Aydius

Aydius
Commune
A general view of Aydius
Location of Aydius
Aydius Show map of France Aydius Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 43°00′07″N 0°32′24″W / 43.002°N 0.540°W / 43.002; -0.540
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Canton	Oloron-Sainte-Marie-1
Intercommunality	Haut Béarn
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Bernard Choy[1]
Area 1	34.72 km2 (13.41 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	104
• Density	3.0/km2 (7.8/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	64085 /64490
Elevation	551–2,173 m (1,808–7,129 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Aydius (French pronunciation: [aidjus];^[3][4] Occitan: Aidius) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.

Geography[edit]

Aydius is located some 25 km south by south-east of Oloron-Sainte-Marie just east of Bedous. Access to the commune is by the D237 road from Bedous which goes to the village and terminates there. The commune is alpine in nature with extensive forests, rugged terrain and snow-capped mountains in the east.^[5]

The Gabarret river rises in the east of the commune and flows west gathering a large number of tributaries including the Ruisseau d'Arces, the Ruisseau du Saslars, the Gave de Béranfueil, the Gave de Bouren, the Ruisseau d'Ilhiec, the Ruisseau Sarité, the Ruisseau de Traillère, and the Ruisseau de Sahun (which forms part of the western border of the commune) before flowing west to join the Gave d'Aspe at Bedous.

Places and hamlets[edit]

Neighbouring communes and villages[edit]

Toponymy[edit]

The commune name in Gascon is Aidius. Michel Grosclaude said that the name probably comes from the same root as Aydie but its origin and meaning remain obscure.^[8]

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

Sources:

• Grosclaude: Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn, 2006 (in French)^[8]
• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)^[6]
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750^[10]

Origins:

• Census: Census of Béarn^[11]

History[edit]

A rock shelter dating from prehistory called Abri Gandon-Lassus has been discovered in the commune.^[12]

Paul Raymond noted on page 18 of his 1863 dictionary that the commune had a Lay Abbey, vassal of the Viscounts of Béarn and that in 1385 there were 30 fires and Aydius depended on the bailiwick of Aspe.^[6]

Administration[edit]

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

List of Successive Mayors^[13]

Inter-communality[edit]

The commune is part of four inter-communal structures:

• the Communauté de communes du Haut Béarn;
• the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques;
• the inter-communal association for aid to education in the Vallée d'Aspe;
• the joint association for Haut-Béarn.

Demography[edit]

In 2017 the commune had 114 inhabitants.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 685 —     1800 726 +0.83% 1806 701 −0.58% 1821 891 +1.61% 1831 847 −0.51% 1836 822 −0.60% 1841 833 +0.27% 1846 890 +1.33% 1851 813 −1.79% 1856 855 +1.01% 1861 735 −2.98% 1866 695 −1.11% 1872 715 +0.47% 1876 694 −0.74% 1881 613 −2.45% 1886 586 −0.90% 1891 541 −1.59% 1896 526 −0.56%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 520 −0.23% 1906 518 −0.08% 1911 489 −1.15% 1921 349 −3.32% 1926 283 −4.11% 1931 268 −1.08% 1936 241 −2.10% 1946 181 −2.82% 1954 137 −3.42% 1962 98 −4.10% 1968 88 −1.78% 1975 94 +0.95% 1982 67 −4.72% 1990 74 +1.25% 1999 80 +0.87% 2007 102 +3.08% 2012 98 −0.80% 2017 114 +3.07%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Source: EHESS[14] and INSEE[15]

Economy[edit]

The economy of the commune is mainly focused towards agriculture and livestock. The commune is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone of Ossau-iraty.

Culture and heritage[edit]

Civil heritage[edit]

The commune has many sites that are registered as historical monuments:

• The Maison Guiraudé (1891)^[16]
• The Maison Pualet (16th century)^[17]
• The Maison Hontas (18th century)^[18]
• The Abri Gandon-Lassus Prehistoric Cave (Prehistory)^[12]
• The Maison Ichante (1807)^[7][19]
• The Maison Casaubon (18th century)^[20]

Religious heritage[edit]

• The Parish Church of Saint Martin (14th century) is registered as an historical monument.^[21][22]

Environmental heritage[edit]

Aydie contains a number of high mountains:

• The Sommet de Tachat (1,408 metres),
• The Sommet de Talabot (1,591 metres),
• The Sommet de Pétraube (1,606 metres,
• The Sommet de Houndarete (1,695 metres),
• The Soum de la Mousquère (1,778 metres,
• The Turon de la Goaita (1,805 metres,
• The Lousquette de Barca (1,870 metres,
• The Pic de Lariou (1,903 metres, and
• The Mailh Bassibe (1,973 metres.

See also[edit]

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

Bibliography[edit]

In his book L'ours et les brebis (The Bear and the sheep), Etienne Lamazou recounted his life as a transhumant shepherd from 1913 to 1969. Originally from Aydius, he never left except to take his cattle to their winter plain. He recounted the life of a shepherd as it still existed at the beginning of the 20th century. All the action takes place in and around Aydius and the book has many thousands of anecdotes sometimes soothing, sometimes moving, and often instructive.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aydius.

• Aydius on the 1750 Cassini Map