History

Le Blanc certainly owes its existence to the presence  of a ford that made it possible to cross the Creuse, which by dividing the town influenced all its history.

The Ville Basse (lower town), developed around the church of Saint Génitour, was dependant on the Province of Berry.

The Ville Haute (upper town), rose in tiers on the hillsides around two fortresses : the Château Naillac, Berrichon and the Château du Donjon, Poitevin, which has today disappeared.

A bridge linked the two towns in the Middle Ages but was carried away by a flood in 1530. For 300 years passage between the two banks was by ferry. The present bridge was built at the beginning of the XIX th century.    

Legend

According to legend it was in the IV th century the « Bons Saints », Meesaire, Tridore and Principin were beheaded on the left bank of the Cruese. Their remains are currently preserved in the present church of Saint-Etienne. Their brother, Génitour, crossed the river and knocked at the door of a small chapel dedicated to Notre Dame. Passing his bloody finger between the separated planks of the door, Génitour gave the blind guardian back his sight. The chapel would be his burial place and is now named after him.

Putting your finger in the hole in the entrance door, it is said, grants sight to the blind end fertility to married women.