Thouars

The town hall in Thouars

Coat of arms

Thouars

Location within Nouvelle-Aquitaine region

Thouars

Coordinates: 46°58′33″N 0°12′51″W / 46.9758°N 0.2142°WCoordinates: 46°58′33″N 0°12′51″W / 46.9758°N 0.2142°W

Country

Thouarsais

Government

• Mayor

Patrice Pineau

Area¹

12.09 km² (4.67 sq mi)

Population (2012)²

9,462

• Density

780/km² (2,000/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

INSEE/Postal code

79329 /79100

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.

Thouars (pronounced: [twaʁ]) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.

It is on the River Thouet. Its inhabitants are known as Thouarsais.

Although there is evidence of human habitation here 5,000 years ago, it is only in the seventh century that the town appears in the historical record. In the 760s, Thouars found itself in Aquitaine, the most robust fortress in the entire region according to contemporary chroniclers. This was a violent decade as Duke Waïfre, struggling to preserve the independence of Aquitaine, fought against the expansionist ambitions of the French King, Pepin the Short. In 762, accompanied by his son, the future Charlemagne, appeared outside Thouars. He destroyed the Gallo-Roman town and torched the castle.

In the ninth century the first of a line of viscounts took charge of Thouars: he and his successors would control the fiefdom for more than five centuries until the end of the fourteenth century. The earliest of these Viscounts of Thouars for whom information survives is Geoffrey I, known as the founder of the Thouars dynasty. Located at the south of Anjou and at the frontier with Aquitaine, the Viscountcy of Thouars became a rich fiefdom with a strategic location extending from Upper Poitou all the way to the coast.

Aimery IV of Thouars was a Companion of William the Conqueror as a commander in the Battle of Hastings.

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Wikipedia