Villebois-Lavalette

Villebois -Lavalette ( Occitan: La Valeta Vilabòsc e ) is a western French village with 731 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011) in the department of Charente in the Poitou -Charentes. It is the capital of the canton of the same name.

Location

The village is located about 25 km ( driving distance ) south-east of Angoulême in the border region to the Perigord, on a mountain ridge above the river Voultron at an altitude of about 150 meters above sea level. inst.

Demographics

In the second half of the 19th century, the church had always between 800 and less than 1,000 inhabitants; due to the phylloxera crisis in the wine and the mechanization of agriculture, the population then dropped continuously from the lows of the 1960s.

Economy

The residents of the community lived for centuries of agriculture; the bottoms of the community belong to the Bons Bois of the vineyard Cognac, but the paragraphs in expensive wine fires in recent decades tended to shrink, so that the wine industry plays any role. Revenue from trading and crafts, as well as the administration and tourism, especially the rental of apartments ( gîtes ), while since the 1960s to play a not unimportant role in the revenue of the municipal treasury.

History

In Gallo- Roman times here there was a villa on the road that connected Périgueux with Saintes. Was in the Middle Ages Villebois was an important barony, by the families Fulcher de Villebois ( 8th century ), Hélie ( 10th century ) and Ithier ( 12th century ), successively dominated; their traces are found in the reports of the Crusades. A castle, attested in the period around 988/1028 in Villebois. The Count of Angoulême ruled the church of Saint -Romain in castro Villaboensi. Medieval place names denominated Villaboen ( 1151 ), Villabohe ( 1246 ) or Villaboe ( 1266 ).

In August 1226 Villebois passed into the possession of Lusignan, who built as Count of Angoulême the city wall with its seven towers. During the Wars of Religion (1562-1598) Villebois was largely destroyed.

Among the gentlemen of Villebois Mareuil also includes the house. In 1590, Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, Duke of Épernon besieged the castle, eight years later, he bought it. By letter dated March 1622 Patent Villebois was raised to a duchy and peerage, the name of the place was then added to Lavalette.

The young King Louis XIII. stayed here in late 1615 with his wife at the invitation of the Duke of Épernon on. In 1662, the Duke of Navailles, Louis XIV moved banished from court, back to Villebois. He tore down the old fort and from 1667 to build a castle, of which only the north wing is obtained. In place of the old market hall in 1665 he built the current, while his wife founded the Ursuline Convent in the same year.

Attractions

• The single late Romanesque church ( Église Saint- Romain ) from the 12th century has a transept with side apses. It was the end of the 19th century, so thoroughly revised by architect Edouard Warin, a student of Paul Abadie that overall the impression of a neo-Gothic church. The building is recognized as a monument historique since 2012.
• From the castle (château ) of the 12th century only the two-storey medieval castle chapel has survived. In the 13th century surrounded the complex with a defensive wall including a drawbridge, which is also still preserved in parts. The majority of the building was modernized in the late Middle Ages, but during the religious wars destroyed. The reconstruction took place in the 17th century, but during the Revolution, the castle suffered severe damage. In 1822 a large part of the castle one was destroyed by fire. The complex is recognized as a monument historique since 2005.
• The in rising terrain constructed on stone pillars and wooden beams supporting the Market Hall dates back in parts to the 17th century. The building was erected on the site of an earlier building from which the sundial is still preserved from 1627; He was recognized in 1948 as a monument historique.
• About halfway between the Market Hall and the church is the built of rubble called Maison du Sénéchal with a polygonal stair tower.

Covered market

Sundial ( 1627 )

Maison du Sénéchal

Personalities

• Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette (1554-1642), Duke of Épernon