Poitiers
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Poitiers is a town located in west central France. It is a commune and the capital (préfecture) of the Vienne département and of the Poitou-Charentes région. Poitiers is situated on the Clain River.Poitiers is strategically situated on the Seuil du Poitou, a shallow zone joining the Armorican to the Central Massif and connecting the Aquitaine Basin to the Paris Basin. The site of Poitiers is a vast promontory between the valleys of Boivre and Clain.Poitiers was founded before Roman influence by the Pictones tribe. Poitiers was the capital of Poitou, the region governed by the Counts of Poitiers. The Battle of Poitiers was fought at Poitiers on September 19, 1356, during the Hundred Years' War. An earlier battle, the first decisive Christian victory over Muslims was also fought here on October 10, 732 — this battle is better known as Battle of Tours.
King Charles VII established the University of Poitiers in 1432.1500s | The town of Poitiers with its many medieval churches, viewed from "Les Dunes". |
The type of political organisation existing in Poitiers during the late medieval / early modern period can be glimpsed through a speech given on 14 July 1595 by Maurice Roatin, the town's mayor. He compared it to the Roman state, which combined three types of government: monarchy (rule by one person), aristocracy (rule by a few), and democracy (rule by the many). He said the Roman consulate corresponded to Poitiers' mayor, the senate to the town's peers and échevins, and the democratic element in Rome corresponded to the fact that most important matters "can not be decided except by the advice of the Mois et Cent [broad council].1 The mayor appears to have been an advocate of a mixed constitution; we should note that not all Frenchmen in 1595 would have agreed with him, at least in public; many spoke in favour of absolute monarchy. We should also note that the democratic element was not as strong as the mayor's words may seem to imply: in fact, Poitiers was similar to other French cities, Paris, Nantes, Marseille, Limogues, La Rochelle, Dijon, in that the town's governing body (corps de ville) was "highly exclusive and oligarchical": a small number of professional and family groups controlled most of the city offices. In Poitiers many of these positions were granted for the lifetime of the office holder.2
The city government in Poitiers based its claims to legitimacy on the theory of government where the mayor and échevins held jurisdiction of the city's affairs in fief from the king: that is, they swore allegiance and promised support for him, and in return he granted them local authority. This gave them the advantage of being able to claim that any townsperson who challenged their authority was being disloyal to the king. Every year the mayor and the 24 échevins would swear an oath of allegiance "between the hands" of the king or his representative, usually the lieutenant général or the sénécheusée. For example, in 1567, when Maxient Poitevin was mayor, king Henry III came for a visit, and, although some townspeople grumbled about the licentious behaviour of his entourage, Henry smoothed things over with a warm speech acknowledging their allegiance and thanking them for it.2
In this era, the mayor of Poitiers was preceded by sergeants wherever he went, consulted deliberative bodies, carried out their decisions, "heard civil and criminal suits in first instance", tried to insure that the food supply would be abequate, visited markets.2
In the 1500's Poitiers impressed visitors because of its large size, and important features, including "royal courts, university, prolific printing shops, wealthy religious institutions, cathedral, numerous parishes, markets, impressive domestic architecture, extensive fortifications, and château."3Poitiers was the birthplace of influential 20th century French philosopher Michel Foucault.Michel Aco, the explorer, was also born here.Twin TownsPoitiers is twinned with:
* Northampton, United Kingdom
* Marburg, Germany
* Lafayette, Louisiana, United States
* Coimbra, Portugal
* Yaroslavl, Russia
* Iaşi, Romania# Archives communales de Poitiers, reg. 54, pp.211-213; in Harry J. Bernstein, ''Between Crown and Community: Politics and Civic Culture in Sixteenth-Century Poitiers. 2004, Ithica N.Y., USA: Cornell University Press, p.22.# Harry J. Bernstein, ''Between Crown and Community: Politics and Civic Culture in Sixteenth-Century Poitiers. 2004, Ithica N.Y., USA: Cornell University Press, p.22-30.# ibid., p.2.* Bitard*
* City council website (in French)
* Visiting Poitiers (in English)
* Tourisme Poitiers (official site, in French)
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