One of the most prominent locations in Gray Matter, the sequel to Grayscale and second book in the Callahan Chronicles, is the city of Le Havre. By 1893, when Gray Matter takes place, Le Havre was a booming port city on the shores of France about eighty-five miles south of the English coast, across the English Channel. While my novels are entirely fiction, I love weaving real events, locations, and people into the stories, not only to add a sense of realism, but also to highlight the beauty and mystery that the study of history provides. I could write a dozen blog posts just about the history of Le Havre, but this article will give you a brief glimpse which may inspire research of your own. While I prefer writing fiction, I consider these blogs an essential and integral part of the stories I tell, so that my readers, if they desire, can have a starting point to learn more about the history that has inspired me. Okay, enough about me. What about Le Havre?
Le Havre
The history of Le Havre has always been that of a port city. In fact, the name 'Le Havre' in French simply means 'The Harbor,' and is short for the full name 'Le Havre-de-Grâce' or 'The Harbor of Grace.' If you do an online search for Havre-de-Grace, however, most of your results will be about a city in Maryland, whose name was inspired by its French sister city. While Le Havre dropped the full title, Havre-de-Grace, Maryland has preserved it.
It is possible that the 'de-Grâce' was dropped during the French Revolution. Many other French landmarks were renamed to erase any semblance of religion. The famous Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral was renamed to 'Notre Dame de Raison' or 'Our Lady of Reason' to celebrate reason over religion in what was one of the most unreasonable and bloody revolutions the city ever saw. It turns out that erasing Christianity and renaming historic landmarks never ends well. Who would have thought? This wisdom which France learned the hard way has mostly been forgotten yet again, and the results may be the same.
On the other hand, you might imagine that the 'de-Grâce' was dropped for the sake of time. Those extra two syllables can really cut into a working man's day, you know. There may be some truth to this, in fact, as the city's original name was the equally unwieldy 'Fransiscopolis,' named after the man who founded it in 1517, King Francis I. It is unclear exactly when the name change took effect, or precisely why, but by 1893, the city simply known as 'The Harbor' was the largest port city in France.
Le Havre's importance as a port city, and its proximity to England, made it a highly prized location during the wars between England and France. Controlled at various times by both the French and the English, it was not until the end of these long centuries of war that Le Havre saw a true economic boom. After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars after, Le Havre exploded with immigrants. The city was a stopping point from Europe to the New World, and many who were on their way to a better life discovered it here, in Le Havre.
The fortifications built to defend the city against invasion were torn down to expand the city, and the port itself provided the city with ample opportunities for employment as dockers, stevedores, pilots, sailors and stokers. In 1848, Le Havre was connected to the world by the railroad, which carried goods from this port to the countries of Europe, and goods from Europe to the docks of Le Havre and the world beyond.
In 1815, after countless years of war and pirating, Le Havre's population was just over sixteen thousand. By 1900, it had soared to 130,000. The 19th century saw remarkable improvements in daily living and modern conveniences, and Le Havre was no exception. This century brought the implementation of gaslit streets, citywide sewer systems, and garbage collection. Many things we take for granted today were then considered wonders of the modern world. Le Havre is quite possibly the best representation of the Belle Époque.
By the end of the Belle Époque and the start of the First World War, Le Havre was the largest importer of coffee in Europe, and a major port for everything else the trans-Atlantic trade had to offer, including tobacco, wood, and cotton from the Americas. It was here, in 1833, that the first steam-driven propeller was developed and tested for use in steamships. This invention, by Frederic Sauvage, revolutionized the sailing industry, and Le Havre become one of the primary ports for travel across the Atlantic Ocean, both for goods and immigrants to the New World. Trans-Atlantic steamers could cross the Atlantic in twelve days. Though sailing ships could be faster in ideal conditions, this was rare, and steamships could plow their way through storms or lulls with consistent timetables.
La Citadelle
The Seine River is the most famous river in France. As you may know, the Seine travels west from Dijon, cuts through Paris, and reaches the Atlantic at Le Havre, nearly cutting Northern France in two. In Gray Matter, La Citadelle is described as a central island in the middle of the mouth of the Seine. By 1893, this was certainly the case, though not on a natural island, as you might infer. Some creative liberties were taken with the description of La Citadelle and the buildings on it. Where do we draw the line between fact and fiction? That's what we're here to learn.
La Citadelle was first created by the French King Charles IX in 1574, after he took the port back from the English. He re-fortified the city and tore down the old fort which the English had used, building a new fort in its place on the northern bank of the Seine. Over the next several decades, the defenses of Le Havre were developed, primarily by the city's governor, Cardinal Richelieu, a prominent character in The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas.
Though Richelieu and his successor, Cardinal Mazarin, were primarily antagonists in Dumas' novels, both of these men did considerable good in the advancement of France and deserve a prominent place of recognition in her history. For more information on Cardinal Mazarin, you can read my post about the Mazarin Library in Paris here.
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, La Citadelle became a prominent landmark within Le Havre. Maps from that era always highlight it as a prominent feature, though their scale is somewhat off from the actual size of the citadel. Most likely, the mapmakers intended to convey the power of La Citadelle rather than an accurate representation of its true dimensions. The Citadelle itself is lost to history, having been demolished sometime during the height of Le Havre's maritime success.
While Google insists that La Citadelle was demolished in 1865, you can see here a drawing of the entrance to La Citadelle from 1890. Whether the front of La Citadelle was preserved for a time, or if Google is wrong (perish the thought!) about the specific dates, we cannot be sure without a time machine. What is most probable is that the interior of the citadel was deepened into an enclosed, fortified dock, and flooded with water. Later renovations would have removed the fortifications entirely to expand the space for commercial enterprise. The name of La Citadelle, however, remains to this day.
Whatever the official year, sometime in the mid-to-late 1800's, Le Havre decided that industry took precedence over security. With the massive leap in technology during the Belle Époque in France, it is easy to see why stone walls were no longer considered necessary. The harbor was greatly expanded, docks and warehouses were built, and La Citadelle became a hollow island, of sorts, trapped between the waterways that made up Le Havre's harbor. Maps of Le Havre from the late 1800's (see earlier map) show a section of land connected to both banks of the Seine by several bridges and roads. In the middle of this island is the Bassin de la Citadelle. This central dock was utilized like any other, and eventually became surrounded by warehouses, equipment sheds, and homes of upper-class workmen, captains, and dockyard personnel.
Today, the images provided by Google maps of the Bassin de la Citadelle look quite similar to maps from the turn of the twentieth century. It may come as a surprise, then, to understand that much of the Le Havre harbor was destroyed during the Second World War. As a prominent harbor in the 19th century, Le Havre was a critical target. Bombs dropped by aircraft reduced half of Le Havre's buildings to rubble, including the dockyards. La Citadelle, which had been leveled to make way for industry, would have done Le Havre no good, and the city soon followed. Warfare was changed forever, and stone fortresses became a relic of a bygone age. After the war, Le Havre had to be rebuilt from scratch. Much of Le Havre's history was lost in these bombings. After the war, stone and wood buildings were replaced by concrete, but Le Havre remains as a testament to the resilience of Man.
The Hôtel Saint Louis
While the city of Le Havre and the island of La Citadelle are a part of history, The Hôtel Saint Louis mentioned in Gray Matter is another matter (pun intended). There is not, nor has there ever been, any record of a luxurious island hotel on the grounds of the old fortress. While there were buildings there, it is far more likely that they would have been warehouses and offices, rather than a luxurious hotel.
You may be thinking that this will be a rather disappointing blog if I tell you that the Hôtel Saint Louis is simply a figment of my imagination and leave it at that. Oftentimes it is necessary to create fictional locations when writing a historical novel, but for the sake of realism, the best course of action is to draw inspiration from real locations as much as possible. While the Hôtel Saint Louis of Le Havre is fictional, there just so happens to be such a beacon of luxury, situated on an island in a famous French city. And, this island just so happens to be (like the author, himself) in Seine! There's just one teeny problem... The hotel is about 138 miles away from Le Havre.
The Real Hôtel Saint Louis
Allow me to introduce you to a quaint but lovely hotel situated in the heart of Paris on the famed Île Saint-Louis. This hotel, appropriately called the Hôtel Saint Louis en l'isle is rather similar to my own Hôtel Saint Louis in Le Havre. Rather than tell you how similar this hotel is to the fictional hotel in Gray Matter, I will simply provide you with this description taken directly from their own website:
“Nestled in the heart of the Île Saint-Louis, the Saint-Louis en l'Isle hotel enjoys an exceptional location. A haven of peace in the heart of Paris, the Île Saint-Louis is a village steeped in prestigious history, just like the private mansions located there. Between the Marais and Saint-Germain districts, near Notre-Dame and the Place de la Bastille, you will find in the Île Saint-Louis an authenticity, a well-being and a hospitality unique in Paris.”
If you take the time to peruse my description of the Hôtel Saint Louis in Gray Matter, you will find the atmosphere remarkably similar. There is, however, one notable difference; while the Hôtel Saint Louis of Le Havre catered to Nick Callahan and his friends in 1893, the real Hôtel Saint Louis en l'isle was not opened until way back in 2008. However, the chain of Saint Louis hotels (now up to nine, all within Paris) focus on combining tradition with modernity, and it would be quite easy to imagine them with a long history of exceptional service.
While the hotel may have been transported through space and time for the sake of the story, the 'haven of peace' represented by the Hôtel Saint Louis en l'isle is not a work of fiction. Perhaps, as the Saint Louis chain expands, they may open a hotel in Le Havre, which would add a great bit of belated authenticity to my story. Until then, the Hôtel Saint Louis in Le Havre will remain entirely within the realm of imagination.
Thank you so much for taking an interest in my novels and the history behind them. For more information about me, my novels, or the subjects I've covered in this blog, please check out the following links:
Hôtel Saint Louis en l'isle (Yes, you can book your stay from this website!)
(No, I'm not getting paid to promote them)
(Yes, that would have been nice)
For some fantastic turn-of-the-century photographs of Le Havre, check out this collection of historic postcards featuring the ship La Touraine and Le Havre.
For a more in-depth look at some of the images used in this blog, please check out the original posting here:
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