Ancient Rome played a pivotal role in the history of wine. The earliest influences on the viticulture of the Italian peninsula can be traced to ancient Greeks and the Etruscans. The rise of the Roman Empire saw both technological advances in and burgeoning awareness of winemaking, which spread to all parts of the empire. Rome's influence has had a profound effect on the histories of today's major winemaking regions in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The Roman belief that wine was a daily necessity made the drink "democratic" and ubiquitous; in various qualities, it was available to slaves, peasants and aristocrats, men and women alike. To ensure the steady supply of wine to Roman soldiers and colonists, viticulture and wine production spread to every part of the empire. The economic opportunities presented by trading in wine drew merchants to do business with tribes native to Gaul and Germania, bringing Roman influences to these regions even before the arrival of the Roman military. Evidence of this trade and the far-reaching ancient wine economy is most often found through amphorae – ceramic jars used to store and transport wine and other commodities.

The works of Roman writers – most notably Cato, Columella, Horace, Catullus, Palladius, Pliny, Varro and Virgil – have provided insight into the role played by wine in Roman culture as well as contemporary understanding of winemaking and viticultural practices. Many of the techniques and principles first developed in ancient Roman times can be found in modern winemaking.

Early history

The beginnings of domestic viticulture and winemaking on the Italian peninsula are uncertain. It is possible that the Mycenaean Greeks had some influences through early settlements in southern Italy, but the earliest evidence of Greek influence dates to 800 BC. Before this, viticulture was widely entrenched in Etruscan civilization, which was centered around the modern winemaking region of Tuscany.

The ancient Greeks saw wine as a staple of domestic life and a useful trade commodity. Their colonies were encouraged to plant vineyards for local use and trade with Greek city-states. Southern Italy's abundance of indigenous vines provided an ideal opportunity for wine production, giving rise to the Greek name for the region: Oenotria ("land of vines"). The southern Greek colonies probably also brought their own wine pressing methods with them and influenced Italian production methods.

In the Republican era, the culture of Roman winemaking was influenced by the viticultural skills and techniques of allies, and of regions conquered in Rome's expansion. The Greek settlements of southern Italy were brought under Roman control by 270 BC. The Etruscans, who had long-established, mostly maritime trade routes into Gaul, were largely Romanised by the 1st century BC.

The Punic Wars with Carthage had a particularly marked effect on Roman viticulture. The Carthaginians practised advanced viticultural techniques, described in the work of the Carthaginian writer Mago. Rome ransacked and burned the libraries of Carthage but the 26 volumes of Mago's agricultural treatise survived intact. They were subsequently translated into Latin and Greek in 146 BC. Although this work did not survive to the modern era, it has been extensively quoted in the influential writings of Romans Pliny, Columella, Varro and Gargilius Martialis.

Golden age
For most of Rome's winemaking history, Greek wine was the most highly prized, with domestic Roman wine commanding lower prices. The 2nd century BC saw the dawn of the "golden age" of Roman winemaking and the development of grand cru vineyards (a type of early first growths in Rome). The famous vintage of 121 BC became known as the Opimian vintage, named for consul Lucius Opimius. Remarkable for its abundant harvest and the unusually high quality of wine produced, some of the vintage's best examples were being enjoyed over a century later.

Pliny the Elder wrote extensively about the first growths of Rome—most notably Falernian, Alban and Caecuban wines. Other first-growth vineyards included Rhaeticum and Hadrianum from Atri of the Adriatic, along the Po in what are now the modern-day regions of Lombardy and Venice respectively; Praetutium (not related to the modern Italian city of Teramo, historically known as Praetutium) along the Adriatic coast near the border of Emilia-Romagna and Marche; and Lunense in modern-day Tuscany. Around Rome itself were the estates of Alban, Sabinum, Tiburtinum, Setinum and Signinum. Southward to Naples were the estates of Caecuban, Falernian, Caulinum, Trebellicanum, Massicum, Gauranium, and Surrentinum. In Sicily was the first-growth estate of Mamertinum.

Modern estimates of Roman wine consumption vary. All classes drank it, but not the very young. Women seem to have consumed less wine than men. Wine was almost always diluted before drinking, by as much as an equal volume of water, except for the elderly, libations to the gods, and alcoholics. Phillips estimates that on average, each member of Rome's urban population (man, woman or child) consumed half a litre of undiluted wine daily. Tchernia and Van Limbergen estimate the same average consumption levels per diem, per capita throughout the Greco-Roman world.

Pompeii

One of the most important wine centres of the Roman world was the city of Pompeii, located south of Naples, on the Campanian coast. An expanse of farms and vineyards covered the slopes of nearby Vesuvius, exploiting its exceptionally fertile soil to produce some of the best wines available to the Italian mainland, Rome and the Provinces.

The Pompeians themselves developed a widespread reputation for their wine-drinking capacity. The worship of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, is attested by his image on frescoes and archaeological fragments throughout the region. Amphoras stamped with the emblems of Pompeian merchants have been found across the modern-day remnants of the Roman empire, including Bordeaux, Narbonne, Toulouse and Spain. Evidence in the form of counterfeit stamps on amphoras of non-Pompeian wine suggests that the popularity and reputation of Pompeian wine may have given rise to early wine fraud.

The 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius had a devastating effect on Campana's well-established, long-distance maritime export and trade. Ports, vineyards, and the warehouses that stored the 78 AD vintage were destroyed. Prices rose sharply, making wine unaffordable to all but the most affluent, at a time when wine-drinking habits and demand had percolated down to the less affluent majority. The wine shortage, and the potential for increased profits, led to the hurried planting of new vineyards nearer to Rome and the replanting of existing grain fields with grapevines.

The subsequent wine surplus created by successful efforts to relieve the wine shortage caused a depression in price, and in the medium term, damage to the interests of wine producers and traders. The loss of grain fields now contributed to a food shortage for the growing Roman population. In 92 AD, Roman Emperor Domitian issued an edict that not only banned new vineyards in Rome but ordered the uprooting of half of the vineyards in Roman wine-producing provinces.

Although there is evidence to suggest that this edict was largely ignored in the Roman provinces, wine historians have debated the effect of the edict on the infant wine industries of Spain and Gaul. The intent of the edict was that fewer vineyards would result in only enough wine for domestic consumption, with little or no surplus for foreign trade. While vineyards were already established in these growing wine regions, the ignoring of trade considerations may have suppressed the spread of viticulture and winemaking in these areas. Domitian's edict remained in effect for nearly two centuries until Emperor Probus repealed it in 280 AD.

The preservation of Pompeii has provided unique insights into Roman wine making and viticulture. Preserved vine roots reveal planting patterns. Whole vineyards have been excavated within the city walls (for example, at Pompei's former cattle-market, the Forum Boarium). This complements evidence of pressing and production technologies that worked in tandem with this cultivation. Some of these vineyards have been replanted in the modern era with ancient grape varieties and experimental archaeology used to recreate Roman wine.

Expansion of viticulture
Among the lasting legacies of the ancient Roman empire were the viticultural foundations laid by the Romans in lands that would become world-renowned wine regions. Through trade, military campaigns and settlements, Romans brought with them a taste for wine and the impetus to plant vines. Trade was the first and farthest-reaching arm of their influence, and Roman wine merchants were eager to trade with enemy and ally alike—from the Carthaginians and peoples of southern Spain to the Celtic tribes in Gaul and Germanic tribes of the Rhine and Danube.

During the Gallic Wars, when Julius Caesar brought his troops to Cabyllona in 59 BC, he found two Roman wine merchants already established in business trading with the local tribes. In places like Bordeaux, Mainz, Trier and Colchester where Roman garrisons were established, vineyards were planted to supply local need and limit the cost of long-distance trading. Roman settlements were founded and populated by retired soldiers with knowledge of Roman viticulture from their families and life before the military; vineyards were planted in their new homelands. While it is possible that the Romans imported grapevines from Italy and Greece, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that they cultivated native vines that may be the ancestors of the grapes grown in those provinces today.

As the republic grew into empire beyond the peninsula, wine's trade and market economy echoed this growth. The wine trade in Italy consisted of Rome's sale of wine abroad to settlements and provinces around the Mediterranean Sea, yet by the end of the 1st century AD, its exports had competition from the provinces, themselves exporters to Rome. The Roman market economy encouraged the provinces' exports, enhancing supply and demand.

Hispania

Rome's defeat of Carthage in the Punic Wars brought the southern and coastal territories of Spain under its control, but the complete conquest of the Iberian peninsula remained unaccomplished until the reign of Caesar Augustus. Roman colonization led to the development of Tarraconensis in the northern regions of Spain (including what are now the modern winemaking regions of Catalonia, the Rioja, the Ribera del Duero, and Galicia) and Hispania Baetica (which includes modern Andalusia) Montilla-Moriles winemaking region of Cordoba and the sherry winemaking region of Cádiz.

While the Carthaginians and Phoenicians were the first to introduce viticulture to Spain, Rome's influential wine technology and the development of road networks brought new economic opportunities to the region, elevating grapes from a private agricultural crop to an important component of a viable commercial enterprise. Spanish wine was in Bordeaux before the region produced its own. French historian Roger Dion has suggested that the balisca vine (common in Spain's northern provinces, particularly Rioja) was brought from Rioja to plant the first Roman vineyards of Bordeaux.

Spanish wines were frequently traded in Rome. The poet Martial described a highly regarded wine known as ceretanum from Ceret (modern-day Jerez de la Frontera). Wine historian Hugh Johnson believes this wine was an early ancestor of sherry. Spanish wines penetrated more extensively than Italian wines into the Roman Empire, with amphoras from Spain discovered in Aquitaine, Brittany, the Loire Valley, Normandy, Britain and the German frontier. The historian Strabo noted in his work Geographica that the vineyards of Baetica were famous for their beauty. The Roman agricultural writer Columella was a native of Cádiz and was duly influenced by the region's viticulture.

Gaul
There is archaeological evidence to suggest that the Celts first cultivated the grapevine in Gaul. Grape pips have been found throughout France, pre-dating the Greeks and Romans, with some examples found near Lake Geneva dated to 10,000 BC. The extent to which the Celts and Gallic tribes produced wine is not clearly known, but the arrival of the Greeks near Massalia in 600 BC certainly introduced new types and styles of winemaking and viticulture. The limit of Greek viticultural influence was planting in regions with Mediterranean climates where olives and fig trees would also flourish.

The Romans looked for hillside terrain in regions near a river and an important town. Their knowledge of the sciences included the tendency for cold air to flow down a hillside and to pool in frost pockets in the valley. As these are poor conditions under which to grow grapes, they were avoided in favor of sunny hillsides that could provide sufficient warmth to ripen grapes, even in northerly areas. When the Romans seized Massalia in 125 BC, they pushed farther inland and westward. They founded the city of Narbonne in 118 BC (in the modern-day Languedoc region) along the Via Domitia, the first Roman road in Gaul. The Romans established lucrative trading relations with local tribes of Gaul, despite their potential to produce wine of their own. The Gallic tribes paid high prices for Roman wine, with a single amphora worth the value of a slave.

From the Mediterranean coast, the Romans pushed further up the Rhone Valley, to areas where olives and figs were unable to grow but where oak trees were still found. As a result of their experience in what is now northeastern Italy, the Romans knew that regions where Quercus ilex were found had climates warm enough to allow the full ripening of grapes. In the 1st century AD, Pliny notes that the settlement of Vienne (near what is now the Côte-Rôtie AOC) produced a resinated wine that fetched high prices in Rome. Wine historian Hanneke Wilson notes that this Rhone wine was the first truly French wine to receive international acclaim.

The first mention of Roman interest in the Bordeaux region was in Strabo's report to Augustus that there were no vines down the river Tarn towards Garonne into the region known as Burdigala. The wine for this seaport was being supplied by the "high country" region of Gaillac in the Midi-Pyrénées region. The Midi had abundant indigenous vines that the Romans cultivated, many of which are still being used to produce wine, including—Duras, Fer, Ondenc and Len de l'El. The location of Bordeaux on the Gironde estuary made it an ideal seaport from which to transport wine along the Atlantic Coast and to the British Isles. Bordeaux soon became self-sufficient enough with its own vineyards to export its own wine to Roman soldiers stationed in Britain. In the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder mentions plantings in Bordeaux, including the Balisca grape (previously known in Spain) under the synonym of Biturica after the local Bituriges tribe. Ampelographers note that corruption of the name Biturica is Vidure, a French synonym of Cabernet Sauvignon, perhaps pointing to the ancestry of this vine with the Cabernet family that includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot.

Further up the Rhone, along the Saône tributary, the Romans encountered the areas that would become the modern-day wine regions of Beaujolais, the Mâconnais, the Côte Chalonnaise and the Côte d'Or. Rome's first allies among the tribes of Gaul were the Aedui, whom they supported by founding the city of Augustodunum in what is now the Burgundy wine region. While it is possible that vineyards were planted in the 1st century AD, shortly after the founding of Augustodunum, the first definitive evidence of wine production comes from an account of the visit by Emperor Constantine to the city in 312 AD.

The founding of France's other great wine regions is not as clear. The Romans' propensity for planting on hillsides has left archaeological evidence of Gallo-Roman vineyards in the chalk hillsides of Sancerre. In the 4th century, the Emperor Julian had a vineyard near Paris on the hill of Montmartre, and a 5th-century villa in what is now Épernay shows the Roman influence in the Champagne region.

Germania

Although wild V. vinifera vines have existed along the Rhine since prehistory, the earliest evidence of viticulture dates to the Roman conquest and settlement of the western territories of Germania. Agricultural tools, such as pruning knives, have been found near Roman garrison posts in Trier and Cologne, but the first definitive record of wine production dates to the 370 AD work by Ausonius titled Mosella, wherein he described vibrant vineyards along the Mosel. A native of Bordeaux, Ausonius compared the vineyards favorably to those of his homeland and seems to indicate that viticulture had long been present in this area. The reasons for planting Rhineland were to cater to the growing demand of Roman soldiers along the Limes Germanicus (German frontier) and the high costs associated with importing wine from Rome, Spain or Bordeaux. The Romans briefly considered building a canal that would link the Saône and Mosel rivers in order to facilitate waterway trading. The alternative was to drink what Tacitus described as an inferior beer-like beverage.

The steep hillsides along the rivers Mosel and Rhine provided an opportunity to extend the cultivation of grapes to a northerly location. A south-southwest-facing slope maximizes the amount of sunshine vines receive, with the degree of angle allowing the vines to receive the sun's rays perpendicularly rather than at the low or diffuse angle vineyards on flatter terrain receive. Hillsides offered the added benefit of shielding vines from the cold northern winds, and the rivers' reflection offered additional warmth to aid in ripening the grapes. With the right type of grape (perhaps even an early ancestor of the German wine grape Riesling), the Romans found that wine could be produced in Germania. From the Rhine, German wine would make its way downriver to the North Sea and to merchants in Britain, where it began to develop a good reputation.

Despite military hostilities, the neighboring Germanic tribes like the Alamanni and Franks were eager customers for German wine until a 5th-century edict forbade the sale of wine outside of Roman settlements. Wine historian Hugh Johnson believes this might have been an added incentive for the barbarian invasions and sacking of Roman settlements such as Trier—"an invitation to break down the door."

Britannia

Rome's influence on Britain with respect to wine is not so much viticultural as it is cultural. Throughout modern history, the British have played a key role in shaping the world of wine and defining global wine markets. Though evidence of V. vinifera vines in the British Isles dates to the Hoxnian Stage when the climate was warmer than it is now, British interest in wine production greatly increased following the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD.

Amphoras from Italy indicate that wine was regularly transported to Britain at great expense by sea, around the Iberian Peninsula. The development of wine-producing regions in Bordeaux and Germany made supplying the needs of local Roman colonists much easier and cheaper, but in Britain, no certain evidence of an early local or provincial wine industry has been found, possibly because climate and soil conditions have not favoured its preservation. Remnants of amphora production at Brockley Hill, in Middlesex, have been dated to 70–100 AD, and may be explained as a sign of short-lived local wine production, brought to an end by Domitian's edict against vine cultivation during a widespread grain famine. The edict was rescinded by Probus in 270 AD. Investigations of the Nene Valley and pollen analysis by Brown et al confirm several viticulture sites, at least from that date.

More than 400 artifacts depicting Bacchus have been found throughout Britain, evidence of his widespread cult as a wine-god. They include the great silver dish of the Mildenhall Treasure, showing the rites of Bacchus' procession and his triumph over Hercules in a drinking contest. In Colchester, the early capital of Roman Britain, excavations have uncovered containers identifying over 60 different types of wines from Italy, Spain, the Rhine and Bordeaux.

Growers and traders
Roman attitudes to wine were complex, especially among the equestrian and senatorial classes; the latter were supposed to have no interest in personal profits. Equestrian entrepreneurs often acted as agents and negotiators for landowners of the senatorial class, whose estates, large or small, were traditionally used to provide grain, olives and other food staples, not ingredients for luxuries such as wine production. Viticulture involved a very different set of skills, practices, abilities and landscapes than traditional agriculture, and a deal of expense at harvest-time, for picking, pressing and storage. The yields were notoriously unpredictable. For a large estate, a bad season's losses could be enormous, or the profits exceed what was considered proper for an aristocratic farmer-citizen. Very large wine estates were therefore quite rare, and the lowest risk investment strategy was an exchange of small, specialist properties already in production, along with the equipment, knowledge and skills that came with them, a ready-made wine estate. Considering the disinhibiting, even disabling effects of alcohol, any investment in commercial-scale wine production by Rome's ruling class was also of doubtful morality. Purcell suggests that for these reasons, Rome's upper classes were committed to refinement and high quality, and had only marginal open involvement in high volume wine production and the wine trade until the Imperial era.

Roman writings on wine
Works of classical Roman writers—most notably Cato, Columella, Horace, Palladius, Pliny, Varro and Virgil—shed light on the role of wine in Roman culture as well as contemporary winemaking and viticultural practices. Some of these influential techniques can be found in modern winemaking. These include the consideration of climate and landscape in deciding which grape varieties to plant, the benefits of different trellising and vine-training systems, the effects of pruning and harvest yields on the quality of wine, as well as winemaking techniques such as sur lie aging after fermentation and the maintenance of sanitary practices throughout the winemaking process to avoid contamination, impurities and spoilage.

Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman. He had been raised on his family's farm in Reate, northeast of Rome, and wrote extensively on a variety of subjects in De agri cultura (Concerning the Cultivation of the Land), the oldest surviving work of Latin prose. He comments in detail on viticulture and winemaking. He believes that grapes produce the best wine when they receive the maximum amount of sunshine, so he recommends that vines be trained in trees as high as possible and have all leaves removed once the grapes begin to ripen. He advises winemakers to wait until the grapes are fully ripe before harvesting, to ensure high quality in the wine and thus maintain the reputation of the wine estate. Inferior and sour wines should be reserved for the work-hands. Cato claimed that vineyard cultivation was the only profitable agricultural use for slaves; if they became unproductive for any reason, their rations should be cut. Once they were worn out, they should be sold on.

Cato was an early advocate for hygiene in winemaking, recommending, for example, that wine jars be wiped clean twice a day with a new broom every time; thoroughly sealing the jars after fermentation to prevent the wine from spoiling and turning into vinegar; and not filling the amphoras to the top but leaving some head space, allowing a degree of oxidation. Cato's manual was fervently followed, becoming the standard textbook of Roman winemaking for centuries.

Columella

Columella was a 1st-century AD writer. His 12-volume De re rustica is considered one of the most important works on Roman agriculture. Its eleven volumes of prose are augmented by one on gardens (Volume 10), in hexameter verse. Volumes 3 and 4 delve into the technical aspects of viticulture, including advice on which soil types yield the best wine. Volume 12 concerns various aspects of winemaking.

Columella describes the boiling of grape must in a lead vessel to concentrate sugars and at the same time allow the lead to impart sweetness and desirable texture to the wine, a practice that may have contributed to lead poisoning. He presents precise details on how a well-run vineyard should operate, from the optimum breakfast for slaves to the yield of grapes from each jugerum of land and the pruning practices to ensure those yields. Many modern elements of vine training and trellising are evident in Columella's description of best practices. In his ideal vineyard, vines are planted two paces apart and fastened with willow withies to chestnut stakes about the height of a man. He also describes some of the wines of Roman provinces, noting the potential of wines from Spain and the Bordeaux region. Columella extols the quality of wines made from the ancient grape varieties Balisca and Biturica, believed by ampelographers to be ancestral to the Cabernet family.

Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Elder was a 1st-century AD naturalist and author of the 37-volume Roman encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (Natural History), dedicated to the Emperor Titus. Published after Pliny's death near Pompeii following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the work covers a vast array of topics, including serious discourse on viticulture and wine.

Book 14 deals exclusively with the subject of wine itself, including a ranking of the "first growths" of Rome. Book 17 includes a discussion of various viticultural techniques and an early formalization of the concept of terroir, in that unique places produce unique wine. In his rankings of the best Roman wines, Pliny concludes that the vineyard has more influence on the resulting quality of wine than the particular vine. The early sections of Book 23 deal with some of the purported medicinal properties of wine.

Pliny was a strong advocate for training vines up trees in a pergola, noting that the finest wines in Campania all derived from this practice. Due to the dangers in working on and pruning vines trained this way, however, he advised not using slaves, who were costly to buy and maintain, but rather vineyard workers hired with a stipulation in their contract to cover grave and funeral expenses. He described some contemporary varieties, recommending Aminean and Nomentan as the best. Some modern ampelographers believe that two white wine varieties mentioned, Arcelaca and Argitis, may be early ancestors to the modern grape Riesling.

Pliny is also the source for one of the most famous Latin quotations about wine: "In vino veritas," or "There's truth in wine," referring to the often confessional loquacity of the intoxicated. This is not a commendation on Pliny's part: he regrets that the "excessive candour" of drunkards can lead to serious breaches of etiquette, and thoughtless disclosure of matters best kept private.

Other writers
Marcus Terentius Varro, whom the rhetorician Quintilian called "the most learned man among the Romans," wrote extensively on such topics as grammar, geography, religion, law and science, but only his agricultural treatise De re rustica (or Rerum rusticarum libri) has survived in its entirety. While there is evidence that he borrowed some of this material from Cato's work, Varro credits the lost multi-volume work of Mago the Carthaginian, as well as the Greek writers Aristotle, Theophrastus and Xenophon. Varro's treatise is written as a dialogue and divided into three parts, the first of which contains most of the discussion on wine and viticulture. He defines old wine as one removed from its vintage by at least a year; nonetheless, he notes that while some wines are best consumed young, especially fine wines such as Falernian are meant to be consumed much older.

The poetry of Virgil recalls that of the Greek poet Hesiod in its focus on the morality and virtue of viticulture, particularly the austerity, integrity and hard work of Roman farmers. The second book of the didactic poem Georgics deals with viticultural matters. Virgil advises leaving some grapes on the vine until late November when they become "stiff with frost." This early version of ice wine would have produced sweet wines without the acidity of wine made from grapes harvested earlier.

Virgil's contemporary Horace wrote often of wine, though no single work is devoted entirely to the subject. He espoused an Epicurean view of taking life's pleasures, including wine, in moderation. Among the earliest recorded examples of deliberately choosing a wine for a specific occasion, Horace's Odes included serving a wine from the birth-year vintage at a celebration of an honored guest. He writes of serving simple wines for everyday occasions and saving celebrated wines such as Caecuban for special events. Horace answered the question posed by the Alexandrian poet Callimachus as to whether water or wine was the preferred drink of poetic inspiration by enthusiastically siding with Cratinus and the wine drinkers. His affinity for wine was such that while contemplating his death, he expressed more dread at the thought of departing from his beloved wine cellar than his wife.

Palladius was the 4th-century writer of the 15-volume agricultural treatise Opus agriculturae or De re rustica, the first volume of which was an introduction to basic farming principles. The 12 volumes following were dedicated to each month of the calendar and the specific agricultural tasks to be performed in that month. While Palladius deals with a variety of agricultural crops, he devotes more discussion to the practices of the vineyard than to any other. The last two volumes treat mostly veterinary medicine for farm animals but also include a detailed account of late-Roman grafting practices. Though borrowing heavily from Cato, Varro, Pliny and Columella, the work of Palladius is one of the few Roman agricultural accounts to still be widely used through the Middle Ages and into the early Renaissance. His writings on viticulture were widely quoted by Vincent of Beauvais, Albertus Magnus and Pietro Crescenzi.

Roman winemaking

The process of making wine in ancient Rome began immediately after the harvest with treading the grapes (often by foot), in a manner similar to the French pigeage. The juice thus expressed was the most highly prized and kept separate from what would later come from pressing the grape. This free-run juice was also believed to have the most beneficial medicinal properties.

Cato described the process of pressing as taking place in a special room that included an elevated concrete platform containing a shallow basin with raised curbs. The basin was shaped with gentle slopes that led to a runoff point. Horizontally across the basin were long, wooden beams whose front parts were attached by rope to a windlass. The crushed grapes were placed between the beams, with pressure applied by winding down the windlass. The pressed juice ran down between the beams and collected in the basin. As the construction and use of a wine press was labor-intensive and expensive, its use was generally restricted to large estates, with smaller wineries relying on treading alone to obtain grape juice.

If grape pressing was used, an estate would press the skins one to three times. Since juice from later pressings would be coarser and more tannic, the third pressing normally made wine of low quality called lora. After pressing, the grape must was stored in large earthenware jars known as dolia. With a capacity of up to several thousand liters, these jars were often partially buried into the floors of a barn or warehouse. Fermentation took place in the dolium, lasting from two weeks to a month before the wine was removed and put in amphoras for storage. Small holes drilled into the top allowed the carbon dioxide gas to escape.

To enhance flavor, white wine might age on its lees, and chalk or marble dust was sometimes added to reduce acidity. Wines were often exposed to high temperatures and "baked," a process similar to that used to make modern Madeira. To enhance a wine's sweetness, a portion of the wine must was boiled to concentrate the sugars in the process known as defrutum and then added to the rest of the fermenting batch. (Columella's writings suggest that the Romans believed boiling the must acted as a preservative as well.) Lead was also sometimes used as a sweetening agent, or honey could be added, as much as  recommended to sweeten  of wine to Roman tastes. Another technique was to withhold a portion of the sweeter, unfermented must and blend it with the finished wine, a method known today as süssreserve.

Wine styles

As in much of the ancient world, sweet white wine was the most highly regarded style. Wine was often diluted with warm water, occasionally seawater.

The ability to age was a desirable trait in Roman wines, with mature examples from older vintages fetching higher prices than that from the current vintage, regardless of its overall quality. Roman law codified the distinction between "old" and "new" as whether wine had aged for at least a year. Falernian was particularly valued for its aging ability, said to need at least 10 years to mature but being at its best between 15 and 20 years. The white wine from Surrentine was said to need at least 25 years.

In the manner of Greek wine, Roman wine was often flavored with herbs and spices (similar to modern vermouth and mulled wine) and was sometimes stored in resin-coated containers, giving it a flavor similar to modern retsina. Romans were particularly interested in the aroma of wine and experimented with various methods of enhancing a wine's bouquet. One technique that gained some usage in southern Gaul was planting herbs such as lavender and thyme in the vineyards, believing that their flavors would pass through the ground and into the grapes. Modern-day wines from the Rhone are often characterized by using the aroma descriptors of lavender and thyme, presumably as a reflection of the grape varieties used and the terroir. Another widespread practice was the storage of amphoras in a smoke chamber called a fumarium to add smokiness to a wine's flavor. Passum, or wine made from dried grapes or raisins, was also particularly popular and was produced in the eastern Mediterranean. It was widely used in ritual contexts and also found popularity in the kitchen and medicinal spheres.

The term "vinum" spanned a broad spectrum of wine-based beverages, the quality of which depended on the amount of pure grape juice used and how diluted the wine was when served. Temetum, a sacrificial grade, strong wine from the first pressing, was served undiluted, and was supposedly reserved for men of the Roman elite, and for offerings to the gods. Its name suggests an archaic Etruscan origin; in Rome's distant past, temetum might have been an alcoholic drink brewed from Rowan fruits. Well below that was posca, a mixture of water and sour wine that had not yet turned into vinegar. Less acidic than vinegar, it still retained some of the aromas and texture of wine and was the preferred wine for the rations of Roman soldiers due to its low alcohol levels. Posca'''s use as soldiers' rations was codified in the Corpus Juris Civilis and amounted to around a liter per day. Still lower in quality was lora (modern-day piquette), which was made by soaking in water for a day the pomace of grape skins already pressed twice, and then pressing a third time. Cato and Varro recommended lora for their slaves. Both posca and lora were the most commonly available wine for the general Roman populace and probably would have been for the most part red wines, since white wine grapes would have been reserved for the upper class.

Grape varieties

The writings of Virgil, Pliny and Columella offer the most detail about the grape varieties used in the production of wine in the Roman empire, many of which have been lost to antiquity. While Virgil's writings often do not distinguish between a wine's name and the grape variety, he made frequent mention of the Aminean grape variety, which Pliny and Columella ranked as the best in the empire. Pliny described five sub-varieties of the grape that produced similar but distinct wines, declaring it to be native to the Italian peninsula. While he claimed that only Democritus knew of every grape variety that existed, he endeavored to speak with authority on the grapes he believed were the only ones worthy of consideration.

Pliny described Nomentan as the second-best wine-producing grape, followed by Apian and its two sub-varieties, which were the preferred grape of Etruria. The only other grapes worthy of his consideration were Greek varieties, including the Graecula grape used to make Chian wine. He remarked that the Eugenia had promise, but only if planted in the Colli Albani region. Columella mentioned many of the same grapes but noted that the same grape produced varied wines in different regions and could even be known under different names, making it hard to track. He encouraged vine growers to experiment with different plantings to find the best for their areas.

Ampelographers debate these descriptions of grapes and their possible modern counterparts or descendants. The Allobrogica grape that was used to produce the Rhone wine of Vienne may have been an early ancestor of the Pinot family. Alternative theories posit that it was more closely related to Syrah or Mondeuse noire—two grapes that produce vastly different wines. The link between these two is the Mondeuse noire synonym of Grosse Syrah. The Rhaetic grape that Virgil praised is believed to be related to the modern Refosco of northeastern Italy.

Wine in Roman culture

In its early years, Rome probably imported wine as a somewhat rare and costly commodity, and its native wine-god, Liber pater, was probably a fairly minor deity. Rome's traditional history has its first king, Romulus, offer the gods libations of milk, not wine, and approve the execution of a wife whose husband caught her drinking wine. The writer Aulus Gellius claims that in those earlier times, women were forbidden to drink wine, "for fear that they might lapse into some disgraceful act. For it is only a step from the intemperance of Liber pater to the forbidden things of Venus". He cites the much respected arch-conservative Cato the elder as his source, but Cato's own writings make no mention of this. The claimed prohibition and the consequences of its subversion have parallels in the myths pertaining to the "Women's goddess" Bona Dea, the nature deities Faunus and Fauna, and the founding of ancient Latium. Modern literature suggests that if there ever was such a prohibition it did not apply to wine and women in general, but to women of the elite classes and "particular types of [strong] wines" used in sacrifice, such as temetum. Women of the elite were expected to set the best possible example of female chastity and purity. Drunkenness could easily lead to adultery, but women who committed adultery could be lawfully punished by fines, loss of dowry or exile, at most. Edwards, Catharine, The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome, Cambridge University Press, 1993, p.38

Wine played a major role in ancient Roman religion and Roman funerary practices, and was the preferred libation for most deities, including one's deified ancestors, whose tombs were sometimes fitted with a permanent, usually stoppered "feeding tube". The invention of wine was usually credited to Liber or his Greek equivalents, Bacchus (later Romanised) and Dionysus, who promoted the fertility of human and animal semen, and the "soft seed" of the vine. Ordinary, everyday, mixed wines were under the protection of Venus, but were considered profane (vinum spurcum), and could therefore not be used in official sacrifice to deities of the Roman State. A sample of pure, undiluted strong wine from the first pressing was offered to Liber/Bacchus, in gratitude for his assistance in its production. The undiluted wine, known as temetum, was customarily reserved for Roman men and Roman gods, particularly Jupiter, king of the gods. It was an essential element of the secretive, nocturnal and exclusively female Bona Dea festival, during which it was freely consumed but referred to euphemistically, as "milk" or "honey".Wildfang, Robin Lorsch, Rome's vestal virgins: a study of Rome's vestal priestesses in the late Republic and early Empire, Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2007, p. 41 Outside of this context, ordinary wine (that is, Venus' wine) tinctured with myrtle oil was thought particularly suitable for women; myrtle was sacred to Venus.

Venus' long association with wine reflects the inevitable connections between wine, intoxication and sex, expressed in the proverbial phrase sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus (loosely translated as "without food and wine, Venus freezes"). It was employed in various forms, notably by the Roman playwright, Terence, and well into the Renaissance.

The major public festivals concerning wine production were the two Vinalia. At the Vinalia prima ("first Vinalia") of 23 April, ordinary men and women sampled the previous year's vintage of ordinary wine in Venus' name, while the Roman elite offered a generous libation of wine to Jupiter, in the hope of good weather for the next year's growth. The Vinalia Rustica of 19 August, originally a rustic Latin harvest festival, celebrated the grape harvest, and the growth and fertility of all garden crops; its patron deity may have been Venus, or Jupiter, or both.

Early Roman culture was strongly influenced by the neighbouring Etruscans to the north, and the ancient Greek colonists of Southern Italy (Magna Graecia) both of whom exported wine, and held viticulture in high esteem. Though Rome was still probably very "dry" by Greek standards, Roman attitudes to wine were drastically changed by the establishment and growth of empire. Wine had religious, medicinal and social roles that set it apart from other ingredients of Roman cuisine. Wine might be watered by more than half its volume, possibly for taste or purification. Excessive drinking of undilute wine was thought barbaric and foolish; on the other hand, undilute wine was thought to be beneficial and "warming" for old men. Throughout Rome's Republican and Imperial eras, the offering of good wine to guests at banquets was a mark of the host's generosity, wealth and prestige.

During the mid-to-later Republic, wine was increasingly treated as a necessity of everyday life rather than simply a luxury enjoyed by the elite. Cato recommended that slaves should have a weekly ration of 5 liters (over a gallon), though this should be sour or otherwise inferior wine. Should slaves become old, or sick and unproductive, Cato advised halving their rations. The widespread planting of grapevines reflects the increase in demand for wine among all classes; the expanding market for wine also reflects an overall change in Roman diets. In the 2nd century BC, Romans began to shift from meals consisting of moist porridge and gruel to those more bread-based; wine aided in eating the drier food.

Bacchic cult

The Bacchanalia were private Roman mystery cults of Bacchus, the Greco-Roman god of wine, freedom, intoxication and ecstasy. They were based on the Greek Dionysia and the Dionysian mysteries, and probably arrived in Rome c. 200 BC from Greek colonies in southern Italy, and Etruria, Rome's northern neighbour. They were originally occasional, women-only affairs, but became increasingly popular and frequent, and were opened to priests and initiates of both genders and all classes; they may have briefly supplanted an existing, lawful cult to Liber. Cult initiates employed music, dance and copious amounts of wine to achieve ecstatic religious possession. The Roman Senate perceived the cult as a threat to its own authority and Roman morality, and suppressed it with extreme ferocity in 186. Of some seven thousand initiates and their leaders, most were put to death. Thereafter the Bacchanalia continued in much diminished form, under the supervision of Rome's religious authorities, and were probably absorbed into Liber's cult.For Livy's account, see Livy, The History of Rome, Vol 5, Book 39, IX. Modern scholarly sources offer various estimates on the number executed. Despite the ban, illicit Bacchanals persisted covertly for many years, particularly in Southern Italy, their likely place of origin.

 Judaism and Christianity
As Rome assimilated more cultures, it encountered peoples from two religions that viewed wine in generally positive terms—Judaism and Christianity. Grapes and wine make frequent literal and allegorical appearances in both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. In the Torah, grapevines were among the first crops planted after the Great Flood, and in exploring Canaan following the Exodus from Egypt, one of the positive reports about the land was that grapevines were abundant. The Jews under Roman rule accepted wine as part of their daily life, but regarded negatively the excesses that they associated with Roman "impurities".

Many of the Jewish views on wine were adopted by the new Christian sect that emerged in the 1st century AD. One of the first miracles performed by the sect's founder, Jesus, was to have turned water into wine. In addition, the sacrament of the Eucharist prominently involves wine. The Romans drew some parallels between Bacchus and Christ. Both figures possessed narratives strongly featuring the symbolism of life after death: Bacchus in the yearly harvest and dormancy of the grape; and Christ in the death and resurrection story. Eucharist's act of drinking wine as a stand-in for consuming Christ, either metaphysically or metaphorically, echoes the rites performed in festivals dedicated to Bacchus.

The influence and importance of wine in Christianity was undeniable, and soon the Church itself would take the mantle from ancient Rome as the dominant influence in the world of wine for the centuries leading to the Renaissance.

Medical uses

Romans believed that wine had the power to both heal and harm. Wine was a recommended cure for mental disorders such as depression, memory loss and grief, as well as bodily ailments, from bloating, constipation, diarrhea, gout, and halitosis to snakebites, tapeworms, urinary problems and vertigo.

Cato wrote extensively on the medical uses of wine, including a recipe for a laxative: wine made from grapevines treated with a mixture of ashes, manure and hellebore. He recommended that the flowers of certain plants, e.g. juniper and myrtle, be soaked in wine to help with snakebites and gout. He also believed that a mixture of old wine and juniper, boiled in a lead pot, could aid in urinary issues and that mixing wine with very acidic pomegranates could cure tapeworms.

The 2nd-century CE Greco-Roman physician Galen provided several details concerning wine's medicinal use in later Roman times. In Pergamon, Galen was responsible for the diet and care of the gladiators, and used wine liberally in his practice, boasting that not a single gladiator died in his care. Wine served as an antiseptic for wounds and an analgesic for surgery. When he became Emperor Marcus Aurelius's physician, he developed pharmaceutical concoctions made from wine known as theriacs. Superstitious beliefs concerning theriacs' "miraculous" ability to protect against poisons and cure everything from the plague to mouth sores lasted until the 18th century. In his work De Antidotis, Galen noted the trend in Romans' tastes from thick, sweet wines to lighter, dry wines that were easier to digest.

The Romans were also aware of the negative health effects of drinking wine, particularly the tendency towards "madness" if consumed immoderately. Lucretius warned that wine could provoke a fury in one's soul and lead to quarrels. Seneca the Elder believed that drinking wine magnified the physical and psychological defects of the drinker. Drinking wine in excess was frowned upon and those who imbibed heavily were considered dangerous to society. The Roman politician Cicero frequently labeled his rivals drunkards and a danger to Rome—most notably Mark Antony, who apparently once drank to such excess that he vomited in the Senate.

The ambivalent attitude of the Romans is summarized in an epitaph:

See also

Ancient Roman cuisine
Ancient Greece and wine
Phoenicians and wine
Speyer wine bottle
History of wine

References

External links"Wine and Rome""Roman Wine: A Window on an Ancient Economy"Emlyn K. Dodd (2020). Roman and Late Antique wine production in the eastern Mediterranean'', Archaeopress.

Wine
Ancient wine
Roman cuisine
History of wine
wine


Alloue (; ) is a commune in the Charente department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France.

Alloue was part of the province of Limousin. Its inhabitants speak the Occitan form of the Limousin dialect.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Allousiens or Allousiennes

Geography

Location and access
Alloue is a commune located in the north-east of the Charente at the edge of the Charente Limousine and Ruffécois regions, 5 km south of the boundary of the department of Vienne. It belongs to the Community of communes of Confolentais.

The commune is 9 km east of Champagne-Mouton, and 12 km west of Confolens. The main road that runs through the village and the commune from east to west is the D740, the former national road from Confolens in Niort via Ruffec (24 km) and via Champagne-Mouton. Angoulême is 50 km to the south-west and Limoges a similar distance to the south-east. Alloue is also 15 km north of Saint-Claud and Roumazières-Loubert.

Other minor departmental minor roads run through the commune including the D169 south to Roumazières-Loubert via Ambernac, the D171 towards Benest in the west, the D312 heading north-west, the D169 north to Épenède and Pressac, the D309 to Ansac-sur-Vienne in the south-east, and the D313 heading towards Manot in the south-east.

Hamlets and localities
The commune has many small hamlets:
Lasfont and les Bréchevaux on the main D740 to Confolens
Les Essarts and Les Repaires to the southeast along the D309
Villemier and La Châtre on the D313
Massignac and its castle
le Breuil south of the town on the right bank of the Charente
Beaumont
l'Houmède
La Renaudie
La Lande to the south on the left bank
Le Chevrier
Le Grand Molan
Le Petit Molan
Chez Paire and Rioumort to the west
Masmayoux
Fontbeau
Chez Taury to the north

Chez Pasquet borders the town to the north as does La Cantine to the south of the town on the left bank of the river.

Neighbouring communes

Geology
The land is composed of marl limestone dating from the Early Jurassic period in the valley and deposits of Clay from the Tertiary period on the slopes.

The old Galena (lead and silver) mine at Beaumont was composed of veins on a fault which follows the valley of the Charente to Ambernac until it nearly reaches Asnois (Vienne) and passes through Alloue. The mine consists of tunnels dug into the rock.

Relief
The relief of the commune is that of a plateau with an average altitude of 180 m, traversed from south to north by the valley of the Charente. The highest point is at an altitude of 231 m which is located in the Bois de Signes (Signes Forest) on the eastern edge of the commune. The lowest point is 136 m which is located along the Charente on the north-western boundary. The village is in the valley and on the right bank of the river and is 145 m above sea level.

Hydrography
The Charente flows through the commune from south to north. The part in the commune is downstream of Roumazières and upstream of the Vienne department where the river makes an incursion before returning to Ruffec and Angoulême.

The Transon, a tributary on the right side of the Charente joining at Chatain (Vienne), rises in the south-east of the commune and along its eastern boundary.

The Charente has many small tributary streams rising in the commune such as the Ruisseau de la Forêt (Forest Stream) which flows in the northwest.

The Clain, a tributary of the Vienne passing Poitiers, rises in the commune of Hiesse 50 m from the communal boundary at Beau Clain. The watershed line between the basins of the Charente and the Loire crosses the eastern edge of the commune.

The commune of Alloue also has many ponds and small water reservoirs, mainly in the south-west.

Dialects
The town is in the Occitan area of Marchois in contact with the Limousin dialect and marks the boundary with the Poitevin langue d'oil (to the northwest)<ref>Charles De Tourtoulon and Olivier Bringuier, Geographical Limits of the Occitan and the langue d'oil dialects, Paris, Imprimerie nationale (réimprimé en 2007 par Massert-Meuzac, IEO), 1876, 63 p.  </ref>

Climate
As for a large part of the west of the department, the climate is an Aquitaine Oceanic climate but it is slightly degraded near the Charente Limousine area where the climate is more humid and slightly cooler.

Toponymy
The name of the commune Alloue is said to come from the Gallic word alauda meaning lark.

The hamlet of Beaumont comes from the French beau mont which means "beautiful hill".Les Essarts was designated in the Middle Ages to be cleared of forest.

The hamlet of Fontbeau may take its name from the Latin fons or fontis meaning "source" and bellus meaning "handsome". It can therefore mean "beautiful spring" but it is more likely from the Occitan font bou (fons bovis in Latin) to the French fontaine de boeuf (fountain of beef).

For the hamlet of Masmayoux the origin is from the Latin major meaning "bigger" and mansus which had become mas by the Middle Ages and which designated an agricultural field. It can therefore lead to the meaning "large farm".Les Repaires comes from the old French repair meaning house or fortified castle.

History
Tools, particularly polished axes, and a tumulus have been found in Caillauds which attests to the antiquity of occupation of the area.

The old silver-lead mine in the commune has been worked since the Gallic era.

A Roman road passed by Alloue and its remains are visible at a place called les RepairesAlloue formed part of the province of Poitou as with most towns west of Confolentais and the Occitan language Limousin dialect was widely spoken under the Ancien Régime.

In 783 the name Alloue was mentioned when Roger, Count of Limoges gave land at Alloue for the creation of the Charroux Abbey. On 23 April 1121, Guillaume I, Bishop of Poitiers, donated the Alloue Church to the Abbey of Charroux. This Benedictine priory which had prior rights of low, medium and high justice was plundered in 1356 and then restored. In the 16th century the priory had four occupants and the prior. From a survey in 1547, the Priory of Alloue had twenty houses in the village and about 125 tenements in the parish and neighbouring parishes. On a 1740 plan they were shown next to the church with farm buildings and gardens. The priory closed in 1781. It was sold as national property during the Revolution.

There were four fiefs and castles on the territory:

The Fief of Geuche was mentioned in 1396, when it belonged to Perrenot La Lande. In the 17th century it was the property of the Gracieux family and was sold as national property during the Revolution.

The manoir de l'Age for which in 1399 Guy de l'Aage Landri, squire, made an admission to Aimar,  the Abbot of Charroux that his "accommodation of l'Age de " . The word  means a small valley and the word age a fortified enclosure. The Manoir de l'Age was successively occupied by the families Green de Marsault, L'Aage, and Verdilhac.

The Castle of Massignac in the 15th century belonged to the Tizon family then in the 16th century to the Barbarin family, passing to the Regnaud family, and finally by marriage to the Guiot family before being sold as national property during the Revolution.

A mill that existed in the north was destroyed.

The lordship of La Vergne had the rank of Châtelainie.

Heraldry

Administration

When the town was founded in 1793 it was named Allouë and it was the capital of the canton. In 1801, still with the same name, it belonged to the canton of Champagne-Mouton and it was only later that it became Alloue.

List of Successive Mayors of Alloue

Population

With 1720 inhabitants in 1793, the commune has been the victim of a slow erosion that accelerated during the 20th century. The commune has lost 70% of its population in two centuries.

Distribution of Age Groups

Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Alloue and Charente Department in 2017

Source: INSEEÉvolution et structure de la population en 2017: Département de la Charente (16)

Economy
The lead mine was worked since the Gallic era until after the abbot Michon. It was operated by a Sir Villain in the 18th century and in 1818, according to Quenot, there were a dozen open pits. Then the mine was operated by several concessionaires without much success due to the poor quality of the ore and the difficulty of separating the galena from the several intertwined minerals. A company was founded in 1821 then abandoned the mine in 1829, recovered, then abandoned it again and, after a last attempt in 1930, it was finally closed due to insufficient profitability.

In the 19th century four mills were in operation. *one, a wheat mill, became an oil and dairy factory then the Charente was diverted.
The La Lande mill was a wheat mill dating from the 18th century
two Mills of la Roche but the second did not exist in 1835

Currently activity in the commune is mainly agricultural.

Shops include a baker, a restaurant and an agricultural parts merchant.

There are also a hairdresser, a bricklayer, an electrician/plumber/heating merchant, a bicycle repair shop and a landscaper.

Facilities, services and local life

Education
The school is a regroupment school covering Alloue, Ambernac, and Benest. Alloue has a primary school (both kindergarten and elementary); Benest and Ambernac have an elementary school.

Other services
There is a post office and there are other services in the surrounding communities, mainly Confolens.

Sites and Monuments

Civil heritage
There are more than 200 sites in the commune that are registered as historical monuments with the majority of sites Houses or Farmhouses. A selection of the more interesting sites are described below.

There are traces of a Roman road east of the town near the place called Les Repaires.
A small masoned Irrigation Canal (19th century) is located on the edge of the Maquis-Foch Square dating from the 19th  century which allows a small stream to flow into the Charente. A slab connects the two rivers.
The Chateau of Massignac (15th century) has large corner towers and framed windows and with mouldings typical of a 15th-century castle. The circular corner towers are square inside and equipped with several archers' loopholes. It was redesigned in 1861 with installation of a stairway.
Gueuche Chateau has retained its 14th century structure although a large part of the walls were rebuilt in 1870 – which date is inscribed on the lintel of the door. It is rectangular in shape with a vaulted cellar in the basement, one floor with an attic covered with a high hip roof with flat tiles. The tower with a staircase is adjoining on the southeast side topped with a conical slate roof with loopholes for archers. Outbuildings were added in the 19th century and are partly shown on the cadastral map of 1835 (the barn was enlarged at the end of the 19th century).
L'Age Manor (15th century) was originally composed of a rectangular enclosure with battlements with four circular towers and a drawbridge dating from the 15th century and lodgings built at the end of the 16th century. All that remains of the enclosure is the two towers located on the southwest and southeast sides. The towers are pierced by four gunnery loopholes. The wall was crowned with a parapet and battlements of which there remains the consoles at the level of the south-west tower. The lodgings have a rectangular plan with an attic floor and circular stairs to the tower, half-completed, in the middle of the facade pierced with small windows and an archer loophole. On the cadastral map of 1835, the moat and the four towers were still present and there was a building that was against the outer wall to the southwest, an extension of the current vaulted room, which connected the two corner towers. On old views of the early 20th century, the tower in the north-west and the walkway in front of the lodgings are still visible.
Beau-Chêne Manor (1666) consists of buildings contained within four towers, the oldest of which is the south-east tower which may date from the 15th century. The coat of arms of De Lage is found on the walls of the courtyard of the lodgings and an inscription "F.P.P.D.Lage 1656" is inserted in the wall over a raven (but probably not in its original location) in an outside staircase. The north wing of the castle was demolished in 1873. The De Lage family, lords of Beauchesne, a branch of the family of De Lage de , owned the manor until the late 17th century, then the Gracieux family held it until the Revolution.
The Logis de la Vergne (15th century) is located 300 m south of the town next to the Charente. The first lords of this manor were known as GUYOT. Marc Guyot du Repaire inherited the lordship of the Chateau de La Vergne in 1679. The Guyot du Repaire family owned the lordship and the estates and land of La Vergne till the mid 19th century. The castle was bought by the famous actress María Casares in the 1960s. At her death in 1996, the estate was bequeathed to the local municipality. Since then the castle now hosts a cultural project and is a residence and place of exchange, training for writers, actors and theatre directors. The library and the whole house became a Registered monument on 12 December 2002.

The Pavillon Manor (17th century) was indicated as a lordship on the 18th century Cassini map but the house has since been greatly altered. The house faces the church and was restored in the 19th century. This mansion has an austere facade but has been uniquely decorated internally using a French wallpaper manufactured by Jean Zuber between 1834 and 1836. These wallpapers are decorated with pictures such as: "View of North America" or "Helvéthie".
The Rioumort Bridge (Middle Ages) was a medieval bridge whose deck was rebuilt between 1895 and 1898.
The Pont-Neuf (New Bridge) at the western entrance of Alloue dates to 1741.

The covered Lavoir at Alloue consists of a basin surrounded by stone slabs.

There are also old Lavoirs at Masmayoux where the well is an uncovered rectangular basin fed by a spring that emerges from a cube of masonry and stone rubble and near Lasfond which also has an uncovered basin.

The Chez Paire Fountain (19th century) is equipped with a pump.
The Rioumort Fountain (19th century) is covered by a dome and rubble after a legend that it would bring health and prosperity.

Religious Heritage
The Parish Church of Notre-Dame (12th century) is registered as an historical monument. The church contains two items that are registered as historical objects:
A Statue: Virgin and Child (18th century) in wood painted in polychrome 1.10 metres high
An altar (17th century) in Cuir de Cordoue of the 17th century 1.50m high on a base 0.60m high.

The Church of Notre Dame

The church included both a parish church and a Benedictine priory (12th century) founded by the monks of Charroux in the 8th century that stretched south and west of the church. The Priory of Alloue on the 1740 plan is presented as a set of buildings surrounded by a moat which joined the Charente. Currently the western part still remains – rebuilt in the 16th and 17th centuries. The lodgings of the prior was in line with the north wall of the church, preceded by a courtyard overlooking the street between the two towers. Another house has since been built on the site of the courtyard.

The Old Priory

There are numerous Wayside Crosses dating to the 19th century. Five of them are listed as historical monuments:
The Wayside Cross at the D740 and D169 crossroads (19th century)
The Wayside Cross at Chez Pasquet (19th century)
The Wayside Cross near Le Beau (19th century)
The Wayside Cross at Chez Grillaud (19th century)
The Wayside Cross at Les Redons (19th century)

There is a Cemetery Cross (1789) bearing the inscription "PIORRY NOTARY ET FABRIC/QUEUR 1789". This stone cross in a cylindrical drum is raised on a plinth consisting of four steps. In front, a stone font is located on a stone slab.

Notable People linked to the commune
The Guyot or Guiot family with the arms: "Or, three parrots vert, beaked, membered and collared of gules."
Huon Guyot or Huon Guiot, who was born in 1249 and the various branches of his descendants: Asnieres, La Motte Villognon, Fanet, Lespars, Montorcy, and Repaire including several "Lords of La Vergne" with the first name of Marc.
Guyot du Repaire or Guiot du Repaire: General of the Army of the Republic in the Revolution, was born in Alloue in 1755 (died at Saintes in 1818).
Louis Guyot or Guiot des Molans (1751 Alloue-1793), who was sentenced by the Revolutionary Tribunal on 7 April 1793 for emigrating in March 1792. He was the first victim of the infamous Revolutionary Tribunal
Paul Mairat, journalist, general counsel of Champagne-Mouton in 1894 then elected MP in 1906, he was an initiator of the narrow gauge railway line from Angoulême-Roumazières to Saint Angeau – the  Chemins de fer économiques des Charentes. His home, Sarah villa, was built in 1910.
María Casares (La Coruña 21 November 1922 – Alloue 22 November 1996), an actress of Spanish origin. To thank France for being a safe haven, on her death she gave her Logis de La Vergne'' (purchased on 10 June 1961) to the commune of Alloue, which became the "House of the comedian María Casares".

See also
Communes of the Charente department

Bibliography
Dujardin V. Moinot É., Ourry Y. (2007), The Confolentais between Poitou, Charente, and Limousin, Images heritage, No. 243, Geste Editions, 2007.

References

External links
Alloue on the old National Geographic Institute website
Alloue official website
Pays de Charente-Limousine website
Monograph on the commune of Alloue
Nomination of a Headmaster at "Allouhe" (1787)

Alloue on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website
Alloue on the 1750 Cassini Map

Communes of Charente


Ambérac () is a commune in the Charente département, region in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Ambéracois or Ambéracoises

Geography
Ambérac is in the north-west part of the Charente department some 24 km north by north-west of Angouleme, 6 km south-east of Aigre, and 8 kilometres north-west of Saint-Amant-de-Boixe. Access to the commune is by the D88 road from Aigre in the north-west which passes through the village and continues south-east to Xambes. The D69 road also comes from Marcillac-Lanville in the west to the village then continues east to Villognon. There are a number of hamlets in the commune apart from the village.

The nearest railway station is that of Luxé, 5 km to the north-east which is served by a TER service to Angoulême, Poitiers, and Bordeaux.

Hamlets and localities
North-west of the town along the Aume and the Route d'Aigre there are a few hamlets: les Picots, les Citres, les Marais; and some farms: le Cambouil, les Thibauds, and le Goyaud. To the east, on the road to Mansle, there is Les Granges.

Geology and relief
The commune sits on a limestone bedrock dating from the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian). Alluvium dated from the Quaternary period cover the alluvial valleys of the Aume and Charente, the most recent being on the floodplain. There are also some areas of Sand on the slopes dating to the Quaternary glaciations.

The relief of the commune is that of a low plateau and a confluence of two valleys. The highest point in the commune is at an altitude of 101 m located on the western boundary. The lowest point is 46 m located along the Charente on the south-western boundary. The town was built on the banks of the river at 62 m above sea level.

Hydrography

The Charente traverses the commune downstream from Mansle and upstream from Angouleme. The village is built on the right bank and downstream of the confluence of the Aume, which flows north of the town. The Aume rises at Bouin, Deux-Sèvres, and passes through Aigre.

Climate
As in the three-quarters in the south and west of the department, the climate is oceanic Aquitaine.

Toponymy
The place was attested in the forms Amberaco from 1080 to 1117, then Ambariaco from 1274 to 1297.

It is a Gallic or Gallo-Roman toponymic form based on the suffix -acum, either from the Gallic *-AKO or the Gallo-Roman -ACU.

History
The town was inhabited as least as early as Roman times, as attested to by artifacts found in and round the commune such as a bronze likeness of Mercury wearing a winged petasos, stone slabs engraved with oculi found on the Amberac plain; a stone slab with an oculus and coins from the eras of Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, and Maximin found in the Rue du bourg. Also found in the village have been fragments of lamps, digging tools, a vase made with grey clay, other iron objects, and fragments of a mosaic.

A circular oven 1.50 m in diameter located near Granges together with pottery, tiles and bricks found in the same field date from the same period.

In a nearby location, known as La Tour-des-Fades, the remains of an ancient building were also discovered with rows of bricks and a vaulted gallery, the details of which are listed in La Statistique Monumentale de la Charente

Ambérac was built near the ancient city of Oliba, and was a fiefdom of the La Rochefoucauld and Marcillac families. It was an archdiocese until the Revolution.

It is mentioned for the first time as having an archpriest around 1035 for the parish of Saint-Stephen of Ambérac, a perpetual vicariate which was given by the counts of Angoulême to the Abbey of Saint-Amand de Boixe. Shortly after this founding there was an obedience in 1080. Bishop Girard II confirmed this gift in 1117 but assigned an annual fee of 5 sols, payable on the feast of Saint-Hilaire. In 1146, the prior of Lanville, who already had some rights, demanded and got upon retirement 10 sols per year in favour of the Abbey.

Since then, it has consistently remained dependent on the convent priory of Augustine de Lanville.

The village of Ville-Babou was probably built by one of the two Babou's who were Bishops of Angoulême in the 16th century.

An underground shelter was discovered in 1925.

Administration

Created as Embérac in the Canton of Lanville Marcillac in 1793, it became Ambeirac in the canton of Saint-Amand-de-Boixe in 1801 then Ambérac.

List of Successive Mayors

Population

Distribution of age groups

Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Ambérac and Charente Department in 2017

Source: INSEE

Out of a labour force of 145 people, there are 11 unemployed giving an unemployment rate of 7.6%. The average income is €11,750 per year

Equipment, services and local life

Education
The school is an intercommunal educational group between Ambérac and Marcillac-Lanville. Marcillac-Lanville has an elementary school and Ambérac has a primary school.

Sites and monuments

Civil heritage
The underground Gallo-Roman remains
A Rural heritage of fountains and houses some of which are very old.
The Mill at Brissac is the only remaining one of the many that operated in the 18th century.

Religious heritage

The Parish Church of Saint-Etienne dates from the 12th century. It was one of the 13 archpriests of Angoumois. The church contains several items that are registered as historical objects:
A Bronze Bell (1773)
4 bas-reliefs: the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, and the Magi (12th century)
An Iron die for Sacramental bread (14th century)

The church also has an Harmonium which was renovated in July 2013.

Environmental heritage
The banks of the Charente and the Aume are Natura 2000 zones.

Notable people linked to the commune
André Savignon, born in Tarbes on 1 January 1878, a French journalist and writer, married Berthe Desgranges on 27 September 1919 at Ambérac.
Louis Vatrican, born in Monaco on 7 May 1904, an agricultural engineer, director of the Exotic Garden of Monaco, married Suzanne Magnant on 5 May 1928 at Ambérac.

See also
Communes of the Charente department

References

External links
Ambérac on the old National Geographic Institute website
Ambérac on the Community of Communes website
Ambérac on charente.free
Amigos del Románico, descriptive page on the Roman elements in the church of Saint-Etienne
Ambérac on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website
Ambérac on the 1750 Cassini Map

Communes of Charente


Ambernac () is a commune in the Charente department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Ambernacois or Ambernacoises.

Geography

Location and access
The commune of Ambernac is located in the north-east of the department of Charente on the western edge of the Country of Charente Limousine. It belongs to the Community of communes of Confolentais.

It is located 10 km west of Confolens and 11 km north-east of Saint-Claud. It is also 47 km from Angouleme - the prefecture, 10 km from Champagne-Mouton, 10 km from Roumazières-Loubert, and 6 km from Saint-Laurent-de-Céris.

The D951, the Route d'Angouleme road from Confolens to Gueret and the link road to the Route Central-Europe Atlantic, passes through the south of the commune 4 km south of the village. The village is served by several small regional roads: the D169 from Roumazières to Alloue and Épenède, D170 from Manot in Champagne-Mouton, the D174 to Saint-Laurent-de-Céris, and the D313 east to Confolens.

The nearest railway station is at Roumazières and it is served by the TER service between Angouleme and Limoges.

Hamlets and localities
The commune has some large hamlets such as Saint-Martin (a former parish) and Montermenoux northeast of the village. There are also smaller hamlets:
la Grange des Mottes
le Breuil to the north
Clermont
l'Allemandie to the west

Geology and relief
The commune is geologically in the Aquitaine Basin and the Massif Central.

The valley of the Charente consists of marl of the Lias Group while the plateau of the large western half consists of Tertiary terrain (clay: red in the north, flint clay and alterite in the south), covering a Jurassic limestone bedrock. There is a metal-bearing Jurassic geological fault and there are traces of scoria and lead-silver mine galleries along the Charente.

The east of the commune is on the Limousin plateau - the western part of the Massif Central - which is composed of crystalline and metamorphic rocks - relics of the Variscan orogeny. The valleys of Rouillac and Braillou are carved into granite and areas of sandy clay cover the plateaux.

The relief of the commune is that of a plateau with an average altitude of 190 m; quite hilly as it is traversed from south to north by several valleys including that of the Charente to the west. The highest point of the commune is at an altitude of 232 m located in the Ambouriane Forest in the north-east. The lowest point is 147 m located along the Charente on the northern boundary. The village overlooks the confluence of the Charente and the Braillou and is 185 m above sea level.

Hydrography
The Charente is still small downstream from Roumazières and upstream from Alloue and it flows north across the west of the commune.

The Braillou (stream) has its source in the town of Manot and traverses the commune to join the Charente on its right bank.

The Rouillac is an intermittent stream which is a tributary of the Braillou at Saint-Martin.

The Ruisseau des Vergnes is a tributary stream of the Charente on its right bank south of the village.

Finally there is the Ruisseau de Flagnat which is the southern boundary of the commune.

There are also short intermittent streams in the many valleys and small ponds due to the clay soil.

Climate
As for a large part of the department, the climate is oceanic Aquitaine but it is slightly degraded in the vicinity of the Charente Limousine - the climate there is more humid and slightly cooler.

Toponymy
The locality is attested in the forms:
Andebrinnacum
Andebrenaco
Ambronacum'''<ref name="jmc">Jean-Marie Cassagne and Stéphane Seguin, Origin of the names of towns and villages of Charente, ed. Jean-Michel Bordessoules, 1998, 311 pages, p. 13, 53 and 88,  </ref>

Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing explain the first element Ambern- as the name of a person in Latin: *Ambarrinus (but not substantiated) with the suffix -acum, of the Gallic origin *-āko.

However, although the forms Andebrinnacum and Andebrinnaco may be correct they are not consistent with the proposal of Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, who obviously did not know of them. Three Gallic elements can be identified: ande meaning "below, in front of" cf. "canopy" from *ande-banno or  ande - an intensive particle commonly used in place names, such as: Anderitum (Cantal, Anterrieux), Andematunnum (Haute-Marne, Langres), etc. followed by a radical -brenn-, brinn-, of an obscure meaning, but which is identified in Bernac (de Brenaco in 1110), among others. It is followed by the same suffix -acum.

The hamlet of Breuil takes its name from the Low Latin brogilum of the Gallic origin brogilos meaning "small wood".
The name of Clermont refers to a hill with a clear view.

History
Andebrenaco was inhabited by the Lemovici. It was subdued by Julius Caesar in 51 BC during his 8th campagne and it was a Gallo-Roman Viguerie. He had a certain importance during the tome of the Merovingians due to the existence of a lead mine at Chéronies and a mint. The village became the medieval seat of an archpriest who benefited from royal largesse.

The old Roman road from Angouleme to Bourges via Argenton passes 1.3 km to the south-east of the town. One portion was found between Luxérat and La Vallade as well as at Chez Pasquet. A milestone with a Roman inscription was discovered in the old cemetery and was probably located on the old road. It can be seen at the Archaeological museum of Angouleme.

Ambernac was part of the former province of Limousin and the Limousin dialect of Occitan is spoken in the commune.

Praisnaud Castle was home of the Babaud family and was mentioned in the 16th century. A lower Puynode Castle would also have existed at that time.

Jean-Baptiste-Barbaud Praisnaud was sub-prefect from 1831 to 1848 during the July Monarchy.

Leonid Barbaud-Praisnaud was an MP in 1848 then was prefect for Charente in 1871.

Antoine-Barbaud Lacroze was an MP and his son Léonide was State Councillor and Senator.

There existed a tile works (present in the Land Registry in 1835) and lime kilns at Chéronnies. There was also a windmill: the "Moulin Ambernac".

In 1935, the actor Noël-Noël bought Praisnaud and he enlisted in the maquis during the Second World War.

Administration
In 1793, Embernac belonged to the canton of Allouë, then in 1801 to that of Champagne-Mouton, then finally in 1802 to the Canton of Confolens-Nord before eventually becoming Ambernac.

List of Successive Mayors

Population

Distribution of age groups
Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Ambernac and Charente Department in 2017

Source: INSEE

Economy
Ambernac is primarily an agricultural commune. The commune has a rural holiday cottage.

Equipment, services and local life

Education

The school is an inter-communal educational group (RPI) between Alloue, Ambernac, and Benest. Alloue has a primary school (kindergarten and elementary) and both Benest and Ambernac have an elementary school.

Other services
Other services are in nearby communes and especially in Confolens.

Life in Ambernac
There are several associations: the Amicale Sportive, Gym Tonic, the Cavaliers du Mas and the Hunting Club with an Old Age Club and a Festival Committee.

A commemoration of the Battle of Ambernac is held every last Sunday of July.

Sites and monuments

Civil heritage

The Chateau of Plaisnaud (16th century) is registered as an historical monument. It consists of a rectangular building flanked diagonally by two towers topped with conical roofs. The west tower is a remnant of a building from the 16th century although the tower is from the 19th  century. It has an imposing round fuie indicating that the local lord was entitled to high and low justice.
A Lavoir (Public laundry).

Environmental heritage
The banks of the Charente are Natura 2000 zones.

There are three hiking trails: Clermont and Ambouriane each 9 km long while Chez Guilloux is 13.5 kilometres.

Notable people linked to the commune
Noël-Noël was an actor who is buried in the commune cemetery.

See also
Communes of the Charente department

Bibliography
Dujardin V., Moinot É., Ourry Y. (2007) - The Confolentais, between Poitou, Charente and Limousin, Heritage Images, No. 243, Geste éditions, 2007.

References

External links
Ambernac on the old National Geographic Institute website
Ambernac on the Community of Communes of Confolentais website
Ambernac on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website
Ambernac on the 1750 Cassini Map

Communes of Charente


Frances Marshall may refer to:

 Frances Partridge (1900–2004), née Marshall, English writer
 Frances L. Marshall (died 1920), British author

See also
 Francis Marshall (disambiguation)


Ambleville () is a former commune in the Charente department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France. On 1 January 2022, it was merged into the new commune of Lignières-Ambleville.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Amblevillois or Amblevilloises.

Geography

Location and access
Ambleville is a commune in the west of the department of Charente located 7 km south of Segonzac, 18 km southeast of Cognac, and 31 km west of Angoulême.

The area of the commune of Ambleville is about 500 hectares.

The village of Ambleville is also 7 km east of Archiac, 10 km north of Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire and 14 km west of Chateauneuf-sur-Charente.

The main route to the commune is the D699 road from Angoulême to Archiac, Pons, and Jonzac via Châteauneuf. This former national road was part of the road from Limoges in Haute-Vienne to Mirambeau in Charente-Maritime. The D44 road goes northwest towards Cognac via Saint-Fort-sur-le-Né and goes south towards Barbezieux.

The nearest railway stations are Chateauneuf-sur-Charente (in the direction of Angoulême) and Jarnac Charente (in the direction of Saintes and Royan) both located 14 km from the town.  The Jonzac station is 21 km from the town and has services to Bordeaux Saint-Jean in one direction as well as La Rochelle and Nantes in the other direction.

Hamlets and localities
The population is distributed in twenty hamlets or "villages" - the term used in Saintonge and the South-West of France.

The town has a few houses grouped around the church.

The two major population centres are: le Château and la Motte both near the village near the road to Chateauneuf. The town hall is located at le Château.

La Voûte is the highest point in the commune in the north with other hamlets of Chez Philbert and La Bertillère in the south of the commune, le Guineuf on the Collinaud stream etc.

Neighbouring communes and villages

Geology and terrain
The commune is made up of Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) chalk limestone, which covers a large part of the South Charente. The valleys are covered by alluvium from the recent Quaternary period.

The communal land has a quite hilly relief which rises gradually to reach, at its northern end near the hamlet of la Voûte, a height 95 m. The small Collinaud valley in the south of the commune is located where the town and the main road are. The lowest point is 34 m at the western edge of the commune along the Collinaud. The town is located at the tip of a small promontory in the valley and is 40 m above sea level.

Hydrography
The town is bounded on the south by the Collinaud stream which flows from the town of Bonneuil. It is a tributary of the Né and a sub-tributary of the Charente.

Two small intermittent streams descend from both sides of the Castle to join the Collinaud near the village. Further west the Font Moreau rises while further east les Boulots flows down from Sonneville.

Climate
As for three-quarters of the department in the south and west, the climate is oceanic Aquitaine.

Toponymy
In the absence of old spellings, we can relate Ambleville to the homonymous commune of Ambleville in Val-d'Oise,<ref name=DauzatRostaing>Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, Etymological Dictionary of place names in France, Librairie Guénégaud, 1979, Paris, , passage 14a </ref> attested in the Latinized form of Amblenvilla in 1209.

The name has a medieval source in -ville which is a toponymic suffix meaning "rural area" or "village", from the Gallo-Roman villa meaning "rural area", itself derived from the Latin villa rustica. The first part is, as is usually the case, a Germanic personal name. It can be Ambla - a woman's name, or Amblinus - a man's name, or alternatively Amelinus. These anthroponyms are well represented in northern France (see Amblainville, Ablancourt, Amblimont, etc.). The radical amal- is found in the names Amélie and Amaury.

La Motte is a medieval place name meaning "butte" or "mound of earth", attested in medieval Latin in the form motta in 836, for a term of pre-Latin origin *mutt(a). This term also meant once a stately home or castle.

History
The commune has been occupied since ancient times as proto-historic ditches have been found: circular at Moulin du Guineuf and oval at a place called le Guineuf - a rounded shape that may be a tumulus which has been leveled - near the Ambleville church to the east. In the west of the commune fragments of Iron Age vases have been found.

The land of Ambleville was most important and very old, extending over five parishes. Ramnulphe d'Ambleville lived there in 1239 and Arnaud d'Ambleville was quoted in a judgment of 1311. An Ambleville lord was a herald for Joan of Arc. The lands of Ambleville then passed into the Archiac family. the Marquise of Archiac left a daughter, Jacquette, who married Pierre Jourdain and transmitted to him the ownership of Ambleville.

In 1548 during the salt tax revolt, François Jourdain was Baron of Ambleville. Wanting to stand up to sedition he only succeeded in rousing the people against him and was forced to flee. The insurgents seized the Ambleville castle, set it on fire, and reduced it to ashes.

The Jordan family was succeeded by the Jussac family, the best known of whom was François de Jussac, who became captain of fifty men at arms under the orders of the king, then Governor of Cognac and lieutenant-general of Angoumois and Saintonge. In 1621 he lent his support to the Duke of Épernon to raise a body of troops to besiege the city of La Rochelle.

Towards 1643, the Jussac family sold Ambleville to Henri d'Albret, Squire of Pons and Count of Miossens who, a few years later, assigned this land to his third son, François Amanieu who was better known as the Chevalier d'Albret. The latter never married and was killed in a duel by Mr. Saint-Léger Corbon and Ambleville passed to the house of Pons represented by Charles Amanieu the Marquis d'Albret who was his nephew. He shot himself on 5 August 1678 and his widow remarried to Charles, Viscount of Marsan who was the youngest son of the Count of Harcourt. She left all her property to her second husband whose second wife was Thérèse de Goyon-Matignon. Several children were born of this union including Jacques-Henri de Lorraine-Lixin who received a share of the land of Ambleville. He was a General who was killed on 2 June 1734 at the Siege of Philippsbourg in Germany.

Ambleville was then sold to Mr. de Monconseil, a Lieutenant-General whose daughter Cécile married Jean-Frédéric de la Tour du Pin-Gouvernet, Colonel of the Grenadiers of France. The marriage contract was signed by the royal family. Appointed the Member for Saintonge in the States General in 1789, he wholeheartedly accepted the Revolution and was appointed Minister of War on 4 August 1789. During the Terror he was accused of moderation, then arrested, sentenced to death, and executed on 28 April 1794. Under Louis XVIII his son became a peer of France and Ambassador in Turin.

During the Revolution, the rich lordship of Ambleville was completely dismantled. The new authorities did not want Ambleville to retain its political and economic hegemony over the region. It was therefore decided that it would be the smallest commune in the area, keeping only the core of the ancient lordship.

A Tree of Liberty - a lime tree - was planted along the Archiac road towards the village of La Motte. It was cut down in the 1980s.

The commune of Ambleville was provided with a notarial study located in the village of Guineuf. This study was transferred to Segonzac in 1924 after the death in 1919 of the last notary, Alcide Renaud.

Heraldry

Administration
List of Successive Mayors of Ambleville

Mayors from 1942

The commune of Ambleville was part of the Canton of Lignières then since 1801 that of Segonzac and of the district then the arrondissement of Cognac.

In 1995 the commune joined the Community of Communes of the Grande Champagne with 11 other communes in the Canton de Segonzac.

In 2011 the municipal budget voted on 4 April 2011 set the local tax rate at 7.46% for the housing tax, 18.80% for housing tax and 45.07% for property tax on buildings. The unified business tax (TPU) was set at the rate of 15.24% as seen in all other communes in the Community of communes of Grande Champagne which is then distributed throughout the territory.

Population

Distribution of Age Groups

Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Ambleville and Charente Department in 2017

Source: INSEEÉvolution et structure de la population en 2017: Département de la Charente (16)

Economy

Agriculture
Viticulture is almost the only resource of the Ambleville economy. A dozen farms were identified in 2011. Approximately 305 hectares of vineyards are planted which is roughly 60% of the communal territory. Six growers sell their production directly.

Shops
A rural baker provides a mobile service in the surrounding hamlets. There is also a bar and a street pizzeria.

Trades in Ambleville are a carpenter-cabinetmaker, a bricklayer, a plasterer, and a garage for cars and agricultural machinery.

Tourism
A rural cottage (4 stars) welcomes tourists to the village of Guineuf.

Facilities, services and local life

Education
The school is an intercommunal educational grouping (RPI) between Ambleville, Lignières-Sonneville, and Criteuil-la-Magdeleine. Lignières-Sonneville accommodates the kindergarten and both Ambleville and Criteuil-la-Magdeleine have elementary schools. The RPI is managed by a SIVOS (School-related Intercommunal Union) which was established in 1979 and took the name of SIVOS of the Great South Champagne. The association brings together these three communes and that of Saint-Palais-du-Né which joined in 2007 and where there has been another school since 2006.

Health
The town has a nurse located in the village of La Motte. Doctors, pharmacy and all other types of service are available in nearby communes. There are many childminders in the commune.

Other services
The commune is connected to the broadband network for Internet connections. The high speed network should have arrived in 2012.

There has been foster care for three elderly residents since 2009.

Associations
Communal associations are:
ACDLA (Cultural Association for Relaxation and Leisure of Ambleville)
Association of Parents of Students of RPI Great Southern Champagne
Hostel Amblevillois
Ambleville Hunting Society
Association of Blood Donors

Culture and heritage

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

A Farmhouse at Le Chateau (1) (19th century)
A Farmhouse at Le Chateau (2) (19th century)
A Farmhouse at Le Chateau (3) (19th century)
A Farmhouse at Le Chateau (4) (19th century)
A Farmhouse at La Bertillière (1)(1861)
A Farmhouse at La Bertillière (2) (1861)
A Fortified Chateau (14th century)
A Manor at La Voûte (18th century)
A Farmhouse at La Roumade (19th century)
A Farmhouse at Chez-Guineux (19th century)
A Farmhouse at Chez le Court (18th century)
A Farmhouse at Chez-Bouyer (18th century)
The War Memorial at Le Chateau (1920) is unique in this region where the majority of buildings were built in stone. It is made of dark gray Limousin granite.
The Square at Le Chateau (18th century)
The Market Building at Le Chateau (19th century)
The School at Le Chateau (19th century)
Farmhouses (18th-19th centuries)

Other sites of interest
The Chateau of Ambleville was built in the 14th century and was burned by insurgents opposed to the Gabelle (salt tax) in 1548. It was rebuilt later at Le Chateau. Remains of the original walls still existed in the middle of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century at a place called Le Vieux Chateau (The Old Castle). There is no trace today.
The commune has six old Lavoirs (Public Laundries) with the most interesting being those at la Voûte and La Roumade. There are also many wells including two remarkable ones on two private properties at Guineuf.

Religious Heritage

The commune has several religious sites that are registered as historical monuments:

The Church of Saint Peter

The Church of Saint Peter (12th century) was the main element of a Benedictine priory. It was part of the former diocese of Saintes and belonged to the abbey of Baignes. Its nave, which has no pilaster, covered by a ceiling is next to a false square from the 11th century. The choir with a flat chevet is surmounted by a vault from the late 15th century mounted on heavy ribs. Only the choir has three windows, two of them - the north and the south - are broken and one has three transoms and flamboyant latticework. The side walls are pierced with fake square arches leading into two Gothic chapels with two bays extending along the nave. The South has three keyhole arches and three columns with capitals decorated with small leaves from the end of the 14th century.

The Cylindrical baptismal font with ornate ring moldings dates from the 16th century.

The facade has a door and three open arches. The first floor is decorated with three arches. The north chapel has a door with curly brackets on its west wall. Buttresses reinforce the corners of the chapels and the chevet.

The rectangular bell tower is on the first floor with its faces pierced with two bays. The second floor has a rectangular bay and is surmounted by a cornice and a hipped roof on four sides.

The bell, dating from 1639 and classed as a Historic Monument in 1944, unlike many bells, was not melted during the Revolution to make weapons despite the quite revolutionary spirit of the people. The inhabitants of the commune were attached to their bell and its particular tone and convinced the new revolutionary authorities to maintain it, saying it was useful to them to tell them the changes in the new Republican calendar.

The cemetery is located near the church. Previously, it was in front of the church where the current square is. It was moved in the early 1930s to help create the current square which was itself renovated in 2007.

The patron saint of the parish of Ambleville is Saint Eutropius, the first bishop of Saintes and a martyr, whose feast is celebrated on the last Sunday of April as his birthday was on the 30th.

A Wayside Cross (19th century)
A Cemetery Cross (19th century)
The Cemetery (20th century)
The Benedictine Priory of Saint Peter (12th century) now the parish church. There are many items in the priory that are registered as historical objects:

A Bronze Bell (1639)
The Furniture in the Priory
A Bronze Bell (1639)
A Flowery Vase (19th century)
A Flowery Vase (19th century)
A Paten (1798-1809)
A Chalice (1819-1838)
A Chasuble, Stole, Maniple, Chalice cover, and body purse (19th century)
A Statue: Virgin and child (19th century)Jean-Hippolyte Michon, Monumental Statistics of Charente, Paris, Derache (reprinted in 1980 by Bruno Sépulchre, Paris), 1844, 334 p. (Read online)
A Tabernacle (19th century)
A Baptismal font (19th century)
An Immersion Baptismal font (16th century)
A Stoup (17th century)
An Altar (19th century)
A Stained glass window: Sacred Heart (19th century)
A Stained glass window: 4 Saints (19th century)

Notable People linked to the commune
Jacques Roux, vicar of Ambleville from April 1790 to January 1791, took King Louis XVI to the scaffold. He was nicknamed the "Red Priest" and served as a model for Jean Jaurès.

See also
 Communes of the Charente department

Bibliography
 Napoleonic Land Registry of 1812 and 1849 for Ambleville'' - Departmental Archives of Charente

References

External links
 Ambleville on the old National Geographic Institute website
Ambleville on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website
Ambleville on the 1750 Cassini Map

Former communes of Charente
Populated places disestablished in 2022