Text by Henri Landi (Communicacioun Nissarda - Mairie de Nice)

CATARINA SEGURANA NICE’S HOMEGROWN HEROINE
Myths often spring from the hopes and aspirations of men, and the 16th century figure of Catharina Segurana is a prime example. She embodies both the resistance fighter, and the protective Mother figure so revered in the Mediterranean, and symbolises Nice’s popular culture and the historical link with Savoy. It is not surprising that her story lives on and that even today she remains the personification of the Niçois identity.

NICE, LAST BASTION OF THE DUKES OF SAVOY.
Since 1452 the Dukes of Savoy had been under the yoke of the Kings of France, and it was a situation that was becoming more and more hard to bear. Finally, in 1521, Duke Charles III had had enough and decided to signal his revolt by marrying Beatrix of Portugal, sister in law of Charles-Quint, deadly rival of François 1er. The marriage took place in Nice at the Dominican church (on the site of the present day Palace). From that day forward François 1er, despite the fact that the Duke was his own uncle, began plotting his revenge. In February 1536 after the occupation of Milan by Charles-Quint, François 1er invaded Savoy, then Piedmont right up to Turin. Charles III fled to his last fortress in Nice, taking with him his wife and child, his treasure and the Holy Shroud and in so doing designated the Town of Nice as his nephew’s next target. In order to defeat his foes the King of France contracted an alliance with the Turks, the most feared and hated warriors in all Christendom. In the Spring of 1543 the Turks lent François 1er a fleet of ships which sailed to Marseille to join forces with the army formed by the Duke of Enghien. In the face of this threat, Charles III implored his brother in law to come to the defence of Nice and sent his son, the future Duke Emmanuel Philibert away from the beleagured city. It was not a moment too soon, by the end of June the first Franco-Turkish troops invaded the city : 20 thousand men and 120 ships attacking an army of three thousand. Nice prepared to defend itself, they destroyed the newly renovated Saint Anthony bridge and the Monks fled the magnificent Monastery of Sainte Croix, in the outskirts of the town and went to ground within the city walls taking with them their precious treasure : two masterpieces by Louis Brea.

SUMMER 1543, THE SIEGE OF NICE
After bombarding the city remorselessly, the order to attack was given on August 2nd 1543 and a motley hoard of French infantery, Turkish naval artillery and janissaries launched into the fray. This first attack was repulsed and a second one was planned for August 15th, aimed at the North of the city where the city wall was weakened by heavy fire from the heights of Cimiez and Mont Boron. Just when the wall at Sincaire was about to give way the Turkish Ensign was slain and his flag, that of the Prophet Mahommed, was seized by the defending army causing their attackers to flee. A third attack was necessary before the lower town was captured. However the castle, held by André de Montfort, a nobleman from Savoy, still resisted. Meanwhile in Piedmont, Charles III had at long last succeeded in forming an army to come to the aid of Nice, and they started marching towards the city. The prospect of having fresh soldiers to fight and the unexpected resistance from the castle discouraged the Franco-Turkish army. On September 8th after having pillaged the town and captured part of the population to be sold into slavery, the attackers withdrew to Toulon. Immediately afterwards the army of Charles III entered the city walls and liberated the courageous defenders of the castle. Nice was the first city to resist an enemy who had terrified the whole of Europe for seventy years and was reputed to be invincible. This event had an enormous impact on popular imagination and soon began to take on supernatural proportions.

MARY AND CATHERINE, TWO FEMALE SAVIOURS
At first the liberation of Nice was attributed to Divine intervention, especially since the Turkish attack took place on August 15th and the liberation of the City on September 8th, both being dates dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In 1552 a chapel housing a statue of the Virgin (now to be seen at the Chapelle des Penitents Bleus) was erected on the site of Sincaire in thanks for the safe delivery of the town and remained standing until place Garibaldi was built in 1784. People said that on August 15th Mary appeared before the citizens of Nice and covered the town with her mantle to protect it from enemy fire. However some fifty years later the Saintly heroine was joined by another more down to earth figure, a Niçoise washerwoman who was said to have felled the Turkish ensign with a single blow from her washboard. It is the historian Honoré Pastorelli who first mentioned this intrepid heroine, Catherine Ségurane, and the tale was taken up and developped throughout the 17th century.

SEGURANE – A SYMBOLIC FIGURE
Strangely enough, the chronicler Jean Badat, who experienced the siege of Nice at first hand, does not mention Catherine. Her existence has never been actually proved and she only appeared on the scene many years later, immediately becoming something of a legend. Her likeness was placed on the Porte Pairolière to discourage future agressors. Writers began to take up the story, describing her as an ill-favoured virago (la Dona maufacha – the ugly woman), strong, courageous and modest who sank back into obscurity once she had accomplished her heroic deed. Her name, Seguran (Segurana is the feminine version) was fairly common in XVI century Nice, it comes from the verb Segà to hack or cut down in Niçois, rather like « Jeanne Hachette » another popular heroine who defended Beauvais against the Burgundians. Thus by dint of her military prowess and civic virtues and because she was a woman like the Virgin Mary, she quickly assumed mythical proportions.

CATHERINE – A WOMAN TRIUMPHANT
This legacy from the past has inspired writers and artists throughout the ages. In the Romantic Era the figure of Catherine became the subject of epic poems such as those written by Louis Andrioli (1808, in italian and then in Niçois), and dramas, by the playwright Jean-Baptiste Toselli (1878, written in French). Paul-Emile Barberis painted her portrait for the Palais Communal in 1827 and in the same year Jean-Baptiste Biscarra painted the « Apotheosis of Catherine Ségurane » on the curtain of the Nice opera house. Agathe-Sophie Sasserno vaunts her act of heroism and many virtues in her poetry (written in French) and Eugène Emanuel baptised Nice « lous pais deis Seguran (the land of Seguran) in a patriotic song written in dialect to encourage the soldiers of Nice in their battle against the Austrians in 1848 ; the song became the Niçois anthem. In 1923, The « Comité des Traditions Niçoises » erected a monument to the glory of Catherine, Rue Sincaire, at what was said to be the scene of her act of heroism. Raoul Nathiez, made her the subject of one of his plays, and references to this local heroine are to be found throughout contemporary Niçois art, music and literature. Catherine Ségurane is now the universally accepted representation of the City of Nice symbolising its history, popular culture and virtues such as pride and resistance. It little matters whether she really existed or not, what counts is that she embodies the spirit and soul of the City and its people.