Brantôme, Dordogne

Brantôme (Brantòsme in Occitan) is a former commune in the Dordogne department in southwestern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune Brantôme en Périgord.[2] It is the seat of the canton of Brantôme. Via Lemovicensis, an old pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, runs through Brantôme. The commune, which retains its picturesque atmosphere, is situated along the river Dronne.

For other uses, see Brantôme (disambiguation).
Brantôme
Part of Brantôme en Périgord
Abbey of Brantôme and its bell tower
Coat of arms
Location of Brantôme
Brantôme
Brantôme
Coordinates: 45°21′54″N 0°38′59″E
CountryFrance
RegionNouvelle-Aquitaine
DepartmentDordogne
ArrondissementPérigueux
CantonBrantôme
CommuneBrantôme en Périgord
Area
1
34.65 km2 (13.38 sq mi)
Population
 (2016)[1]
2,125
 • Density61/km2 (160/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal code
24310
Elevation94–208 m (308–682 ft)
Websitehttp://www.mairie-brantome.fr/
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

History

The commune started to develop on an island encircled by a sweep of the river Dronne next to the Benedictine Abbey of Brantôme, which was founded in 769 by Charlemagne; according to legend he donated relics of Saint Sicarius (Sicaire), one of the infants in the Massacre of the Innocents. Those relics attracted pilgrims to the abbey, who also brought a certain affluence to Brantôme, but in spite of St. Sicaire's protection, the abbey was laid waste in 848 and in 857 by Viking rovers who had advanced along the Dordogne and Isle rivers to the Dronne. The abbey was rebuilt towards the end of the tenth century and again in 1465 and in 1480 after the end of the Hundred Years' War.

Its Romanesque bell-tower is a competitor for the title "oldest in France"[3] and developed a high reputation. Here Bertrand du Guesclin, battling the English Angevins, apprised that he had been made Constable of France by Charles V. Pierre de Mareuil, abbot from 1538–56, built a right-angled bridge, the Pont Coudé, over the river, which connected the elegant Renaissance abbot's lodging he built for himself with its garden, which lay on the opposite bank. He was succeeded by his nephew, Pierre de Bourdeille (abbot from 1558–1614), a soldier and writer better known by his title as Abbé Brantôme, whose diplomacy saved the abbey and its commune from the Huguenot forces of Gaspard de Coligny on two occasions in 1569 during the Wars of Religion. At the French Revolution, the abbey was secularised as a bien national, the last seven monks pensioned and its rich library dispersed.

Geography

The Côle forms part of the commune's north-eastern border, then flows into the Dronne, which flows southwestward through the middle of the commune.

Population
Historical population
YearPop.±%
1962 1,966—    
1968 1,991+1.3%
1975 2,026+1.8%
1982 2,101+3.7%
1990 2,080−1.0%
1999 2,043−1.8%
2008 2,159+5.7%

Sights

See also

References
  1. Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2016, INSEE
  2. Arrêté préfectoral 14 December 2015 (in French)
  3. Viollet-le-Duc included a drawing of it in his Dictionnaire to illustrate the entry "clocher".
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