Come stroll with me…

…through the city of Mende. Today I’m following in the footsteps of Jacques as he walks the streets of his home town to investigate his latest case, Mazargues...

The city of Mende, in the département of Lozère (48), has a long and varied history.  The city sits on the banks of the river Lot, and the earliest traces of habitation date from around 200 BC.  Although sparsely populated – around 12,000 inhabitants – the city is one of the five ‘gateways’ that lead into the vast causses of the Cévennes, a UNESCO world heritage site of more than 360 square miles.

The ancient heart of the city is dominated by the basilica, but if you look at a map, you will see the remnants of the ancient walls that once surrounded this old bastide town.  And that’s where I want to take you today.  These narrow streets wind through the city and intersect each other in tiny little squares.  Like, place Chaptal, for example, where I have Jacques mounting a one-man surveillance operation in search of a rogue market trader.

Place Chaptal sits to one side of the church, and until market days on Wednesday and Saturday, is just used for parking.  But there’s more to it than that.  At the back of the square is a monument to Jean-Antoine Chaptal.  Born in Nojaret (48) in 1756, he was the youngest son of local landowners.  He also had a rich uncle who was a prominent physician in Montpellier.  Chaptal did so well in his studies in Mende that his uncle was encouraged to finance his studies at the Medical School of the University of Montpellier.  Having achieved his medical degree, Jean-Antione asked his uncle to support him through a further four and a half years of study in medicine and chemistry in Paris.  His studies finally complete, Chaptal took up a salaried chair at Montpellier university in 1780.

He became a leading chemist and was instrumental in establishing in Montpellier one of the first modern chemical factories in the whole country.  By 1787, Montpellier had become a national centre for innovation in the production of chemicals.

In 1789, when the Revolution swept through Paris and across the country, Chaptal was initially supportive.  By 1793 he had changed his mind and stood in opposition.  He was arrested and imprisoned, but his value to the nation as an industrial chemist saved his head!

Following Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup d’état in November 1799 and the establishment of the Consulate, Chaptal found himself a new career as a statesman.  He was well-known and very well-connected.  After ten years of revolution and war, Chaptal’s skills and abilities in using science to make advancements in industry, agriculture, and commerce became invaluable to Bonaparte.  He was appointed to Bonaparte’s Council of State and then became his Minister of the Interior.  He remained in office until 1804.

Throughout his life, he wrote numerous books on science, the arts, and chemistry.  He is one of the 72 famous French scientists who have their names engraved on the Tour Eiffel in Paris, and he is remembered in various other locations as well as here in Mende.  He died in Paris in July 1832 and is buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.

And if you want to find out if Jacques finds his rogue market trader, then check out #Mazargues.  The sixth #JacquesForêt mystery is available to pre-order Here