Surgères
| Surgères | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
|
||
 Surgères
|
||
|
Location within Nouvelle-Aquitaine region
Surgères
|
||
| Coordinates: 46°06′23″N 0°44′58″W / 46.1064°N 0.7494°WCoordinates: 46°06′23″N 0°44′58″W / 46.1064°N 0.7494°W | ||
| Country | France | |
| Region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Department | Charente-Maritime | |
| Arrondissement | Rochefort | |
| Canton | Surgères | |
| Intercommunality | Surgères | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor (2008–2014) | Philippe Guilloteau | |
| Area1 | 28.71 km2 (11.08 sq mi) | |
| Population (2008)2 | 6,317 | |
| • Density | 220/km2 (570/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 17434 / 17700 | |
| Elevation | 16–57 m (52–187 ft) (avg. 25 m or 82 ft) |
|
| Website | http://www.ville-surgeres.fr/ | |
|
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.
Surgères (pronounced: [syʁ.ʒɛːʁ]) is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. It is the home of the Surgères 48 Hour Race.
The site of Surgères was occupied in Neolithic times, but the earliest recorded history comes from the Middle Ages. The Duke of Aquitaine wanted to guard his lands in Aunis against Norman invasion, ao he built a stone and wood defence on the marshes, a bridgehead against the invaders which was known as Latin: Castrum Surgeriacum. At the end of the 10th century, the Counts of Poitiers started to get their hands on Aunis and appointed Guillaume Maingot to take charge of the fortress and part of the lands around it.
In the 12th century this defence had become a small city, whose lords entertained the grandees of the parliament of Saintonge. During this time a large castle was built on the ramparts, as was the Romanesque church of Notre-Dame. In 1152 Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry II of England, thus putting her lands including Surgères into English hands.
Coming back under French rule with Saint Louis IX of France, the English took the town in a surprise raid in 1532 during the Hundred Years' War.
The history of Surgères is equally marked by Hélène de Fonsèque (1546 – 1618), Pierre de Ronsard's muse, whose beauty he celebrated in his Sonnets pour Hélène. Queen Catherine de' Medici encouraged the affair between the fifty-year-old Ronsard and the beautiful Hélène, so that she could be part of the royal court as one of the ladies-in-waiting.
...
Wikipedia