Clémence Isaure

Clémence Isaure is a quasi-legendary medieval figure credited with founding or restoring the Acadèmia dels Jòcs Florals or Academy of the Floral Games. She is supposed to have left a legacy to fund awards in the form of gold and silver flowers that the city would award annually to the best poets.

Dame Clémence Isaure by Jules Joseph Lefebvre

As the mythic founder of the games she is celebrated principally in Toulouse, where poems, sculptures, and paintings have been dedicated to her and a variety of places and institutions bear her name. In order to provide her with a realistic outline, she has been identified as a member of the Yzalguier family of Toulouse. In 1806 the rue des Yzalguier there was renamed the rue Clémence-Isaure. A tower at 7 de la rue Cujas was named the Tour Clémence Isaure. (It was demolished in 1817.)[1]

For example, Charles Cros wrote in 1888:[2]

Toulouse! ville antique où fleurissent encore
Pour les poètes, vos fleurs d’or, Clémence Isaure

Toulouse! ancient city where flourish still
For poets your golden flowers, Clémence Isaure

Iconography

Clémence Isaure fountain
Clémence Isaure appearing to the troubadors, hall of the notables, Capitole de Toulouse

Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911), Clémence Isaure, oil on canvas, private collection Fred and Sherry Ross
Auguste Préault, Clémence Isaure. One of the Queens of France and Illustrious Women that stand in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris
Félix Saurines, Clémence Isaure distributing flowers to the troubadors, musée du Vieux Toulouse
Félicie de Fauveau, Clémence Isaure, Musée des Augustins.
Bernard Griffoul-Dorval, Clémence Isaure, Musée des Augustins
Julie Charpentier, Clémence Isaure, Musée des Augustins
Léo Laporte-Blairsy, Clémence Isaure, Musée des Augustins
Jean-Pierre Rivalz, Clémence Isaure, Musée des Augustins
Alexandre Falguière, Clémence Isaure, Musée des Augustins
Henri Martin, Clémence Isaure, Musée Paul-Dupuy.
Médaille Toulouse 1819, Clémence Isaure, 1450 Toulouse - 1500, et les Jeux Floraux, verso
Médaille des Jeux Floraux à Toulouse 1819, recto

References

Pierre Salies, Dictionnaire des rues de Toulouse, Toulouse, Éditions Milan, 1989
Charles Cros, La Vision du grand canal des deux mers, 1888

Bibliography

Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1891). Clémence Isaure. Paris: Imprimerie des Annales.
Delmas, Jean-Jacques (1984). À Clémence Isaure. Saint-Germain-du-Bel-Air, France: Delmas Jean Jacques Éditions. p. 84. ISBN 978-2950031600.
Boyer, Pierre-Louis (2010). Clémence Isaure, vérités sur une chimère toulousaine. Paris: Séguier (Nouvelles éd.). p. 100. ISBN 978-2-7588-0320-1.

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[1] Pierre Salies, Dictionnaire des rues de Toulouse, Toulouse, Éditions Milan, 1989

[2] Charles Cros, La Vision du grand canal des deux mers, 1888