Thouars

For other uses, see Thouars (disambiguation).

Thouars
Château de La Trémoille
Thouars
Location within Poitou-Charentes region  Thouars
Administration
Country	France
Region	Poitou-Charentes
Department	Deux-Sèvres
Arrondissement	Bressuire
Intercommunality	Thouarsais
Mayor	Patrice PINEAU
Statistics
Elevation	100 m (330 ft) avg.
Land area1	12.09 km2 (4.67 sq mi)
Population2	10,565  (2006)
- Density	874 /km2 (2,260 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	79329/ 79100
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.

Thouars is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.

It is on the River Thouet. Its inhabitants are known as Thouarsais.

History

Although there is evidence of human habitation here 5,000 years ago, it is only in the seventh century that the town appears in the historical record. In the 760s, Thouars found itself in Aquitaine, the most robust fortress in the entire region according to contemporary chroniclers. This was a violent decade as Duke Waïfre, struggling to preserve the independence of Aquitaine, fought against the expansionist ambitions of the French King, Pepin the Short. In 762, accompanied by his son, the future Charlemagne, appeared outside Thouars. He destroyed the Gallo-Roman town and torched the castle.

In the ninth century the first of a line of viscounts took charge of Thouars: he and his successors would control the fiefdom for more than five centuries until the end of the fourteenth century. The earliest of these viscounts for whom information survives is Geoffrey I, known as the founder of the Thouars dynasty. Located at the south of Anjou and at the frontier with Aquitaine, the Viscountcy of Thouars became a rich fiefdom with a strategic location extending from Upper Poitou all the way to the coast.

Thouars was the birthplace of the medieval general Louis de La Trémoille. In 1619 his heir Henri de La Trémoille married Marie de la Tour d'Auvergne, sister of Turenne. She razed the old gothic château-fort to build the present château.

Main sights

The chateau was designed by Jacques Lemercier and completed in the brief space of three years, 1635–1638. Its main façade is more than 110 m. The Trémouilles were dispossessed at the Revolution and the château became a barracks and later a prison. It has been restored for its present use as a middle school.

People

Thouars was the birthplace of:

• Louis II de La Trémoille (1460–1525), general
• Jean-Hugues Anglade (born 1955), actor

Thouars is also the final resting place of:

• Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France (1424-1445), daughter of James I of Scotland.

Twin towns

Thouars is twinned with:

• - Diepholz, Germany
• - Port-Gentil, Gabon
• - Hannut, Belgium
• Helensburgh, Scotland
• - Slavicin, Czech Republic

See also

• Communes of the Deux-Sèvres department

References

• INSEE

External links

• Official town website
• Château de Thouars