[Illustration: Fig. 108.--Banner of the Corporation of the
Publichouse-keepers of Montmedy.]
[Illustration: Fig. 109.--Banner of the Corporation of the
Publichouse-keepers of Tonnerre.]
The wines of France in most request from the ninth to the thirteenth
centuries were those of Macon, Cahors, Rheims, Choisy, Montargis, Marne,
Meulan, and Orleanais. Amongst the latter there was one which was much
appreciated by Henry I., and of which he kept a store, to stimulate his
courage when he joined his army. The little fable of the Battle of Wines,
composed in the thirteenth century by Henri d'Andelys, mentions a number
of wines which have to this day maintained their reputation: for instance,
the Beaune, in Burgundy; the Saint-Emilion, in Gruyenne; the Chablis,
Epernay, Sezanne, in Champagne, &c. But he places above all, with good
reason, according to the taste of those days, the Saint-Pourcain of
Auvergne, which was then most expensive and in great request. Another
French poet, in describing the luxurious habits of a young man of fashion,
says that he drank nothing but Saint-Pourcain; and in a poem composed by
Jean Bruyant, secretary of the Chatelet of Paris, in 1332, we find
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