Mouzeil (; ) is a commune in the

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Louére-Atantique''; ; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', ) is a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. ...

department in the

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; but can also mean 'Lower Loire') is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, located on the country's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital an ...

in western

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 ...

.Commune de Mouzeil (44107)
INSEE

Geography

Location

Mouzeil can be found in the countryside in the northern half of the department of Loire-Atlantique, about northeast of

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

, east of

Nort-sur-Erdre Nort-sur-Erdre (, literally ''Nort on Erdre''; ) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. It is on the river Erdre north of Nantes. Population See also *Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department *Jean Fréour ...

and northwest of

Ancenis Ancenis (; ) is a former Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Ancenis-Saint-Géréon. It is a former Subprefectures in France ...

. Its neighboring communities are (counter-clockwise) Ligné to the south-west,

Couffé Couffé (; Gallo: ''Cófaé'', ) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. Population See also *Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department The following is a list of the 207 communes of the Loire-Atlantique d ...

Mésanger Mésanger (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Mezanjaer'', ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France. Population See also *Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department *Hortense Clém ...

, Teillé,

Trans-sur-Erdre Trans-sur-Erdre is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. See also *Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department The following is a list of the 207 communes of the Loire-Atlantique department of France. The commu ...

and

Les Touches Les Touches (; ) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. Population See also *Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department The following is a list of the 207 communes of the Loire-Atlantique department of Franc ...

Terrain and geology

The average elevation is above sea level. The highest point is . The northern half of the commune is slightly more elevated than the south, with a depression found in the center. Mouzeil is located on the eastern edge of the

Armorican Massif The Armorican Massif (, ) is a geologic massif that covers a large area in the northwest of France, including Brittany, the western part of Normandy and the Pays de la Loire. It is important because it is connected to Dover on the British side o ...

. The north part of the commune sits on a formation of

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, and

volcanic rock Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and me ...

(Upper

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

). Further south, about wide, there is another formation consisting of schist,

psammite Psammite (Greek: ''psammitēs'' "(made) from sand", from ''psammos'' "sand") is a general term for sandstone. It is equivalent to the Latin-derived term areniteU.S. Bureau of Mines Staff (1996) ''Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, & Related Terms.'' ...

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

, and conglomerates (

Serpukhovian The Serpukhovian is in the ICS geologic timescale the uppermost stage or youngest age of the Mississippian, the lower subsystem of the Carboniferous. The Serpukhovian age lasted from Ma to Ma. It is preceded by the Visean and is followed ...

, early

Bashkirian The Bashkirian is in the International Commission on Stratigraphy geologic timescale the lowest stage (stratigraphy), stage or oldest age (geology), age of the Pennsylvanian (geology), Pennsylvanian. The Bashkirian age lasted from to Mega annu ...

). In that area there are

bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the coal seam, ...

deposits. Even further south in the natural region of Mauges there is a sandstone horst. The southernmost zone consists of a Clum formation consisting of pelitic schist. About half of the northwest is covered in

pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Geologic Map (in French)
on Géoportail

Hydrography

In the north, a creek serves as the boundary between Mouzeil and the neighboring community of Trans-sur-Erdre. In the east, the Donneau forms the border with Teillé. Three other creeks flow through the area.

Transportation

The town is crossed east to west by the D16 motorway and north to south by the D24. Mouzeil was served by the Sergé to Nantes-Etat rail line from 1885 until 2011, when it was closed.

History

Prehistory and antiquity

Due to polished stones discovered in Mouzeil, we know that people have been living there for around 6,000 years.

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

and

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

tribes such as the

Ligures The Ligures or Ligurians were an ancient people after whom Liguria, a region of present-day Northern Italy, north-western Italy, is named. Because of the strong Celts, Celtic influences on their language and culture, they were also known in anti ...

, the Amoricans, and the

Namnetes The Namnetes were a Gallic tribe dwelling near the modern city of Nantes during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Namnitō͂n'' (Ναμνιτῶν) by Polybius (2nd c. BC) and Strabo (early 1st c. AD), ''Namnetes' ...

lived in the area before the arrival of the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

. The commercial activities of the Romans necessitated the construction of

roads A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. The ...

. They

colonized 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

the area; exploiting its natural resources such as

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, and

lime Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...

. Mouzeil has been part of a

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

since the fifth century.

Middle Ages

In the ninth century, the area suffered of constant raids by

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

. They were driven away by Alan Wry-beard in 938. Mouzeil then passed into the control of Wry-beard's duchy, becoming part of the

Marches In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a state's "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diffe ...

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. Under the

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

system it was in the barony of

and the

county of Nantes The counts of Nantes were originally the Frankish rulers of the Nantais under the Carolingians and eventually a capital city of the Duchy of Brittany. Their county served as a march against the Bretons of the Vannetais. Carolingian rulers would som ...

. The area around Mouzeil suffered damages due to attacks by

Henry Plantagenet Henry II () was Monarchy of the United Kingdom, King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. During his reign he controlled Kingdom of England, England, substantial parts of Wales in the High Middle Ages, Wales and Lordship of Ireland ...

in 1175 and

King John of England John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empi ...

in 1214, and the

war of Breton succession The War of the Breton Succession (, ) or Breton Civil War was a conflict between the Counts of Blois and the Montfort of Brittany, Montforts of Brittany for control of the Duchy of Brittany, then a fief of the Kingdom of France. It was fou ...

from 1341 to 1365. In 1488,

Charles VIII of France Charles VIII, called the Affable (; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13. His elder sister Anne acted as regent jointly with her husband Peter II, Du ...

and his armies besieged Ancenis and pillaged Mouzeil and the surrounding areas.

Early Modern Period

The region of Ancenis sits on a coal deposit which is shaped like a string and extends for hundreds of kilometers throughout the majority of the region. Mining had begun as early as the Roman period, but it expanded under the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

. Mouzeil was home to several dozen miners until the 17th century.

Revolution

Mouzeil, unlike most communes in the region, supported

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

. Although most of the municipalities in Ancenis did not send any volunteers to enlist in the

Garde nationale The National Guard () is a French military, gendarmerie, and police reserve force, active in its current form since 2016 but originally founded in 1789 during the French Revolution. It was founded as separate from the French Army and exis ...

Mouzeil sent five, the most out of any commune in the district. Mouzeil did not participate in the

Chouan Chouan (, "the silent one", or "owl") is a French nickname. It was used as a nom de guerre by the Chouan brothers, most notably Jean Cottereau, better known as Jean Chouan, who led a major revolt in Bas-Maine against the French Revolution. Part ...

uprising, but the town was looted and there were killings.

19th century

Coal mining became more important to the local economy due to new techniques such as mine shafts, and

Underground mine ventilation Underground mine ventilation provides a flow of air to the underground workers of a mine with sufficient volume to dilute and remove dust and noxious gases (typically NOx, SO2, methane, CO2 and CO) and to regulate temperature. The source of ...

. The allowed depth of mine shafts grew to 100 feet in 1791. Five mines were opened in Mouzeil between 1820 and 1826, the most notable among them being the mine installed in the southeast of the commune in 1825. A sixth mine was opened in 1838, near the village of Bourgonnière. Six Hundred people were employed in the sector in 1850. In 1856 due to flooding

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

made a detour through Mouzeil on his way to Nantes. The citizens of Mouzeil cheered when he passed by so the Emperor stopped and granted the requests of a widow, who petitioned him for the authorization to open an Inn. She called it l'Auberge de Cheval blanc (''lit. Inn of the White Horse'') because the Emperor had been riding a white horse that day.

Since the 20th century

The mines closed in 1911, reopening from time to time during the world wars, before finally closing for good. 150 miners were laid off when they closed. Between 1819 and 1909 there were 79 accidental deaths in the mines in the area, the majority occurring in Mouzeil itself. Working conditions were poor and security precautions were lacking. Due to the closing of the mines, agriculture replaced mining as the commune's largest economic sector. A railway line from Segré to Nantes-État opened in 1885. There was a stop in Teillé, but it was actually closer to Mouzeil than Teillé. The rail line closed to passengers in 1939 and to freight in 1988. During the first world war 46 people, a quarter of those from Mouzeil who had enlisted, were killed.

Politics and administration

Mouzeil is located in the

canton of Nort-sur-Erdre The canton of Nort-sur-Erdre is an administrative division of the Loire-Atlantique department, western France. Its borders were modified at the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is in Nort-sur-Erdre. It ...

, in the

arrondissement of Châteaubriant-Ancenis The arrondissement of Châteaubriant-Ancenis is an Arrondissements of France, arrondissement of France in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in the Pays de la Loire Regions of France, region. It has 76 Communes of France, commun ...

in the

department, in the

region. Like all French communes that have between 1,500 and 2,500 citizens, the municipal council has nineteen members (as of 2011).legifrance.gouv.fr in French
Laws concerning the number of City Council members

Mayors of Mouzeil

Population

Personalities

* Henri-Alphonse Deckherr (1842-1933), general during the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...