Athos-Aspis

Athos-Aspis
Commune
Remains of the Chateau, home of the original Athos of the Three Musketeers
Location of Athos-Aspis
Athos-Aspis Show map of France Athos-Aspis Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 43°24′53″N 0°58′20″W / 43.4147°N 0.9722°W / 43.4147; -0.9722
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Canton	Orthez et Terres des Gaves et du Sel
Intercommunality	CC Béarn Gaves
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Jean-Robert Lataillade[1]
Area 1	6 km2 (2 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	211
• Density	35/km2 (91/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	64071 /64390
Elevation	33–141 m (108–463 ft) (avg. 80 m or 260 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Athos-Aspis is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.

Geography[edit]

Athos-Aspis is located immediately to the north-west of Sauveterre-de-Béarn and just east of Abitain. Access to the commune is by the D27 road from Sauveterre-de-Béarn passing through the east of the commune and going north to Oraas. Access to the village can be by several country roads from the D27 including Arriouteque going to Lespitaou and also the Village road. Apart from the village there is the hamlet of Aspis in the south of the commune. There are significant forests in the east of the commune with the rest farmland.^[3]

The Gave d'Oloron forms the whole southern and eastern borders of the commune as it flows north to join the Gave de Pau at Peyrehorade. The Arriouyeque flows from the east of the commune through the centre to join the Gave d'Oloron on the western border. The Ruisseau de Rance rises just east of the commune and flows south-west to join the Arriouteque. The Arrec Heure forms most of the northern border of the commune as it flows west to join the Gave d'Oloron at the north-western corner of the commune.^[3]

Places and hamlets[edit]

^[5]

Toponymy[edit]

The commune name in béarnais is Atos-Aspins.

For Athos Michel Grosclaude proposed the patronym Ato with the Aquitaine suffix -ossum. For Aspis Michel Grosclaude proposed a Gascon etymology es pins meaning "the pines".^[6]

The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.

Sources:

• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)^[4]
• Grosclaude: Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn, 2006 (in French)^[6]
• Orpustan: Jean-Baptiste Orpustan, New Basque Toponymy^[7]
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750^[8]
• Cassini2: Cassini Map from 1790^[9]

Origins:

• Marca: Pierre de Marca, History of Béarn.^[10]
• Cartulary: Cartulary of the Abbey of Saint-Jean de Sorde^[11]
• Notaries: Notaries of Labastide-Villefranche^[12]
• Census: Census of Béarn^[13]
• Reformation: Reformation of Béarn^[14]

History[edit]

Paul Raymond noted on page 16 that in 1385 Athos had 19 fires and depended on the Bailiwick of Sauveterre as did the fief of Aspis as noted on page 15.^[4]

The villages of Athos and Aspis were united into one commune on 10 January 1842.^[4]

During the Reformation the Priest at Athos was murdered in his church and the village adopted the new ideas.

Athos is the birthplace of Athos, one of the title characters in the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. The fictional Athos is named after the historical musketeer Armand de Sillègue d'Athos d'Autevielle (1615–1644), youngest son of Adrien de Sillègue, Lord of Athos and Autevielle. Autevielle is another nearby village in the commune of Autevielle-Saint-Martin-Bideren.

Administration[edit]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2021)

List of Successive Mayors^[15]

Inter-communality[edit]

The commune is part of five inter-communal structures:^[16]

• the inter-communal centre for social action of Sauveterre-de-Béarn;
• the Communauté de communes du Béarn des Gaves;
• the inter-communal association for rivers and of Saleys;
• the AEP association of Sauveterre-de-Béarn;
• the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques;

Demography[edit]

In 2017 the commune had 211 inhabitants.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 416 —     1800 418 +0.07% 1806 488 +2.61% 1821 515 +0.36% 1831 332 −4.30% 1836 440 +5.79% 1841 421 −0.88% 1846 438 +0.79% 1851 434 −0.18% 1856 390 −2.12% 1861 367 −1.21% 1866 351 −0.89% 1872 337 −0.68% 1876 357 +1.45% 1881 400 +2.30% 1886 373 −1.39% 1891 338 −1.95% 1896 328 −0.60%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 325 −0.18% 1906 326 +0.06% 1911 314 −0.75% 1921 303 −0.36% 1926 290 −0.87% 1931 291 +0.07% 1936 249 −3.07% 1946 236 −0.53% 1954 217 −1.04% 1962 209 −0.47% 1968 213 +0.32% 1975 203 −0.68% 1982 201 −0.14% 1990 197 −0.25% 1999 203 +0.33% 2007 181 −1.42% 2012 187 +0.65% 2017 211 +2.44%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Source: EHESS[17] and INSEE[18]

From 1793 to 1836 the communes of Athos and Aspis were separate but the above table shows the total for both communes during that period.

Economy[edit]

Economic activity is mainly agricultural. The commune is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone of Ossau-iraty.

Culture and heritage[edit]

Civil heritage[edit]

There are the houses of Lascampagnes, the consul Gourlat, and of Bouchoô the place where Monsigneur Bouchoô was born.

Aspis has a château from the 14th century facing the Gave d'Oloron with a terrace and a door to the garden. There is also the site of an old church and the old school.

At Athos there is a church of Romanesque origin in the old fief of Moliède d'Athos where there was a well-known ferry and ruins of a mill.

Religious heritage[edit]

The Church of Saint-Pierre is of Romanesque origin and contains a renaissance stoup and a Statue on the Virgin in coloured wood. Behind the Altar is the tomb of Jeanne du Peyrer "Lady of Athos and Aspis" and mother of the musketeer. The renaissance door has a stone carving from the 14th century upside down (it was probably a stone that was reused).

The cemetery has the tomb of the design engineer of the Sauveterre bridge and also that of Edmond Gourlat, consul of France and local personality.

Notable people linked to the commune[edit]

The birth of the musketeer Athos in the commune is debatable. A plaque near the church says that he was born in the Lassalle house where only parts of walls remain but the village of Autevielle also claims his birth in the fortified house of Moliède d'Athos which has some remains of strong walls.

Athos was the birthplace of Jean-Baptiste Boucho, born in the Bouchoô house in 1797, French Apostolic vicar of the Malay Peninsula.

Bibliography[edit]

• History of Athos and Aspis, Alexis Ichas (in French)

See also[edit]

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

External links[edit]

• Athos-Aspis on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website (in French)
• Athos and Aspis on the 1750 Cassini Map

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Athos-Aspis.