantities of blue, "nearly 12,000 tons per year," explains Daniel Bernard. The merchants of Toulouse organized themselves. Bales sailed down the Garonne, then were loaded in Bordeaux. Volumes were such that the surplus was headed for the port of La Rochelle. "It is a luxury dye whose value is five times that of the ships that transport it."

Brittany is independent, so its sailors sail without risking boarding. Those from Penmarc'h, at the tip of Brittany's Cornouaille, provide the transport flotilla. Cod fishermen with caravels more maneuverable than the Portuguese caravels. 450 ships in total, 15 sailors on each. On the "blue gold route" to northern Europe, the islands offer shelter. And they also provide food and sailors. In the hold, bales of woad have found their place next to barrels of Bordeaux claret. And, to balance the loads, a measure of woad has been invented. "It's the sarcinée," explains the man from Rétais. "125 kilos, which is roughly equivalent to the weight of a barrel."

The precious pastel circulates and becomes the currency of exchange for these sailors. The Breton island toponymy preserves its memory: "Lestembec'h (the pastel vat), Poull Kog (the pond where the cocagnes macerate), etc. At the end of winter, the caravels load at La Rochelle. "The La Rochelle historian Marcel Delafosse recounts transactions, such as the sale of 26 bales of pastel between a merchant from Montauban and a buyer from La Meilleraye-de-Bretagne."

The Isle of Ré remains green

Meanwhile, the people of Ré watched the woad convoys pass by. These peasants, who were shore fishermen but not sailors, did not embark. However, to protect their shutters from fungal and saline attacks, they invented their own pigment. Copper taken from wrecks thrown ashore joined the vine shoots deposited behind their houses. On these dumps, the rains activated the acidity, which turned into copper acetate, verdigris. Mixed with heated pine resin and linseed oil, it formed a turquoise blue. This only retained its tone while drying. It then turned "fir green," the color of the shutters closed at the end of summer, from Rivedoux to Portes-en-Ré.