Roquelaure

Roquelaure
Commune
A general view of Roquelaure
Location of Roquelaure
Roquelaure Show map of France Roquelaure Show map of Occitanie
Coordinates: 43°43′16″N 0°34′47″E / 43.7211°N 0.5797°E / 43.7211; 0.5797
Country	France
Region	Occitania
Department	Gers
Arrondissement	Auch
Canton	Gascogne-Auscitaine
Intercommunality	CA Grand Auch Cœur Gascogne
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Michel Baylac^[1]
Area ¹	21.23 km² (8.20 sq mi)
Population (2021)^[2]	568
• Density	27/km² (69/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	32348 /32810
Elevation	106–239 m (348–784 ft) (avg. 228 m or 748 ft)
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Roquelaure (French pronunciation: [ʁɔkloʁ]; Ròcalaura in Gascon) is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.

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Geography

History

The village is situated on a rocky height near the site of an Iron-Age oppidum and Gallo Roman villa on the neighboring hill of La Ciotat (La Sioutat). The ruins of Roman baths were found in the 18th century, which may be part of the same villa that was discovered more recently in 1898 and excavated in the 1960s.^[3]^[4]

The name Roquelaure means "laurel hill" in Gascon.^[5] A medieval fortified town was built at the current location sometime in the 12th century under the auspices of a lord of Roquelaure, and it received its charter (charte de coutumes) in 1244. From the 16th century on, the lords of Roquelaure built and maintained a chapel in the Gothic Church of Saint-Loup. The lords of Roquelaure, including Antoine de Roquelaure (1544-1625), are buried in the church crypt. Antoine de Roquelaure built the nearby château of Rieutort and began refurbishing the castle at Lavardens, a project which was never completed. Francis I had a fort built on the northern slope of the village hill, guarding the road to Peyrusse-Massas, the ruins of which remain. The grounds of the fort have been the Robert Dauzère Stadium since 1969.^[6]

The former commune of Arcamont was joined to Roquelaure in 1952.^[7]

Government and politics

Mayors

Mayor	Term start	Term end
Michel Baylac	2001

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1962	432	—
1968	424	−1.9%
1975	338	−20.3%
1982	392	+16.0%
1990	464	+18.4%
1999	454	−2.2%
2008	544	+19.8%

Viticulture

The lands of the commune of Roquelaure are classified as part of the Côtes de Montestruc and Côtes de Gascogne vin de pays zones. They are also part of the Haut-Armagnac zone.

Duchy

The seigneurie of Roquelaure was elevated to a duchy in 1652 in favor of Gaston-Jean-Baptiste de Roquelaure (1617-1683), son of Antoine de Roquelaure.

After this line died out, a different marquisate of Roquelaure was created in 1766 for their relatives, the lords of Saint-Aubin, today Roquelaure-Saint-Aubin.

References

^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
^ Urizzi, 59.
^ Lapart, Jacques; Petit, Catherine (1993). Carte archèologique de la Gaule: Le Gers 32. Paris: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, Ministère de la Culture. pp. 115–119. ISBN 2-87754-025-1.
^ Fénié, Bénédicte; Fénié, Jean-Jacques (1992). Toponymie gasconne. Bordeaux: Editions Sud-Ouest. p. 50. ISBN 2-87901-093-4.
^ Urizzi, 59-61.
^ Urizzi, 60-61.

Urizzi, Pascale (2003). "Roquelaure". In Georges Courtès (ed.). Communes du département du Gers: Arrondissement d'Auch. Vol. 1. Auch: Société archéologique et historique du Gers. pp. 59–61. ISBN 978-2-9505900-7-7.