Map of Beauce, 1639
Map of Beauce in modern-day France
Beauce (French pronunciation: [bos] ) is a natural region in north-central France, located between the rivers Seine and Loire. It comprises the Eure-et-Loir modern-day department and parts of Loiret, Essonne and Loir-et-Cher.
The region shared the history of the province of Orléanais and the county of Chartres, which is its sole major city. Beauce is one of France's most productive agricultural areas.
The name derives from Latin Belsia or Belsa, said by Virgilius Maro Grammaticus to be a Gaulish word meaning "grass plain, cultivated plain."[1][2] It was formerly spelled La Beausse.[3]
It is the setting of Émile Zola's novel La Terre (The Earth). The region also gives its name to the Beauce region of Quebec.
- ^ Austin, James F. (October 7, 2009). New Spaces for French and Francophone Cinema. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300118223 – via Google Books.
- ^ Bloch, Marc (February 20, 2015). The Ile-de-France (Routledge Revivals): The Country around Paris. Routledge. ISBN 9781317517634 – via Google Books.
- ^ Holme, Randle. The academy of armory, or, A storehouse of armory and blazon containing the several variety of created beings, and how born in coats of arms, both foreign and domestick : with the instruments used in all trades and sciences, together with their terms of art : also the etymologies, definitions, and historical observations on the same, explicated and explained according to our modern language : very usefel [sic] for all gentlemen, scholars, divines, and all such as desire any knowledge in arts and sciences.
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