Clairac

Clairac is a municipality with 2466 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in France, in the department of Lot- et- Garonne in the Aquitaine region.

Geography

Clairac is located on the lower reaches of the Lot, about 10 kilometers above the confluence with the Garonne.

History

• Around an abbey, which was founded in 767 by Pepin " the Short ", the village developed from the 9th century.

• In the 13th century, the abbey was inhabited by 150 monks, the abbot was responsible for five priories and 50 parishes. After the vicissitudes of the Hundred Years' War, only nine monks were there, but quickly the abbey again filled with monks and the monastic life was continued.

• Clairac was in the area a center of ecclesiastical reform and a stronghold of Protestantism. 1534 receives the Abbot of Clairac John Calvin with his idea, " restore the church to its original purity." The poet Théophile de Viau (1590-1626), a Huguenot by birth, but free spirit of faith, was born in Clairac.

• As the city by their liberal ideas constantly undermined the central secular and spiritual power of the state, Ludwig sat XIII. person at the head of his army, besieged and took them a Clairac in 1621.

• In the 17th century Clairac is an important and thriving city with excellent scientists: Jacques de Romas (1713-1776), built the first lightning rod on Vivens Castle in 1753 ( before Benjamin Franklin ).
• François de Labat Vivens (1697-1790), physicist and agricultural scientists, is the neighbor and friend of
• Montesquieu, the " Persian Letters" wrote in the castle of Barry and his work " The Spirit of Laws " sketched.

• The French Revolution met Clairac at a time when the city had a thriving economy. Well located at the entrance of the Lot Valley, exported Clairac wine, tobacco, plums and all other agricultural products of the region. The negative consequences of the revolution led to a decline of the city, which were reinforced by the subsequent decline of agriculture, the industrial revolution, the rural exodus and many other socio-economic changes.

• A policy of reactivation of the village has allowed it to establish Clairac as small, but visited by more and more tourist city. In recent years, this trend has been reinforced by the promotion of nautical tourism in the Lot with sports and houseboats.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Théophile de Viau (1590-1626), French poet and playwright