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Flavigny-sur-Ozerain

Flavigny-sur-Ozerain
Commune
Flavigny-sur-Ozerain.JPG
Coat of arms of Flavigny-sur-Ozerain
Coat of arms
Flavigny-sur-Ozerain is located in France
Flavigny-sur-Ozerain
Flavigny-sur-Ozerain
Coordinates: 47°30′46″N 4°31′55″E / 47.5128°N 4.5319°E / 47.5128; 4.5319Coordinates: 47°30′46″N 4°31′55″E / 47.5128°N 4.5319°E / 47.5128; 4.5319
Country France
Region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Department Côte-d'Or
Arrondissement Montbard
Canton Montbard
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2014) Catherine Troubat
Area1 27.79 km2 (10.73 sq mi)
Population (2008)2 323
 • Density 12/km2 (30/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 21271 /21150
Elevation 239–482 m (784–1,581 ft)
(avg. 426 m or 1,398 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Flavigny-sur-Ozerain is a commune in the French department of Côte-d'Or, in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

The village was awarded membership in Les Plus Beaux Villages de France ("France's most beautiful villages").

The medieval village of Flavigny is situated on a rocky spur, surrounded by three streams: the Ozerain, the Recluse and the Verpant.

The first written mention of the village of Flavigny was in the Latin form of its name, Flaviniacum, which appears in the cartulary (or charter) of the Benedictine abbey founded on the site by a certain Widerard in 719. In the mid-9th century, in response to the increasing frequency of Viking raids, the relics of Saint Reine (or Santa Regina) were removed from the nearby town of Alise to Flavigny in the hopes that they could be better protected in a more fortified setting. The relics remain in Flavigny to this day, although they travel back to Alise every fall for the celebration of the saint's feast day in early September.

The town was prosperous during the Middle Ages, catering to large numbers of pilgrims, both those who came to visit the relics of Saint Reine and those on their way to Santiago de Compostela. By the 10th century, the abbey had grown into a town, with a parish church dedicated to St. Genest in addition to the abbey church (dedicated to St Peter). During the 12th and 13th centuries, extensive fortifications were raised around the town; large portions of these walls still surround the village to this day, including the Porte du Val (which includes both an inner gate dating to the 13th century and a sixteenth-century outer gate), and the 15th century Porte du Bourg with its statue of the Virgin. Despite these fortifications, Flavigny was occupied by the English during the Hundred Years' War.

In 1632 the Ursuline convent of Flavigny was founded, and in the early 18th century a new residence for the Abbot of Flavigny was constructed. However, by that time the abbacy had become corrupt and was held by a layman who had little to do with the town. At the time of the French Revolution, there may have been as few as five monks in residence. The abbey church was probably already in ruins, although local tradition holds that it suffered damage at the hands of revolutionaries. The parish church, St. Genest, emerged from the Revolution more or less unharmed.


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