Wayne County Life

During the 2015 summer, theFife and Drum Corps from S. Tropez, France is coming to Macdon. Here is a little history from Wikipedia about St. Tropez...In 599 BC, the Phocaeans founded Massilia (present-day Marseille) and established coastal mooring sites in the region. In 31 BC, the Romans invaded the region. Their citizens built many opulent villas in the area; one is known as the "Villa des Platanes" (Villa of the Plane trees). The first name given to the village was Heraclea-Caccaliera, and the mouth of the Gulf was named The Issambres. The town owes its current name from the early, semi-legendary martyr named Saint Torpes. The legend says that he was beheaded at Pisa during the reign of Nero, and that his body was placed in a rotten boat along with a rooster and a dog. The body landed at the present-day location of the town.[2][3][4] Towards the end of the ninth century with the fall of the Roman Empire, pirates and privateers attacked and sacked the region for the next 100 years, and in the 10th century the village of La Garde-Freinet, 15 km (9 mi) north of St. Tropez, was founded. From 890–972, Saint-Tropez and its surroundings became an Arabic-Muslim colony dominated by the nearby Saracen settlement of Fraxinet.[5][6] In 940, Nasr ibn Ahmad was in control of Saint-Tropez.[6] In 961–963, Audibert, son of Berenger, the pretender to the throne of Lombardy who was pursued by Otto I, hid at Saint-Tropez.[6] In 972, the Muslims of Saint-Tropez held the abbot of Cluny Maïeul until he was released for ransom.[6] In 976, William I Count of Provence, lord of Grimaud, began attacking the Muslims and in 980 built a tower at the current location of the Suffren tower. In 1079 and 1218, Papal bulls mentioned the existence of a manor in Saint-Tropez. From 1436, Count René I (called "good King René") tried to repopulate the Provence. He created the Barony of Grimaud and appealed to the Genoan Raphael de Garezzio, a wealthy gentleman who sent a fleet of caravels carrying sixty Genoese families to the area. In return, Count René promised to exempt the citizens from taxation. On 14 February 1470, Jean de Cossa, the Baron of Grimaud and Grand Seneschal of Provence, reached an agreement with Raphael de Garezzio that allowed Garezzio to build city walls and two large towers which are still standing. One tower is at the end of the "Grand Môle" and the other is at the entrance to the "Ponche". The city became a small Republic with its own fleet and army and was administered by two consuls and twelve elected councilors. In 1558 the office of Captain of City (Honorat Coste) was empowered to protect the city. The captain lead a militia and mercenaries who successfully resisted attacks by the Turks, Spaniards, succored Fréjus and Antibes, and assisted the Archbishop of Bordeaux to regain control of the Lérins Islands. In 1577, the daughter of the Marquis Lord of Castellane, Genevieve de Castilla, married Jean-Baptiste de Suffren, Marquis de Saint-Cannet, Baron de La Môle, and advisor to the Parliament of Provence. The lordship of Saint-Tropez became the prerogative of the de Suffren family. In September 1615, Saint-Tropez was visited by an expedition led by the Japanese samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga who were on their way to Rome but obliged by weather to stop in St. Tropez. This is believed to be the earliest instance of contact between the French and the Japanese. The local nobleman were responsible for raising a standing army which drove away a fleet of Spanish galleons the 15 June 1637. Les Bravades des Espagnols is a local religious and military celebration commemorating this victory of the Tropezian militia over the Spanish.[7] Count René's promise in 1436 to not tax Saint Tropez' citizens continued until 1672 when it was repealed by Louis XIV, who reasserted French control over the city. Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez (1729–1788) was a famous vice-admiral who fought in the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. The Hôtel Byblos is a Grand Hotel built in the mid-1960s During the 1920s Saint-Tropez attracted famous figures from the world of fashion, like Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli. During World War II, on 15 August 1944, it was the site of a military landing called Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France. In the 1950s, Saint-Tropez became internationally renowned as the setting for films including And God Created Woman starring French actress Brigitte Bardot. In May 1965, an Aérospatiale Super Frelon preproduction aircraft crashed in the Gulf, killing its pilot. On 4 March 1970, the French submarine Eurydice, which was home ported at Saint-Tropez, disappeared in the Mediterranean after an explosion of unknown cause, with 57 crew members on board. The English rock band Pink Floyd wrote a song called "San Tropez" after the town. Saint-Tropez is also cited in David Gates' 1978 hit, "Took The Last Train" and Aerosmith's "Permanent Vacation". Rappers including Diddy, Jay Z and 50 Cent refer to the city in some of their songs as a favorite vacation destination, usually by yacht. DJ Antoine wrote a song called "Welcome to St. Tropez" which talks about people going there and spending all the money they have.

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