Macon

lamartine
At all the moments of Alphonse de Lamartine's life (1790? 1869), whether it is about the poet or about the politician, the imprint of Mâcon and of the region is found. He was born in Mâcon in a royalist family, Alamartine, who after their ennoblement will be called the de Lamartine. He is the elder son of six children and the only boy. In Milly, privileged place where he will forge his poet's soul and that will widely serve his inspiration, Lamartine spends his childhood in a house where his father, giving up any military career, withdrew from 1794
In Bussièrcs and Pierreclos, placed villages close to Milly, Lamartine child will climb hills, swim in the rivers, and wander through meadows and wood. In Bussières, he will be educated by the abbot Dumont the vicar of the parish, until eleven years. His uncle, having noticed serious gaps in his instruction, will send him then to pension in Lyons, then in Belley which he left in 1808 to return to Milly.
In his twentieth year, Lamartine finds in Bussières the abbot Dumont, who becomes then his friend and his confidant. Having experienced in Lyons a frivolous existence and a loving adventure during a stay in Italy, Lamartine is bored in Milly. He formed then a friendship with the knight of Pierrcclau and participates to the luxurious evenings organised in Cormatin's castle by the wife of the knight, the beautiful Nina de Pierreclau. Soon she becomes his lover. It is doubtless thanks to her that the poet will know the history of secret courtship of the abbot Dumont and "Miss de Milly" during the Revolution. These confidences, added to those of the priest, will be at the origin of the poem " locelyn ", published in 1836, the most popular of Lamartine.
In 1823, Lamartine settles down in the manor house of Saint - Point with his wife Mary Ann and his one year old daughter Julia. During the next ten years, Lamartine will often leave his mâconnais domain: travel to Lyons and Paris, thermal cures in Aix-les-Bains and in Switzerland, installation for three years in Florence as Secretary of Embassy, then charge d'affaires.
In 1832, he realizes finally one of the old dreams and leaves for the East with the family. In the return in 1833, Lamartine elects place of residence in his property of Monceau. He does not want to impose on his wife a rough return to Saint - Point where their daughter, who died during the journey in East has just been interred. The 1833 marks also his entrance to politics with his double election as councillor of Saône-et-Loire and representative of Bergues in the North. Elected in 1837deputy of Mâcon, Lamartine distances himself bit by bit from monarchic power and binds himself for the cause of the people. Having published in 1847 " the History of the Girondists ", masterful work of 3000 pages, he reaches the summit of his political career by becoming the following year the Minister of the Foreign Relations of the temporary government.
Nevertheless, the time of grape harvests will see the poet returning to the mâconnaise earth every year, to which he will remain always attached. After the coup of state of 1851 and the restoring of the Empire, Lamartine gives up any political fight. Bad administrator of the domains and knowing financial setbacks he goes out in Paris in an absolute a distress on February 18, 1869...

MACON
In Mâcon, his home town, Alphonse de Lamartine spends the first years of his life. During the adolescence, he frequents dedicatedly the library and reads books of history and philosophic essays. When he became a handsome young man, one sees him going through the streets of the city with his friends in search of some good fortune. A little before his marriage, he leads an idle and worldly life making the conquest of the mâconnaise society.
Later, already famous by some writings, he turns to politics and throughout his career; Mâcon will be his anchorage point. He was its councillor from 1840 till 1848, a councillor delegated from 1833 till 1848 and from 1838 till 1848.

MILLY
It is in this village that Alphonse de Lamartine spends, with his mother Alix of Roys, his years of childhood and adolescence. He grew up among the children of wine growers and participated in the works of the vineyard. While he was in post in Florence in 1827, his father announced him his intention to sell Milly property. Profoundly touched by this project, he will write one of his chefs-d'œuvre " Milly or the native earth ". At the end of his life, while riddled with debts he must leave of the house of his childhood, Lamartine will write one ultimate and poignant poem " The vineyard and the house ": In the house books and documents evoking its childhood are collected , its sources of literary inspiration and its wine activity.

PierrecIos
In this small village, which became the sanctuary of the lamartinien cult, rises Lamartine's famous castle, put in its wedding presents by its father in 1820. Under the influence of his wife of English origin, Mary Ann Birch, Lamartine restores this medieval building and endows it with a pavilion, with a gallery and with a hall with small columns and with pinnacles. A rather heteroclite set but that corresponded to the English taste of time. In this property, Alphonse de Lamartine will lead the existence of a peaceful country gentleman. The castle preserves in the state its study and its bedroom where appear on the fireplace, painted in medallions by Mrs de Lamartine, the poets that her husband liked. In the heart of the park, near the Romanic church, a chapel of English Gothic style, on which Lamartine registered this currency "Speravit anima mea" - my soul hoped - shelters the graves of Lamartine and his family.