Chartreuse Trivia

Raymond Lulle (1235-1315)

Famous alchemist, follower of Arnaud de Villeneuve, he left the result of his own research at the Vauvert Chartreuse Monastery (Paris); in 1605, the marshal of artillery for King Henri IV.   Francois Hannibal d' Estrees gave to the Vauvert Chartreuse monks an already ancient manuscript titled "An Elixir of Long Life".

Few people know that Christopher Columbus planned his famous trip to India - which led to the discovery of "America" - in the Chartreux monastery of Sevilla in Spain, with the help of a Chartreux Father.
Much later, Christopher Columbus made a Chartreux Father his sole legatee.

4711 Perfume

In the second half of the XVII. century, the FARINA family settles down in Düsseldorf (Germany). Johan Anton Farina sells perfumed water.
One of his children, Franz Carl Gereon Maria Farina becomes a Chartreuse monk.
In 1792, he gives a formula for a perfumed water to Wilhelm Mülhens as a gift for his mariage.
This perfume is well known to-day as the "4711 Eau de Cologne".

Charles de Gaulle was known to have enjoyed
chocolate candies
filled with Green Chartreuse each evening.

The Queen of Liqueurs

Yellow Chartreuse was known as "The Queen of Liqueurs" and "The World's Greatest Liqueur" in the late 19th century.

Well-known for their golden eyes and gray-blue color, they are considered one of the quietest and most friendly breed of cats. Their origin dates probably from the Crusades when a Carthusian Monk - a "Père Chartreux" - brought back some beautiful cats from the Middle-East. After years of careful breeding, they became one of the most highly regarded breed of cats.

For centuries there has been in Spain a breed of horses called the "Cartujanos". They were the horses of the Kings of Spain. However, because of bad cross-breeding this race declined and nearly disappeared. Luckily, the Chartreux monks of Jerez de la Frontiera had preciously kept a few pure-race Cartujanos. This is how this race was saved and could thrive again.

The world's largest cauldron of hot chocolate was served during the Chartreuse Ice Sculpture Demonstration in New York City in January 1998.

Chartreuse is the favorite liqueur of Hunter S. Thompson, the author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

The monastery of La Grande Chartreuse has been destroyed by fire and rebuilt 11 times since 1084.

The last time in 1676. 

Make Mine Chartreuse is a Canadian movie that used Chartreuse in the title and storyline. It was released in 1987, Directed by Jim Kaufman, and starred Joseph Bottoms and Catherine Colvey.

Scott McCaughey, musician for The Smithereens, REM, The Minus Five, and Young Fresh Fellows, recorded a solo album titled "My Chartreuse Opinion"

The late and last Tsar of Russia - Nicolas 2nd - used to drink his Champagne with a drop of yellow Chartreuse.

"Queen Mum"

According to The Sun, the late Queen mum of England used to drink Yellow Chartreuse every time her horses raced,
and she used to enjoy both a yellow AND a green Chartreuse after a Fish and Chip lunch at Claridges!

Queen Victoria of England and Queen Wilhemin of the Netherlands were the first and probably only women who were allowed inside the Carthusian monastery of La Grande Chartreuse.  

British explorer/journalist Sir Henry Stanley was known to bring Chartreuse Elixir on his expeditions into Africa while searching for Dr. Livingstone.

Chartreuse is mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous
novel The Great Gatsby.

From Chapter 5:

"Finally we came to Gatsby's own apartment, a bedroom and a bath, and an Adam study, where we sat down and drank a glass of some Chartreuse he took from a cupboard in the wall."

To relieve their affliction, cows suffering from flatulence and bloat are treated with Chartreuse Elixir mixed with water by farmers in the Chartreuse mountains.