Interesting History : the DANCING CAT STREET in my town – Saint-Malo

in #travel7 years ago

Welcome to Saint-Malo, everyone !

Today, I would like to tell you about an interesting anecdote that occured during the dense history of my town...

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In 1693, France and England are at war (oh ! what a surprise!). Saint-Malo is a rich and powerful city, departure point of famous explorers to conquer the world like Jacques Cartier (who conquered Canada in 1534), Duguay Trouin, Commander Charcot, and later Bougainville, etc.

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During the 26-29 November 1693, the Anglo-Dutch alliance bombard the town and launch a spectacular attack with what they called « The Infernal Machine », a ship loaded with explosives in the intent to break the city walls.

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Unfortunately, the wind pushed the boat aside, and it got stuck on a rock, that were later called « the englishmen rock/ le rocher aux anglais ». Then, the english engineer in charge decided to light the fuse of the ship, causing the death of 6 englishmen (and 0 french) aside with some damages to several streets in the city.

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Historic fail

The only victim of this attack was a little cat found dead in that street, later called « the Dancing Cat Street/ la Rue du Chat qui Danse ».

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A Benedictine monastery monk marked down this event with the following words :

« The Englishmen who,like the proverbial mountain
Only brought forth one poor rat,
In their Saint-Malo campaign
Only managed to kill one poor cat. »

« L'Anglais qui, comme la montagne
N'enfanta qu'un pauvre rat
Dans sa malouine campagne
Ne fit mourir qu'un pauvre chat »

So, curiosity killed the cat ? I don't think so : englishmen did !

Thanks for reading.

If you have interesting facts about your town, I'd love to read them in the comments.

Peace to all of you !