The French newspaper, “Le Gaulois”, has published, on Saturday, January 25, 1913, on the front page, an article about the relations between the Albanian and French people, relying on two concrete examples.
“Albanians yesterday and today. There is a lot of talk about Albania at the moment and the sympathies that exist between this small country and our beloved France do not date from today. The small detail based on the local topography proves it. It is located in Orléans, in the oldest center of the city, a strange and quite picturesque street called “Albanian Street – Rue des Albanais.
This name evokes the memory of the contingent of brave warriors who came, in 1429, through the shores of the Adriatic, to help Jeanne d’Arc in order to liberate the city. Victorious, the Albanians settled and created their families in Orléans, in the neighborhood that has kept their name.
Perhaps in the veins of the former Albanians French blood flowed, for no one can deny that in the thirteenth century, Bohemond, prince of Taranto and king of Naples, was the son of the famous Robert Guiscard, who besieged Ioannina and drove the infidels from Albania. Many of his friends settled there.”
Source
Balkan Academia 