Arcis-le-Ponsart

Arcis-le-Ponsart
Arcis-le-Ponsart

Coordinates: 49°14′09″N 3°41′40″E / 49.2358°N 3.6944°ECoordinates: 49°14′09″N 3°41′40″E / 49.2358°N 3.6944°E
Country France
Region Champagne-Ardenne
Department Marne
Arrondissement Reims
Canton Fismes
Intercommunality Deux Vallées du Canton of Fismes
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2014) Jean-Luc Dubois
Area1 15.43 km2 (5.96 sq mi)
Population (2009)2 270
 • Density 17/km2 (45/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 51014 / 51170
Elevation 100–248 m (328–814 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Arcis-le-Ponsart is a commune in the Marne department in northeastern France. It is located along the D25 road, south of Courville, 32.2 kilometres (20.0 mi) by road southwest of Reims. The commune of Arcis-le-Ponsart has an area of 15.4 square kilometres (5.9 sq mi). The local economy is mainly agricultural based. Igny Abbey lies in this commune.

Toponymy

Until the early nineteenth century, the town was called Arcis-le-Poussart or simply Pousard.[1] The name Arcis comes from the Latin word "arx", meaning "fortified place"; and the nickname Ponsart refers to a former local knight from Arcy, Ponsard.[2]

Église Notre-Dame.

History

In 1127, Bernard of Clairvaux founded Igny Abbey on land purchased from Ponsard.[2] During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the monks of this abbey cleared and cultivated the land and surrounding forests. Arcis-le-Ponsard was damaged repeatedly, including the troops of the Hundred Years War, those of Charles V, the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Prussian and Russian armies of 1814.[2] During the First World War, a military camp was installed here.

Landmarks

The Église Notre-Dame, a ruin, is attributed partly to twelfth century and partly Renaissance style.[3] It became a historical monument on November 18, 1919. The Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Igny was founded in the 1120s by monks from the Abbey of Clairvaux, sent by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Following a pilgrimage to the abbey which brought rapid development, a daughter abbey, Notre-Dame de Signy, was founded in 1135. The second abbot, Guerric of Igny, was raised to the rank of Blessed; his relics are still venerated in Igny.[4] At the time of the French Revolution, the religious community was dispersed. It was rebuilt in 1780.[3] Monastic life resumed in 1876 with the support of the Diocese of Reims. Destroyed in 1918, the abbey was rebuilt in 1929 and occupied by a community of nuns from Laval.

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1793 495—    
1800 515+4.0%
1806 567+10.1%
1821 577+1.8%
1831 566−1.9%
1836 593+4.8%
1841 584−1.5%
1846 528−9.6%
1851 551+4.4%
1856 570+3.4%
1861 552−3.2%
1866 542−1.8%
1872 495−8.7%
1876 480−3.0%
1881 471−1.9%
1886 517+9.8%
1891 474−8.3%
1896 478+0.8%
1901 501+4.8%
1906 483−3.6%
1911 404−16.4%
1921 315−22.0%
1926 303−3.8%
1931 294−3.0%
1936 301+2.4%
1946 353+17.3%
1954 353+0.0%
1962 341−3.4%
1968 301−11.7%
1975 247−17.9%
1982 231−6.5%
1990 243+5.2%
1999 261+7.4%
2006 266+1.9%
2009 270+1.5%

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Arcis-le-Ponsart". Cassini.ehess. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Histoire et Patrimonie" (in French). Commune of Arcis-le-Ponsard. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hare, Augustus John Cuthbert (1896). North-eastern France (Public domain ed.). Macmillan. pp. 426–. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "L'abbaye d'Igny" (in French). Arcis-le-Ponsart. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
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