Île-à-Vache Île-à-Vache Île-à-Vache, (French, also expressed Île-à-Vaches, former Spanish name Isla Vaca, all translate to Cow Island) is a Caribbean island, one of Haiti's satellite islands. It lies in the Baie de Cayes about off the coast of the country's southwest peninsula, roughly between the town of Les Cayes and Pointe l'Abacou. It was formerly known by the name of Abacca. Administratively, it became a commune in 1976 as part of the Les Cayes Arrondissement in the Sud department. Île-à-Vache was claimed by the Spanish Empire in 1492 as part of Hispaniola, and for the next two centuries it was known
Philip de la Vache II. He is generally supposed to have been the Vache referred to in Chaucer's poem "Truth" which says " Therfore, thou Vache, leve thine olde wrechednesse; Unto the world leve now to be thral.". It supposedly refers to a period between 1386 and 1389 when Vache was out of favour at court and had temporarily lost his positions there. His father-in-law, Sir Lewis Clifford, was a close friend of Chaucer's and Chaucer knew Sir Philip well. A country gentleman with a reputation for lavish hospitality, he may also have been the model for the Franklin in the General Prologue to