Bretenoux (; ) is a commune in the

Lot Lot, LOT, The Lot or similar may refer to: Common meanings Areas *Land lot, an area of land *Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *A great many of something, as in, "There are a lot of beetles," or "There are ...

department in southwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The old town, a

bastide Bastides are fortified new towns built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony, Aquitaine, England and Wales during the 13th and 14th centuries, although some authorities count Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban, which was founded in 1144, as the first bastides ...

, is laid out on a grid and has houses dating from the 13th to the 16th century.

Location

Bretenoux is located north of the River Lot, near the border with the

Corrèze Corrèze (; ) is a département in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, on the bo ...

department, in the Dordogne Valley, and Bretenoux is attached to the town of

Biars-sur-Cère Biars-sur-Cère (, literally ''Biars on Cère''; Lengadocian: ''Biard de Sera'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Lot (department), Lot Departments of France, department located in southwestern France. It is the site of the headquarters o ...

. It is watered by the rivers

Cère The Cère (; ) is a long river in south-western France, and a left tributary of the Dordogne. Its source is in the south-western Massif Central, near the Plomb du Cantal mountain. It flows generally west through the following ''départements' ...

and Le Mamoul. The D940 and D803 national roads run through it.

Toponymy

The name Bretenoux derives from ''Brittanorum villa'', which means "the domain, the property, of the Breton villa" and may reflect the settlement in the area in the 5th and 6th centuries of

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

people fleeing the

Anglo-Saxon invasion The settlement of Great Britain by Germanic peoples from continental Europe led to the development of an Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon cultural identity and a shared Germanic language—Old English—whose closest known relative is Old Frisian, s ...

of England.

History

The settlement is first mentioned in the monastery of Beaulieu's cartulary in 866, as ''Villa Bretenoro''. Guérin, lord of Castelnau de Bretenoux, founded the bastide in 1277 as a counterpoint to the royal bastide of

Puybrun Puybrun (; ) is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France. Toponymy The toponym Puybrun (in Occitan ''Pègbrun'') is found in the form ''Bastida de Podio bruni'' which is formed from Puy which is a francization of the Occitan '' ...

, originally under the name Villafranca d'Orilenda (or Orlanda, Orlinda). He granted the town fishing rights, access to the river islands, and two markets a year on condition a wall was constructed around the town with moats and four gates.

Demographics

Local culture and heritage

Bretenoux has retained parts of its ramparts and its checker-board grid plan, public squares, and covered arcades. The town hall and the gendarmerie are both turreted houses.

Notable buildings

* Church of St Catherine, built outside the walls in the 17th century, externally remodelled in 1763 * Place des Consuls, surrounded by arcades and half-timbered houses. * House of

Pierre Loti Pierre Loti (; pseudonym of Louis Marie-Julien Viaud ; 14 January 1850 – 10 June 1923) was a French naval officer and novelist, known for his exotic novels and short stories.This article is derived largely from the ''Encyclopædia Britannica Ele ...

* House of the Consuls, now housing the town hall

Notable people

* (1801 – 1851), politician, born in Bretenoux *

Louis Auguste Blanqui Louis Auguste Blanqui (; 8 February 1805 – 1 January 1881) was a French socialist, political philosopher and political activist, notable for his revolutionary theory of Blanquism. Biography Early life, political activity and first impris ...

(1805 – 1881), revolutionary, arrested on 17 March 1871 in Bretenoux * (1833 – 1892), historian and writer, born in Bretenoux *

(1850 – 1923), writer, spent part of his childhood at Bretenoux and wrote about his time there * (1877 – 1953), historian, died at Bretenoux *

David Moncoutié David Moncoutié (born 30 April 1975) is a retired French professional road racing cyclist, who rode with the French team , for his entire professional career. He was a climbing specialist, climber, and won his first professional race in a mounta ...

(born 1975), professional cyclist, lived in Bretenoux

International relations

Bretenoux is twinned with

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

, United Kingdom.

References

External links

* Communes of Lot (department) {{Lot-geo-stub