We ship your orders from the Post Office located at Rue Castex. It’s convenient, it’s next to our little boutique, there’s rarely a queue, the employees are nice. It should be noted that this post office is Art Deco. The facade is in brick and mosaics of a pretty pink color. If you pass by, pay attention to the imposing front door which is surmounted by a period light fixture.
In short, to be honest, until we had a new Prime Minister of the same name we had not been interested in this street. But now the situation has changed. Let us share the results of our research about the Castex name.
Who is this Castex?
The name of the street refers to Pierre CASTEX (1760 – 1805) who was colonel of the 13th Light Infantry Regiment. He was shot in the head just when he entered the battle of Austerlitz he was shot and died. In his honour, a street was dedicated to him on 11th June 1806.
In addition, a plaque in memory of Pierre Castex and his fallen men, written in Czech and French, is placed in the bell tower of the church in Blažovice in the Czech Republic (South Moravia).
Our unfortunate colonel was born in the Gers at l’Ectoure and guess what? Our Prime Minister, Jean Castex was also born in the Gers, at Vic-Fezensac. The two towns are about forty kilometres apart. But, but, but, no hurry, there seems to be no kinship between the two men.
No surprise, the Castex are numerous in the region (especially in Condom, just like Mrs Chirac’s ancestors) since the patronymic pronounced kas.tɛks, is a cacography of the Gascon word “Castèth” which simply means “Castle”.
A little etymology…
But what’s a cacography? It’s a misspelling or bad style. It’s like a cacography. It often happens to proper nouns when passing from one language to another, for example Castelnaud which was transcribed from “Castel nau” which meant “Château Neuf”. And that’s how you can get back on your feet thanks to the castle!