57 bornes armoriées en forêt d’Halatte

English translation

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History

In the forest of Halatte, at the foot of Mont Alta, Anne de Montmorency owns two woods, the wood of la Livrée (to the north) and the wood of Fosses (to the south), transmitted by his father Guillaume de Montmorency who had purchased them in 1496. The chapter of Saint-Rieul of Senlis is for its part owner of the wood of borne-Morel, which is situated between the two woods of the constable. The demarcation of these three forest parcels, in 1540, marks the beginnings of heraldic demarcation in the forest of Halatte. 60 edificules - 57 are still preserved in situ - are planted every 30 to 100 metres, on the boundary slopes of the forest parcels. In white limestone, they measure 0.80 metres high on average and are generally narrower in their upper part when this is rounded. The boundary stones have from one to four faces, each of them bearing the engraved coat of arms of the owner concerned - the King of France, religious establishments and lay lords and families - thus indicating the division of property. The quality of these engravings is unequal and the same design may undergo variations from one boundary stone to another, which suggests that several hands worked on them with different methods of copying models. The memorial value of the demarcation is that of the acquisition, at the end of the 15th century, of the woods of la Livrée and Fosses by the Montmorency family. Anne de Montmorency is a great figure of the French and European Renaissance and an inescapable figure in southern Oise in the 16th century. If his acquisitions, restorations and constructions of châteaux are well known, the commission of the demarcation of the two woods of the forest of Halatte highlights the extent of his forest possessions and the importance he accorded them. Indeed, the constable made the forests of Chantilly and Halatte, at the heart of a royal domain and close to his château of Chantilly, a strategic issue for establishing his fortune, power and influence. It is to be noted that no boundary stone bearing the coat of arms of Anne de Montmorency is to date protected as a historic monument, despite the large-scale demarcation campaigns he carried out on his lands. From a historical point of view, the demarcation of the constable (woods of la Livrée and Fosses) and of the chapter of Saint-Rieul of Senlis (wood of borne-Morel) marks in 1540 the beginnings of heraldic demarcation in the massif of the Three forests, which would be systematised and regulated, on a national scale, in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is as such a rare and interesting witness to the policy of land management of forest parcels of the Crown, of lay lords and families and of religious establishments in the Middle Ages and then in the Renaissance, of the struggles of influence which underpin it, but also of the administration and protection of forests. Although the authors of the engraved coats of arms are not known, the artistic value of the latter is notable. The large number of coats of arms - ten different ones (constable Anne de Montmorency, King of France, chapter of Saint-Rieul of Senlis, bishopric of Senlis, abbey of Saint-Vincent of Senlis, priory of Saint-Maurice of Senlis, commandery of Laigneville, church fund of Saint-Gervais of Aumont, Romain family and Nicolas Morel) - on only 55 boundary stones is quite unprecedented. The diversity of the forms of the boundary stones and the qualities of the engravings suggest that several workshops of stone-cutters and sculptors presided over their execution, with techniques of copying models more or less perfected. This ensemble is representative of the diversity of the actors in stone-cutting in the middle of the 16th century, from workers in small stone quarries to the craftsmen of the constable. The artistic quality of certain coats of arms is remarkable, enhanced by their exceptional state of preservation.