Have you ever wondered how bourbon whiskey got its name? Or bourbon biscuits for that matter. What's their connection with the French royal family? And who are these royal Bourbons anyway? Where do they come from?
The answer lies in an obscure part of central France - Le Bourbonnais. That's where a dynasty of local seigneurs first emerged more than 1,000 years ago - they went on to wear the crowns of France, Spain, Naples and Sicily, and lend their name to those biscuits.
In the beginning was the god, a Celtic god - Borvo. He was the god of healing and of spring water. Shrines to Borvo could be found across France, where Gauls found they liked the water that came naturally from the ground.
One such place is now the small town of Bourbon l'Archambault. This is the vast, lost middle of France. The folds of the land are deeper as we head south to the Massif Central, so the countryside is rounded and fecund, a lot of forest, a lot of pasture for the lazy white Charolais cows.
Bourbon l'Archambault is Bourbon after Borvo the God, and Archambault after nine of its first rulers or seigneurs. There was Archambault the First in about 950 and Archambault the ninth 200 years later.
At the start of that period, it must have been a bit like the television series Game of Thrones.
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