The Queens Sauce Maker
The following article is from “Normandy Then and Now”, that I happened to come across during my research for any Saucier Family ancestors in the area of Normandy in Northern France. With the knowledge given us by researchers that stated our family surname derives from being “sauce makers” of early France, I found this article very interesting and something to think about. This article concerns Robert Le Saucier of Normandy, the sauce maker for Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Taking into consideration that our Saucier ancestors possibly were sauce makers in early France, it leaves this writer with the question of “was the Robert Le Saucier in this article an ancestor of our Charles Saucier, who was a Merchant and Organist at Saint Eustache Church in Paris, France”?
The article on Robert Le Saucier is as follows:
“In a land full of fancy fortified manor houses and grand Conqueror’s castles, Manoir de la Saucerie, 7 km west of Domfront, manages to stand out”.
“La Saucerie’s fortified past can still be seen; grooves for a draw bridge surround the entrance and arrow slits puncture the walls. The gatehouse was once moated. Now a large pond reflects the towers at the front while marshland has filled in the rest”.
“The first buildings on the site were for Robert Le Saucier, faithful servant of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of both Britain and then of France. This remarkable queen was the widow of Henry II Plantagenet, mother of Richard the Lion-Heart, King of England, and grandmother of Louis IX, king of France”. As the heir of the House of Poitiers, rulers in southwestern France, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
“Robert had a crucial, confidential role within her kitchens. He was responsible for preparing the brines that salted and picked food, keeping it edible long into the winter and through hot summer days. He also created sauces that made 12th century food fit for a queen”.
“Robert exploited his success in the kitchens into a friendship with his queen who gratefully decreed him, Bailiff of Domfront in 1198. With the role came the responsibility for collecting taxes in the area. The Queen also bestowed upon him a vast area of lands, upon which he built his family home. The need for a fortified home becomes clear. Queen Eleanor was apparently a frequent guest when Robert was visiting his lands at Domfront. Those sauces must have been spectacular”.
“Sometime in the 14th century the land passed from the Le Saucier family to Jehan Villaine, when Marguerite Le Saucier, last heir of the family, married with Jehan de Villaine. It was during this century the fortified entrance gate was built, using local Amorican sandstone and granite. Originally there were four towers, and a fortified complex of manor house and barns behind it”.
“By the 15th century the Doynel family, ‘Doynel de Saucerie’ became owners, as they still are to this day”.
The Sausserie manor: This stately site, whose origins go back to Robert le Saucier, vassal of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, has known several lives since 1195, belonging to a single family. It constitutes the first residence of the Saucier’s and marks the beginning of the constitution of the seigniorial domain in the middle of the marshes. There are successive periods of prosperity and doubt. With the end of the Hundred Years War, the descendants began the construction of a tower-porch, for defensive purposes, surrounded by a moat, then a mansion in the interior courtyard. The gatehouse is a veritable small fortress and certainly contained the original principal residence. Around 1860, the manor was destroyed, the buildings surrounding it collapsed, the ditches were filled. A new house was built on the ruins of the manor. Only the châtelet remains”.
“It remains the only building still standing in this lordship which dates back to the Middle Ages. Certainly because of its robustness, perhaps also the curiosity aroused by its round or square shapes, the stiffness of its chimneys and their crowning, and again the aerial grace of its hull and dome roofs, it will have crossed the ages”.
The biggest unanswered question is of just how Robert Le Saucier fits into the present day Saucier family, or if he does so at all. A very interesting article and question that hopefully someday can be answered.
The article on Robert Le Saucier is as follows:
“In a land full of fancy fortified manor houses and grand Conqueror’s castles, Manoir de la Saucerie, 7 km west of Domfront, manages to stand out”.
“La Saucerie’s fortified past can still be seen; grooves for a draw bridge surround the entrance and arrow slits puncture the walls. The gatehouse was once moated. Now a large pond reflects the towers at the front while marshland has filled in the rest”.
“The first buildings on the site were for Robert Le Saucier, faithful servant of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of both Britain and then of France. This remarkable queen was the widow of Henry II Plantagenet, mother of Richard the Lion-Heart, King of England, and grandmother of Louis IX, king of France”. As the heir of the House of Poitiers, rulers in southwestern France, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
“Robert had a crucial, confidential role within her kitchens. He was responsible for preparing the brines that salted and picked food, keeping it edible long into the winter and through hot summer days. He also created sauces that made 12th century food fit for a queen”.
“Robert exploited his success in the kitchens into a friendship with his queen who gratefully decreed him, Bailiff of Domfront in 1198. With the role came the responsibility for collecting taxes in the area. The Queen also bestowed upon him a vast area of lands, upon which he built his family home. The need for a fortified home becomes clear. Queen Eleanor was apparently a frequent guest when Robert was visiting his lands at Domfront. Those sauces must have been spectacular”.
“Sometime in the 14th century the land passed from the Le Saucier family to Jehan Villaine, when Marguerite Le Saucier, last heir of the family, married with Jehan de Villaine. It was during this century the fortified entrance gate was built, using local Amorican sandstone and granite. Originally there were four towers, and a fortified complex of manor house and barns behind it”.
“By the 15th century the Doynel family, ‘Doynel de Saucerie’ became owners, as they still are to this day”.
The Sausserie manor: This stately site, whose origins go back to Robert le Saucier, vassal of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, has known several lives since 1195, belonging to a single family. It constitutes the first residence of the Saucier’s and marks the beginning of the constitution of the seigniorial domain in the middle of the marshes. There are successive periods of prosperity and doubt. With the end of the Hundred Years War, the descendants began the construction of a tower-porch, for defensive purposes, surrounded by a moat, then a mansion in the interior courtyard. The gatehouse is a veritable small fortress and certainly contained the original principal residence. Around 1860, the manor was destroyed, the buildings surrounding it collapsed, the ditches were filled. A new house was built on the ruins of the manor. Only the châtelet remains”.
“It remains the only building still standing in this lordship which dates back to the Middle Ages. Certainly because of its robustness, perhaps also the curiosity aroused by its round or square shapes, the stiffness of its chimneys and their crowning, and again the aerial grace of its hull and dome roofs, it will have crossed the ages”.
The biggest unanswered question is of just how Robert Le Saucier fits into the present day Saucier family, or if he does so at all. A very interesting article and question that hopefully someday can be answered.