Poitiers

Poitiers is a university city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune, the capital of the Vienne department, part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France, and the historical center of Poitou Province. In 2022, the commune of Poitiers had a population of 89,427. Also in 2022, its conurbation had 133,833 inhabitants and its functional area 281,452 inhabitants. It is a city of art and history, still known popularly as the "Ville aux cent clochers".
With more than 30,000 students, Poitiers has been a major university town since the creation of its university in 1431, having hosted world-renowned figures and thinkers such as René Descartes, Joachim du Bellay and François Rabelais, among others. The plaza of the town is picturesque; its streets including predominantly preserved historical architecture and half-timbered houses, especially religious edifices, commonly from the Romanesque period. The latter includes notably the 4th century baptistery of Saint-Jean, the 7th century Merovingian underground chapel of the Hypogeum of the Dunes, the Church of Notre-Dame-la-Grande, the Church of Saint-Porchaire or Poitiers Cathedral as well as the Palace of Poitiers, until recently a courthouse, the former palace of the Counts of Poitou, Dukes of Aquitaine, where the Dowager Queen of France and England Eleanor of Aquitaine held her "Court of Love".
The city's pedigree is associated with two major battles that took place in the area. The first, in 732, also known as the Battle of Tours, saw the defending Frankish warhost commanded by Charles Martel defeat the belligerent expeditionary army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by Muslim general Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi. The second battle, in 1356, a lionized military capstone was the Battle of Poitiers which was one of the focal battles of the Hundred Years' War. It saw the defeat of a larger French royal army by the English and the capture of King John II of France by the triumphant Prince of Wales Edward.
The Poitiers agglomeration, located halfway between Paris and Bordeaux, is home to the Futuroscope Technopole, which includes major public and private companies of national scope, as well as leading European research laboratories. With two million visitors annually, Futuroscope is the leading tourist site in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and the third most popular amusement park in France after Disneyland Paris and the Puy du Fou.

Geography

Location

The city of Poitiers is strategically situated on the Seuil du Poitou, a shallow gap between the Armorican and the Central Massif. The Seuil du Poitou connects the Aquitaine Basin to the South to the Paris Basin to the North. This area is an important geographic crossroads in France and Western Europe.

Situation

Poitiers's primary site sits on a vast promontory between the valleys of the Boivre and the Clain. The old town occupies the slopes and the summit of a plateau that rises above the streams which surround, and hence benefits from a very strong tactical situation. This was an especially important factor before and throughout the Middle Ages.

Inhabitants and demography

Inhabitants of Poitiers are referred to as Poitevins or Poitevines, although this denomination can be used for anyone from the Poitou province.

Climate

The climate in the Poitiers area is mild with mild temperature amplitudes, and adequate rainfall throughout the year although with a drying tendency during summer. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this type of climate is "Cfb".

History

Antiquity

Poitiers was founded by the Celtic tribe of the Pictones and was known as the Oppidum Lemonum before Roman influence. The name is said to have come from the Celtic word for elm, Lemo. But after, the Pax Romana settled, the town became known as Pictavium, or later "Pictavis", after the original Pictones inhabitants themselves.
The Pictavis Period has provided the city with a rich wealth of archeological finds from the Roman-era in Poitiers. In fact until 1857, Poitiers hosted the ruins of a vast Roman Amphitheatre, which was larger than the Amphitheater of Nîmes. Furthermore, Roman baths, or Thermæ built in the 1st century and demolished in the 3rd century, were uncovered after the Amphitheater in 1877.
In 1879, a burial-place and tombs of a number of Christian martyrs were discovered on the heights to the south-east of the town. The names of some of the Christians had been preserved in paintings and inscriptions. Not far from these tombs is a huge Dolmen, which is long, wide and high, and around which the great fair of Saint Luke used to be held.
The Romans also built at least three aqueducts. This extensive ensemble of Roman constructions suggests Poitiers was a town of primary importance, possibly even the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Aquitania during the 2nd century.
As Christianity was made official and gradually introduced across the Roman Empire during the 3rd and 4th centuries due to Constantine I's influence. The first Bishop of Poitiers from 350 to 367, was Hilary of Poitiers or Saint Hilarius, who proceeded to evangelize the town. Exiled by Constantius II, he risked death to return to Poitiers as Bishop. In tandem, the first foundations of the Baptistère Saint-Jean can be traced to that era of open Christian conversion. This man was later named "Doctor of The Church" by Pope Pius IX.
In the 3rd century, a thick wall 6m wide and 10m high was built around the town. It was long and stood lower on the naturally defended east side and at the top of the promontory. Around this time, the town began to be known as Poitiers.
Fifty years later, Poitiers fell into the hands of the Arian Visigoths, and became one of the principal residences of their royals. Visigoth King Alaric II was defeated by Clovis I at Vouillé, not far from Poitiers, in 507, and the town thus came under Frankish dominion.

Middle Ages

During most of the Early Middle Ages, the town of Poitiers took advantage of the defensively tactical placement of its location, which was far from the nucleus of Frankish power. As the seat of an évêché since the 4th century, the town was a cynosure of notable importance and the capital of the county of Poitou. At the crux of their power, the Counts of Poitiers governed a sizeable domain, including both Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Poitou.
The town was often referred to as Poictiers, a name commemorated in warships of the Royal Navy, after the Battle of Poitiers.
The first decisive victory of a Western European Christian army over a Islamic power, the Battle of Tours, was fought by Charles Martel's men in the vicinity of Poitiers on 10 October 732. For many historians, it was one of history's most pivotal moments as it marked the end of territorial end of Muslim expansion although the influence of the region would bourgeon for hundreds of years to come.
Eleanor of Aquitaine frequently resided in the town, which she embellished and fortified, and in 1199 entrusted with communal rights. In 1152 she married the future King of England Henry II in Poitiers Cathedral.
During the Hundred Years' War, the Battle of Poitiers, an English victory, was fought near the town of Poitiers on 19 September 1356. Later in the war in 1418, under Charles VII, the royal parliament moved from Paris to Poitiers, where it remained in exile until the Plantagenets finally withdrew from the capital in 1436. During this interval, in 1429, Poitiers was the site of Joan of Arc's formal inquest.
The University of Poitiers was founded in 1431. During and after the Reformation, John Calvin had numerous converts in Poitiers and the town had its share of the violent proceedings which underlined the Wars of Religion throughout France.
In 1569, Poitiers was defended against an assailing siege by Guy de Daillon, Count of Lude, against Admiral of France Gaspard de Coligny, who after an unsuccessful bombardment and seven weeks, retired from a siege he had laid to the town.

16th century

The type of political organization existing in Poitiers during the late medieval and early modern period can be sheened 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, aristocracy, and democracy. He said the Roman Consulate corresponded to Poitiers' mayor, the Roman 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".¹ The mayor appears to have been an advocate of a mixed constitution; not all Frenchmen in 1595 would have agreed with him, at least in public; many spoke in favor of absolute monarchy which would be pioneered by the Father of Absolutism, Louis XIV Le Roi Soleil. The democratic element was not as strong as the mayor's words may have seemed to imply: In fact, Poitiers was similar to other French cities such as, Paris, Nantes, Marseille, Limoges, La Rochelle, and Dijon, in that the town's governing body was "highly exclusive and oligarchical:" With a small number of professionals and family groups controlling most of the city offices. In Poitiers many of these positions were granted for the lifetime of the office holder, an archaic byproduct of the Age of Absolutism in France.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 fief's administration separate from the monarchy: 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 preeminence was being treasonous to the king's decree. Annually the mayor and the 24 échevins would swear an oath of allegiance "between the hands" of the king or his representative, usually the lieutenant general or the Sénéchaussée. For example, in 1567, when Maixent Poitevin was mayor, King Henry III came for a visit, and, although some townspeople were disgruntled regarding the licentious behavior of his entourage, Henry smoothed things over with a warm speech acknowledging their allegiance and graciously 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 ensure that the food supply would be adequate, and visited markets.²
In the 16th century, Poitiers impressed visitors because of its large size, and important features, including "royal courts, universities, prolific printing shops, wealthy religious institutions, cathedrals, numerous parishes, markets, impressive domestic architecture, extensive fortifications, and castle."³16th-century Poitiers is closely associated with the life of François Rabelais and the community of Bitards.