Tesson
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 Tesson
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Location within Nouvelle-Aquitaine region
Tesson
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| Coordinates: 45°37′55″N 0°39′11″W / 45.6319°N 0.6531°WCoordinates: 45°37′55″N 0°39′11″W / 45.6319°N 0.6531°W | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine |
| Department | Charente-Maritime |
| Arrondissement | Saintes |
| Canton | Thénac |
| Intercommunality | Canton de Gémozac et Saintonge Viticole |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2008–2014) | Guy Boireaud |
| Area1 | 12.13 km2 (4.68 sq mi) |
| Population (2008)2 | 1,010 |
| • Density | 83/km2 (220/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 17441 /17460 |
| Elevation | 34–58 m (112–190 ft) |
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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. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Tesson is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France.
According to a widespread theory, that name, which is not unique to this particular commune, is a distortion, in the medieval period, from the Late Latin taxo, ionis, itself of Celtic origin, meaning “the badger”. In Old French, it became Taisson. The first settlements were allegedly built in a place where badgers used to dig their burrows.
But the name Tesson could also very well be a reference to a Gallo-Roman villa belonging to a certain Tessius or Thessius, hence in Latin Tessionem (Tessius estate and Tessianus, a, um as an adjective (applied to villa or fundus) and, alternatively, Tessiacum, with the suffix of Gallic origin acum, also meaning "belonging to".
In fact, in some ancient documents, including the lists of parishes of the archpriest of Pons (diocese of Saintes) contained in two “pouillés” (a “pouillé” being an inventory of ecclesiastical benefices) of 1648 and 1683, the village seems to be called Thessac, which clearly originates from Tessiacum.
Located on the Bronze road linking Merpins (near Cognac) with the Atlantic coast, the current territory of the municipality of Tesson has been inhabited for a long period. In the hamlet "Le Maine" in particular, prehistoric tools and weapons have been discovered, including a ceremonial anthropoid dagger (the top of the handle is shaped like a human body) dating back to 150 BC. It is being kept at the National Museum of Archaeology in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
In the Middle Ages, the village happens to be situated on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. On both sides of the pediment of the Romanesque church of the village (built in the second half of the twelfth century), two strange sculptures in high relief depicting, one a pilgrim, the other a robber armed with an ax, recall that time.
In the early sixteenth century, the seigneury of Tesson belonged to the Gombaud family. Then they were succeeded by the Bremond, thereafter the Guinot. Tesson got some fame of its own in the eighteenth century when Étienne Guinot, Lord of Tesson and Marquis of Monconseil, Lieutenant General of the King’s armies, decided in 1760 to retire to his estate, after a successful military career. This is the single celebrity of the village. He (re)built there one of the most beautiful castles in the region, later demolished in the nineteenth century. In the village he had a covered market built ( the “Halles”), still visible, so that his cherished Tesson could host fairs and markets, as well as a hospice.
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Wikipedia