[Sca-cooks] Cookbooks and historical food references

[Terry Decker]

Taking a break from my writing, I'll take a shot at another of your
questions.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape was known as Castum Novum or Castellum Novum in 1157 for
a new castle built in the area.  The town probably came into existence as
garrison town, supplying the needs of the garrison while standing in the
protection of the castle.  A little care needs to be taken when chasing the
name, because there are a number of 'New Castles."   The name Calcenarium
(for the lime kilns in the area) first appears in the early 13th Century.

In the 12th Century it was a fief of Saint-Empire which was passed to the
Bishop of Avignon and then to Saint Siege.  The ownership doesn't matter
because Pope John XXII of Avignon built his summer home there in 1320.  The
name Chateauneuf was adopted to celebrate the new home and the town became
Chateauneuf-Calcenarium until the 16th Century when it became
Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  According to local lore, the grapes were planted at
the direction of Pope John XXII.

>From 1309 to 1377, the Popes were ruling the Church from Avignon (the
Babylonian Exile).  In 1378, Pope Gregory IX returned to Rome and the Great
Schism split the Papacy with the "antipopes" continued to rule from Avignon
(the Babylonian Captivity).  In 1417, the Schism was ended, ending the Papal
seat in Avignon and the Papal use of Chateauneuf.

The chateau proper was sacked by rioters in 1334, destroyed by Protestant
revolutionaries in 1562 and polished off by the German army in 1944.

The Vaucluse region (including Chateauneuf-du-Pape) is noted for some very
fine, slow maturing red wines, some of which probably date to Roman times.
Chateauneuf-du-Pape proper appears to date to no earlier than the 13th
Century and control of the name dates only to the 19th Century.

Bear



>9) How the village Chateauneuf-du-Pape and the wines came to be.
>
>Sharon
>gordonse at one.net