Alongside their big sister lauding the praises of Pithiviers, the Dignitaries of the Saint Gregory of Nicopolis Brotherhood are seeking to contribute actively to increasing awareness of this "sweet tasting town".

The Saint Gregory of Nicopolis Gingerbread Brotherhood is striving to revive a local tradition by promoting Gâtinais Gingerbread via events organised in its honour.

The Saint Gregory of Nicopolis Gingerbread Brotherhood is launching a crusade with "knights of taste" in order to give Saint Gregory Gingerbread its rightful place in the heart of all Pithivierians.

HISTORY OF A REGIONAL DELICACY


The vast "Centre - Val de Loire" (Centre – Loire Valley) region is a veritable mosaic of different soils and flavours blessed by gods and chosen by kings.

To the North of Orléans can be found the rich cereal growing plains of the Beauce region peppered with poppies, and those of the Gâtinais region where invisible skylarks speed towards the distant horizon, only indicating their presence by their joyful song. A region with a very distinctive personality, conscious of its culture, its past, its landscapes and its gastronomic traditions.

Pithiviers is located on the border between the Beauce and the Gâtinais, at the crossroads of routes built first by the Gauls and then by the Romans. Even before the year one thousand it was the powerful fief of Héloïse de Champagne, the elder daughter of the Comte de Chartres, Eudes 1st and of Ermengarde. Heloïse, Duchesse d’Orléans, was born around 960. Sister of Roger, a Bishop and Comte de Beauvais as well as Chancelier de France, she was the widow of Raynard de Broyes and was placed at the head of the Châtellerie de Pithiviers.
Heloïse had the fortress castle restored and ordered the construction of the oldest stone donjon in the Orléanais region.
She endowed the Saint-Georges de Pithiviers church with a canon college and contributed to the town's expansion. She died in 1025, but her reputation was such that even two centuries after her death, her praises were still being sung by authors of epic poems.

Therefore, Pithiviers has a long heritage as a welcoming and active commercial centre. But too close and too powerful rivals in the shape of Orléans and especially Paris have condemned it to remain just a prosperous township lost in the middle of fields of corn, rye and barley and enjoying, as would be expected, a fine reputation for bread making.
Just saying the name Pithiviers awakens the taste buds, as this township with its sweet name is the birthplace of renowned pastries: the Pithiviers and the Pain d’Epices - Gingerbread.

Since the 10th century the famous Gingerbread actually comes from the Gâtinais, and even if the Burgundy and Alsace regions have attempted to lay claim to it, its origin is really to be found in Pithiviers.

As everybody knows, Gâtinais bees are particularly hard-working and for them the flowers are scented nourishment. From ancient times, this region has always been proud of its clear, amber coloured and delicately scented honey. However, it is a little known fact that we owe this gastronomic jewel to an Armenian holy man.

In the second half of the 10th century, during the reign of Basil II, the Christian Emperor of Constantinople and King Senequerim, there lived in Nicopolis, in Western Armenia (Cappadocia Pontus), a holy archbishop named Gregory. Despite the political troubles of the time, the repeated incursions by the Seljuk Turks who had already invaded the Caucasus countries and continual tensions with the Byzantines, the good Gregory continued to wisely govern his archbishopric of Nicolopolis and enjoyed the respect and love of the entire population. Despite his wisdom and his commitment to his Episcopal mission, he was chased from his diocese by a Persian army following an insurrection by the Armenians against the Emperor Basil II.
After having consulted God, he picked up his pilgrim's staff and set off westwards, crossing the Christian lands of Central Europe and the North of Italy and arriving in the Kingdom of Hugues Capet after a long peregrination. Providence guided his footsteps towards the Gâtinais region. Received by Arlefroy, Knight of the Saint-Georges church, he obtained permission from the wise Aloïse de Pithiviers to lead a hermit's life close to the Saint Martin-le-Seul church, in Baudrevilliers, abandoned by the Vertou monks.

He made his home in a small grotto near to the church. This tiny, natural cell, no larger than his body, enabled him to lead a hermit's existence of penitence and reclusion. Saint Gregory lived in this refuge for seven years, spending his time in long contemplations, living off edible roots and wild honey and practicing an austerity unknown in the West.
The aura of his piety, his goodness and his saintliness soon spread to the surrounding countryside. He attracted a following of local inhabitants by way of his reputation for holiness, his charitable welcome, his extensive knowledge and the value of his preaching. Both bourgeois and peasants alike thronged to his hermitage as his virtues and his knowledge conferred him with powers for healing the sick.
Donations enabled him to give to the poor and offer Eastern hospitality to his guests, finishing the meal with a cake that he made himself according to a recipe from his country and comprising of honey and spices, in the fashion of his far away homeland, Armenia.
A precious 10th century manuscript from the Abbaye de Micy, recounts these moments to us:
"To his meals Gregory invited priests and holy ministers and also even pious lay people. Not only did he serve them nourishment for the body but also nourishment for the soul. With his own hands he made a cake with honey and spices, just like in his homeland, with a smile on his lips, and he offered to them at the end of the meal, during a recital of hymns and canticles. His guests, on tasting the cake, believed they were experiencing all the delights of Heaven."

During the seven years he spent in his new homeland, Gregory the Armenian, as he was known, had the time to teach the people about this pleasant pastry. When he died, with an odour of sanctity, on 16th March in about the year 999, he left behind a heritage to Pithiverians, not only as a still venerated patron saint of the town of today and not only in the form of relics miraculously preserved down through the centuries, but also by way of a sweet appreciated at any time by young and old alike and that has been the joy of gourmets for almost one thousand years.

In this country rich in culture and tradition, the recipe for Gingerbread has been passed down the generations, along with know-how, a taste for happiness and for perfection, for work well done and for authentic products made with all the care and attention of craftsmen of yesteryear.
Since the 10th century, in Pithiviers, a well organised corporation of "gingerbread bakers" or "gingerbread maker" has always existed making gingerbread according to the recipe passed down by Saint Gregory the Armenian.