BEAUGENCY BRIDGE

460 m long, this bridge composed of twenty-four arches follows a first construction attested in the ^11th century. In the Middle Ages, the old bridge was the only one, along with the one in Gien, to span the Loire River, which at the time consisted of two bridges starting from each bank and connected by a drawbridge. Entirely reworked in the ^16th century, some elements of it are still visible today. The main part of the work, after the flood of 1608, has strongly damaged the first stone bridge. Other successive episodes, until the end of the Second World War, will shape a heterogeneous bridge thus formed of vaults in ogive, in full arch or in handle of basket so that the Loire navy, rich until the ^XIXth century of numerous transports, can navigate without ambiguity. This being said, the medieval anchorage remains, so much so that a legend has endured since its construction. At the time when the inhabitants had to cross the river by boat, the devil himself offered to build a stone bridge in a single night, in exchange for the first soul who would cross it. Refined and somewhat clever, the first magistrate of the city, made a cat cross from the entrance of the bridge by throwing a bucket of water. The devil, in anger, then kicked one of the arches, while calling the inhabitants "cats of Beaugency", a name still used today. James Joyce found this legend amusing and recounted it in a delightfully humorous children's book dedicated to his nephew Stephen(The Cat and the Devil).