Savès

Presentation

The Savès is a small Gascon province South-east of the Gers and South-west of the Haute-Garonne.

Place chief

Its historical capital is Lombez.

Localization

Savès corresponds to the lower course of the Save. It is bordered of the Astarac in the West, of the Nébouzan in South-west, the Volvestre in the South, the Gimois in the North-West, North by the Lomagne. Territory of Savès

Etymology

The name of Savès is Gascon and means the country “of Save” (local river).

History

The ancestors of Savèsiens are not exactly the Gaulois but rather of the Ibères. The Romans of the Pompée general had noted it during their invasion of the Gaulle and in front of the difficulties of colonization, the general created the border “convanae-Cousoronae” (Comminges - Couserans).

Current Savès comes from the “Pagus of Savecis”. The local life is organized around the “fundus” which are great properties managed by a colonist. This establishment Gallo-Roman E will continue until the Ve century when the Visigoths, which had constituted the kingdom of Aquitaine, were established. Savès returns then in the influence of Toulouse, which in Ve century, became the capital of the Kingdom Visigoth.

During five centuries, the population will decrease and the Forêt to regain ground. Towards the Xe century under the influence of the Monastic orders the population, gathered in villages often located on the current sites, will increase. The orders of Hospital and the Templiers create Sauveté S where each individual becomes free and receives a batch of ground. These sauvetés allow a fast development and the XIIe century is one time of economic advancement and cultural which will materialize at the beginning of the century following by the creation of the University of Toulouse. Towards 1120, the girl of the count de Toulouse Raimond IV, Diaz de Muret marries Bernard 1°Comte of Comminges and brings Savès in its equips.

With the XIIIe century, powerful the Counts de Toulouse combined with the Counts of Comminges, Foix and with the king of Aragon try to create a great confederation. The king of France, helped by the Church which wants to fight the Catharisme, sends Simon de Montfort to fight the coalition within the framework of the Bataille of the Albigensians. After his victory of Low wall in 1213, Simon de Montfort makes a raid on Savès. Following this defeat the Counts of Comminges disunite those of Toulouse until in 1243 where Bernard VII returns in the bosom of Counts Toulousains but those of Foix and Armagnac do not follow it what creates tensions which parcel out Savès.

In XIVe century, the food shortages, the Black Death but especially the Guerre One hundred Year old with overlapped Prince Noir in 1355 will weaken Savès considerably. These periods of war and of Famine involve the destruction of the villages and introduce a dispersed habitat which we find nowadays. Repopulation will take one century under the impulse of the arrival of the inhabitants of other areas or Spain. Comminges became French in 1498, François 1st makes French obligatory in 1539.

This part is carried out thanks to the work of Alain Costes, Little story of Rieumes and Savès, Youth club and arts center, 1983.

See too

Gers (department)
the Community of communes of Savès (Gers)
the Community of communes of Savès (Haute-Garonne)

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