 |
 |
|
| >> |
The turmoil of history |
|
|
| >> |
Origins |
|
|
| |
|
| |
Yssandon is mentioned as early as 572. The chronicler of the time described a fortified site called Issandone Castro.
In the High Middle Ages, Yssandon was the seat of a large "vicairie" (administrative division) governing the land between the Vézère and the Auvézère.
Yssandon thus ruled a part of what is now the Corrèze and the borders with the Sarlat region.
Yssandon owed its importance to its geographical position - the castrum was set on a hilltop 377 metres high. The view from up there stretched for more than 10 miles.
The view from up there stretched for more than 10 miles.
In 763, Pépin le Bref laid siege to and destroyed Yssandon in the war against the Duke of Aquitaine.
From that date, the Yssandon area, which was part of the kingdom of Aquitaine, came into the possession of King Charles the Bald.
But the royal administration was incapable of maintaining Carolingian centralism. At the beginning of the 10th century,
the former imperial officers who had monopolised local power formed a new emerging social class: the nobility.
The local representatives of this nobility were the Comborns (in Orgnac-sur-Vézère), who held a stretch of around 100 km of the Vézère Valley,
the Ségurs in the north of the Yssandon area, and the Turennes in the south east.
|
| |
|
| |
| >> |
The Hundred Years War |
|
|
| |
|
| |
In the 12th century, the Yssandon area still belonged to Aquitaine, the Duchy belonging to Eleanor.
When she married Louis VII, King of France, she brought him Aquitaine as a dowry. But after a few years' marriage,
Eleanor found a new husband in the person of Henry Plantagenet, King of England, who was able to settle in France as a result of this alliance.
The Comborns and the Ségurs swore allegiance to the King of England and broke their ties with French rule.
And this is how our little region became part of a major chapter in history,
in one of the most important events of the Middle Ages: the Hundred Years War.
In 1137 there began a war which was to have a lasting effect. The well-known battles in this war were those of Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt.
What is less well-known is that this war took place in our region, for the most part. In the first part of the war,
the English ravaged the whole area and seized several castles and villages, including Saint-Robert.
The acts of violence committed by the Duke of Lancaster and the Black Prince provoked an uprising.
In 1348, the Castle of Comborn was taken by the English, who kept it until 1352.
They used it as a base from which to pillage the region, as far as the gateway to Brive.
In 1360 the Brétigny Treaty put a (temporary) end to this war and set the frontiers of English territory. The Yssandon area remained English.
|
| >> |
From one war to another |
|
|
| |
|
| |
The region enjoyed a century of peace before once again experiencing turmoil with the Wars of Religion.
Most of the region's inhabitants remained true to the Catholic faith.
This new war was, like the previous one, a war of territorial possession.
The Huguenots seized strategic castles and villages. Saint-Robert was taken and its church partially destroyed.
In 1575, the Viscount of Turenne, who had switched to Protestantism, brought his men into the area and they settled in Yssandon,
Perpezac and Saint-Robert. In 1580, the Protestants became masters of the entire region.
It took more than six years for the Catholics to regain the area. In Voutezac, the castle was destroyed.
This period was very hard for all the inhabitants of the region, as the harvests were devastated and the land no longer worked.
The Chronicle of Ayen describes this period in a few words: "The entire Limousin country was in profound disorder.
Admiral Coligny, the Prince of Navarre and Condé came to dwell in Saint-Robert and Ayen and did much evil there".
It was not until the 18th century that things really calmed down and farming recommenced.
The revolutionary turmoil marked a new social and economic turning-point in the life of the Yssandon region.
The 20th century was a period in which the region opened outwards with the arrival of the railway.
It was at this time that the village of Objat came to the fore, while Yssandon gradually faded into the background.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
