Séméac

Séméac is a common French, located in the department of the Hautes-Pyrénées and the area the Midday-Pyrenees.

Its inhabitants are séméacais them.

Two theses clash as for the origin of the name of Séméac. The toponymy of Séméac would come from semi, sown and aqua, ac meaning " sown ground of eau" , allusion to the basement which conceals one of the largest ground water of the sector. Another thesis tends to bring closer this name to all the place names finished by “ac” like Bernac, Préchac, Arcizac… which indicated a Gallo-Roman field identified by the name of its owner: Séménius, in the case of Séméac.

Geography

In Bigorre, to the doors of Tarbes, Séméac extends, on Right Bank of Adour, a territory of 629 ha, at an average altitude of 320 Mr.

History

So traces of occupation to the Paleolithic , then in the Antiquity, one found, the true story of Séméac go back to the Moyen-âge: the seigniory of Séméac appears at the end of the Carolingian dynasty. Previously possession tarbaise, it is the fruit of the exchange, in 1020, between the duke of Sanche, Guillaume, prince and duke of Gascogne, and Arnaud-Raymond de Bas or of Coarraze of a ground located at Saint-EP, of which the first had need to build the monastery of the Bénédictins.

The existence of Séméac appears in the texts since 1032.

Later, the barons de Castelbajac dispossessed Coarraze of this field, which they preserved during nearly three centuries.

The village itself, made up of the church, the first castle and some houses, was founded about 1275 by Raimond de Castelbajac. In 1540, the baron Bernard de Castelbajac sold his seigniory to Claire de Gramont, then single heiress of the name and the weapons of Gramont, family originating in the borders of Navarre and Béarn, which consequently shared its life between the castles of Bidache, Bayonne, Pau then Séméac.

At the XVIIè century, Séméac was set up in marquisat. The first marquis de Séméac, Henri (1619-1679), count de Toulonjon, Gramont and Asté, seneshal and governor of Gascogne, shaved the first castle and made it rebuild with such a magnificence that it deserved the nickname of “Small Versailles”.

In the long continuation of Gramont de Séméac, some characters are detached:

Antoine 1st of Gramont, wire of Claire, lord of Séméac, mayor of Bayonne since the nine years age, released Tarbes besieged by Huguenots of the baron d' Arros in 1574;
Antoine II, died to him in Séméac in 1644, the year when it had been made duke and par of France by the young person Louis XIV;
Antoine III, Marshal of France in 1641, served Richelieu and Mazarin;
in 1660, Charlotte de Gramont married Louis Grimaldi, an ancestor of prince Rainier III of Monaco; Two months later, they were invited to the festivals of the marriage of Louis XIV;
one of the back great nephews of Henri, Antoine VII, carried out a dissipated life and ruined its family conscientiously. He was the last owner of the castle where, it appears, he had never come! In consequence of the lack of maintenance, the southernmost angle of the building collapsed in 1777. Ruined, incompetent to make it repair, withdrawn in Bidache, Antoine VII ordered the demolition supplements in July 1777. Many of its stones were used for construction of the old houses of Séméac, and even of the hospital of Vic-in-Bigorre!

The French revolution caused the inversion of the local aristocracy, its expropriation and the confiscation of the goods of the clergy. The grounds thus recovered were availability of the Nation. Confiscated and put on sale, they were bought by the high bourgeoisies tarbais: Caussade (merchants, lawyers), Théaux (lawyers at the Parliament), Sireix (clerks)…

After 1850, the small farmer means and of the village, initially days laborer, could buy them, when the first owners resold them to place their capital elsewhere. It is necessary to see there the origin of the country properties established firmly with Séméac during all the XXè century

Economy

The relatively easy irrigation of the grounds supported the breeding of the milch cows and the market gardenings: Séméac formerly fed a good part of the town of milk Tarbes and fresh vegetables.

A long time village with dominant agricultural, Séméac saw the number of its farms decreasing and it only remains about it very little currently.

In parallel, the artisanal, and especially commercial and industrial activities, developed. It is especially the factory Alsthom which made rock the local economy towards industry.

Administration

Successive mayors

Intercommunality

Demography

Passed of 26 “fires” in 1429 to 1695 inhabitants into 1806,1304 in 1914,2 751 in 1936, the population made beautiful great strides after 1945 with the construction of new allotments (Hispano-Suiza, Baticoop), passing then to 3.054 inhabitants in 1946,4 596 in 1962,5 012 in 1982.

With the last census, Séméac counted 4.878 inhabitants.

Places and monuments

Of the south in the north of Seméac curves the channel Alaric , from which the name would come, according to a legend, of king Wisigoth who would have made dig this channel to feed out of water the camping of his cavalry.

Notre-Dame Church of the Assumption . The first church had been built about 1285 per Raimond-Arnaud de Castelbajac. Set fire to by Huguenots in 1569, it was rebuilt, in 1609, by the dukes of Gramont, with the vestiges of old, then altered at the 18th century, where the retable was carried out, by Dominique Ferrère (1723-1808), grandson of Jean Ferrère, founder of a dynasty of specialized sculptors, installed with Asté. Their workshops left during nearly two centuries the most original elements to the decoration and furniture to the high-Pyrenean churches. The bell-tower and the porch had been added under the reign of Louis XV. The barrel vault, resting on 8 columns, dates from the 19th century. The grids of the court and the gate of the church were installed in 1898 and are the fruit of the generosity of a patron séméacais. The church bears the name of its Holy-Owner: Notre-Dame of the Assumption, celebrated on August 15th

Personalities related to the commune

Albert Bernet (1883-1962)
Jean Duclos-Gavarnys (1875-1947)
Doctor Paul Voivenel (1880-1975)

See too

Common of the Hautes-Pyrénées
Bigorre
Hautes-Pyrénées

External bonds

Site of the town of Séméac
Séméac on the site of the national geographical Institute
Séméac on the site of INSEE
Séméac on the site of Quid
Localization of Séméac on a chart of France and communes bordering
Plane on Séméac on Mapquest

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