Chemin des morts Corumont

In his book 'Le Folklore Wallon' from 1892, Eugène Monseur describes this game a little longer under the name "la chaise du roi" ("the king's chair"). P101": two children stand next to each other, their hands are intertwined in the form of an X, a third is carried on this improvised chair and holds the collar of the others with his arms. They sometimes stop and make a sudden movement to make the 'king' they are carrying jump, or they drop him. The game is called "pwerter al tcheyîre d' amon lès rès", or in Liège-French: "porter à la chaise du roi". But why the name "roi Pépin" here in La Roche? Is it a fantasy of the children of La Roche that this baroque name was used? Believe nothing of it! In La Roche, the "Chair of King Pépin " was not only a children's toy, but also a monument, modest in appearance, but it nevertheless attracted the attention of the first Luxembourg historians, who saw in La Roche proof that this small town had sometimes served as a residence for the founders of the Carolingian dynasty. That is what Joannes Bertels, abbot of Echternach, wrote in his Historia Luxembourgis, published in Cologne in 1605: "Antiquitus dum Franciae limites limits euc euc etiam extenderentur, solebant reges (dum laxandi animi causa Ardennam sylvam ad venandum peterent) in Castrum Rupense (tum etiam perforlebre et antiqum, utpote a Romanis mediis in sylvis excitatum) divergent, ubi et tottiam perforle etbrebrele etbrebre)p. 104)'. Here is the translation of this text: In the past, when France's borders came till here, the kings (that came to hunt to let their spirit rest in the Ardennes forests) made a detour to La Roche (which was very famous and old at that time because it was founded by the Romans in the middle of the forests) where, in their name, they had established a governor, commonly called "grand veneur", to lead the whole region. Even today, the Rochois still have a chair in the rock; they say that King Pépin used it when he wanted to rest a little bit of his fatigue or when he came to the audience of the people of the domain; they say that for that reason this seat is called the "chair of King Pépin". This chair was carved in the rock on the side of Mount Corumont, south of the city. In the last century, information on the chair of King Pepijn became more numerous and more accurate. The reason for this is that the inhabitants of La Roche were very proud of it and did not fail to recommend the visit to the first tourists discovering the Ardennes from about 1850. Eugene Gens, in Ruins and Landscapes in Belgium, advises us:" Sit down on this carved stone, which is called the chair of King Pepijn: "Nowhere else do you have a more beautiful view of the ruins that you see from above and on the street" (source text: www.la-roche.be).

Willem Vandenameele