Folklore

Lord of Pressigny

In 1198, Pope Innocent II called for another crusade, and in November 1199 a group of French knights took crusade vows.  Among them was the young lord of Pressigny. They left for the Holy Land in 1002.

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Doomed from the beginning, the crusade party is diverted to Zara and Constantinople, finally ending in Acre.  In a fight against the infidels, the lord of Pressigny was wounded and counted among the dead. ​

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After 10 years, in 1012, the lord's wife was declared a widow and contracted to remarry. It is unknown where the lord's time was spent, but in 1016, the lord returned and learned that his death had been declared some years earlier.  He then resolved to embrace the religious life. He built a cabin in the middle of the forest, lived there as a hermit, and was called because of his virtues sanclus peregrinus, the holy traveler, the holy foreigner, or Saint-Peregrine. When he was about to die, he called the Lord and the Lady of Pressigny, told them who he was, and made them promise to maintain a hermitage in this place in perpetuity.​

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Some say that this story is purely imaginary; others claim that this is the tradition. Be that as it may, in the church of Genevrières there are relics of Saint Peregrin which appear to be authentic.

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