Arcangues


Arcangues is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France in what was formerly the Basque province of Labourd.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Arcanguais or Arcanguaises or Arrangoiztar in basque.

Geography

Location

Arcangues belongs to the urban area of Bayonne and is located some 10 km south by south-west of Bayonne, 8 km south-east of Biarritz, and 6 km north-west of Ustaritz.

Access

The A63 autoroute passes through the northern tip of the commune with the nearest exit being Exit to the west of the commune but the slightly farther Exit to the east connects directly to the D3 road which passes south through the commune and the village to Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle. There is also the D755 which branches off the D3 in the north of the commune and continues south through the west of the commune to join the D255 on the commune's south-western border. The D933 road from Anglet to Ustaritz also passes through the eastern tip of the commune with a roundabout linking to country roads in the commune.

Hydrography

Located in the Drainage basin of the Adour, the commune is traversed by numerous streams including the Uhabia, a small coastal river, and its tributary the Alotz stream whose tributary the Amestpoya passes through the village and whose many other tributaries cover the whole commune. In the east the Barbarako Erreka flows north to join the Harriet, a tributary of the Nive.

Places and hamlets

Toponymy

The basque name of the commune is Arrangoitze.
Jean-Baptiste Orpustan proposed a joining of the basque words ar-gain, meaning "high rock", and -goiz meaning "an open position facing east" which results in the compound meaning "high rocks facing east".
The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.
NameSpellingDateSourcePageOriginDescription
ArcanguesArchangos1170Orpustan
31
Village
Archagos1170Orpustan
31
Archagos12th centuryRaymond
9
BayonneVillage
Arcangos1249Orpustan
31
Arcangos1255Raymond
9
Bayonne
Archangos13th centuryRaymond
9
Argangois1302Raymond
9
Chapter
Argangos1302Raymond
9
Chapter
Saint-Jean-Baptiste d'Arcangos16th centuryRaymond
9
Collations
AblaintzAblaintz1083Goyheneche
Naubeis1149Goyheneche
  • Chapter: Titles of the Chapter of Bayonne
  • Collations: Collations of the Diocese of Bayonne

    History

;The lordship of Arcangues
The lordship of Arcangues has been mentioned since the 12th century. Sanche d'Arcangues and Aner de Archangos were cited as witnesses or guarantors of real estate transactions between 1150 and 1170.
;Plague
The beginning of the 16th century in Labourd was marked by the appearance of the plague. The Gascon registers track its expansion. on 8 February 1517 the plague was reported in Arcangues.
;The King's Prosecutors
The office of King's Prosecutor belonged to the Arcangues family from the 17th century. Also Laurent, Lord and patron of Arcangues, Curutcheta, and Elissagaray was prosecutor of the Bailiwick of Labourd from 1614 to 1643. His son Jean d'Arcangues received the office of King's Prosecutor by letters patent of Louis XIII of 4 July 1643. Pierre d'Arcangues continued in the office from 1670 to 1692. Finally Squire Gaspard d'Arcangues, Lord and patron of Arcangues and Curutcheta was the last family member to hold the office from 15 April 1714 to 1749.
;The Marquis of Iranda
Squire Michel d'Arcangues, Lord and patron of Arcangues and Curutcheta, baptised at Bayonne on 17 October 1719, captain of the provincial militia of Labourd, married to Rose d'Aragorri, by which the title of Spanish Marquis of Iranda passed to their son Nicolas François Xavier d'Arcangues. Rights to this title was authorized in France for life in April 1781 by letters patent of Louis XVI.
Michel Louis d'Arcangues was the fourth Spanish Marquis of Iranda, Mayor of Arcangues for forty years and General Counsel for Basses-Pyrénées.
His eldest son, Alexis d'Arcangues, succeeded him. He was mayor of Villefranque then Arcangues and General Counsel for Basses-Pyrénées.
Miguel Marie, the 6th Spanish Marquis of Iranda, succeeded him.
Pierre d'Arcangues, born 12 April 1886 in Paris and died on 22 May 1973 in Arcangues, the 7th Marquis, was a poet and novelist and the father of Guy d'Arcangues, the 8th Marquis of Iranda, Viscount of Ascubea, and writer, who wrote in particular Les Tambours de Septembre.
The home to the Marquis d'Arcangues, the Chateau of Arcangues, was used as the Duke of Wellington's headquarters during the December 1813 Battle of the Nive in the Peninsular War. Kincaid, an officer in the Rifle Brigade was billeted in the Chateau and makes extensive reference to it and its occupants in his memoirs ‘Adventures in the Rifle Brigade’.
During the German occupation of France in World War II, the Nazis used the chateau as headquarters for its local troops.
The French Thoroughbred racehorse Arcangues, who was given the village's name, won the 1993 Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

Heraldry

Administration

List of Successive Mayors
FromToNamePartyPosition
1790Jean Baptiste Michel Larre
17911794Jean Etcheberry
17941795Jean Laborde
17951797Pierre Mimiague
17971799Bertrand Dunate
17991800Jean Laborde Petita
1800>1803Dominique Bastres
<18151815Jean-Baptiste Larre
18151827Michel d'Arcangues
18271833Michel Garrin
18331837Étienne Mimiague
18371840Pierre Darthayet
18401848Michel Garrin
18481852Étienne Mimiague
18521868Michel d'Arcangues
18681871Jean Aldabe
18711878Alexis d'Arcangues
18781892Dominique Doyhenard
18921904Alexandre Molinié
19041906Michel d'Arcangues
19061908Jean Aldabe
19081915Michel d'Arcangues
19151919Jean Biolet
19191929André Soulange-Bodin

;Mayors from 1929
FromToNamePartyPosition
19291969Pierre d'Arcangues
19691971Jean d'Arcangues
19711983Albert Viala
19832014Jean-Michel Colo
20142020Philippe Echeverria

Inter-communality

Arcangues is part of seven inter-communal structures:
  • the Community of communes Errobi;
  • the SIVOM of Arbonne-Arcangues-Bassussarry;
  • the inter-communal association for management of the Txakurrak centre;
  • the association for promotion of Basque culture;
  • the mixed association for management of drinking water for Ura;
  • the mixed association for sanitation for Ura;
  • the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
The commune is part of the Basque Bayonne - San Sebastian Eurocity.

Demography

In 2009 the commune had 3,116 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known from the population censuses conducted in the commune since 1793. From the 21st century, a census of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger towns that have a sample survey every year.

Economy

The town is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée zone designation of Ossau-iraty.
ETPM is an independent French company based in Arcangues whose main activity is the execution of works for electrical and telecommunication networks.

Culture and Heritage

The shutters of a Basque house, made with solid wood slats, are painted the same colour as the other wooden parts of the facades or framing. They are generally in a dark red called "basque red". There has also been, since the 19th century, a very dark blue - a kind of Prussian blue - and a "deep" dark green also as well as sometimes a very light gray. At Arcangues the Marquis, Pierre d'Arcangues, introduced a lighter blue, which has retained the name Blue of Arcangues.
It was in Arcangues that the first Seaska Ikastola was created in 1969.

Languages

According to the Map of the Seven Basque Provinces by Prince Louis-Lucien Bonaparte, the Basque dialect spoken in Arcangues is Northern High Navarrese. However, the classification has changed. With new methodological criteria, the Basque dialectology has grown considerably in recent years and, according to the latest work by the philologist Koldo Zuazo, the Basque dialect used in Arcangues is Navarro-labourdin with an east-west sub-dialect. It is an intermediate sub-dialect combining the Navarro-labourdin sub-dialect of the east and the west.
Until then not to be educated or to be illiterate was not a problem in the Basque Country. The inhabitants had their oral culture and that was enough to satisfy their needs. This lifestyle change radically in the 20th century and French replaced Basque in the general population since literacy was more useful in the dominant language. Then, in the late 1960s, a standard Basque was taught. It in no way replaced the local dialect but had the objective to integrate all formal sectors such as radio, television, print, Internet, research, teaching, literature, administration, etc. In informal areas, however, the dialect is still used, especially in areas where there are native Basque speakers. Despite all these changes it seems that, in the medium term, the navarro-labourdin dialect may disappear with its speakers and be replaced by a unified language: batua.

Civil heritage

  • The Chateau of Arcangues is registered as an historical monument. It was rebuilt in 1900. The central body of the building, flanked by two wings, is surmounted by a glass roof which illuminates the interior of the building. It stands on a small hill in the middle of a small park planted with oaks.
  • *The first Chateau of Arcangues seems to have been built in the 12th century and was the seat of the Lordship at the beginning of the village.
  • *the Chateau of Arcangues, as with Bosquet, was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War;
  • the Chateau of Bosquet was rebuilt in 1905 by Jean-Baptiste Ernest Lacombe for André Soulange-Bodin, Minister Plenipotentiary. It is located in the Lanchipiette quarter. Its main facade faces north built in the English style. The south facade is in Basque-Norman style. It opens onto a vast panorama of the Pyrenees and the Bay of Biscay.
  • The Villa Berriots, built in 1929, is the work of architect Louis Sue and was built for the couturier Jean Patou. The Estate of the villa is registered as an historical monument.
  • The Theatre of Nature, built in 1968 by the Bayonne architect Cazamayou, faces north below the Town Hall and the fronton. It appears in the form of a huge courtyard with a traditional structure, closed in the west by bay windows. The terraces on the south side are dominated by a huge Fresco by Ramiro Arrue.
  • The Fountain in the square depicting the head of a man wearing a beret whose mouth spouts water represents Leon Hegoas, called Brasquette from the house of Brasketa, which the Marquis of Arcangues predicted "that it will do him good to drink water".
  • The Marionako Borda House belonging to Luis Mariano, a former singer of international, is located in the commune.

    Religious heritage

  • The Church of Arcangues has a Bell Tower which is registered as an historical monument. An inscription above the entrance to the chapel indicates that the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church of Uhabia was founded in 1516 by Augier d'Arcangues, Squire and Lord.
  • The Cemetery contains an impressive collection of Hilarri, mainly post-16th century, collected by the Marquis Pierre d'Arcangues and combining pieces from three provinces in French Basque country.

    Environmental heritage

Part of the territory of the commune belongs to the regional natural reserve of Errota Handia managed by the Academy of Natural Areas of Aquitaine who also manage the Chouroumillas Pond: a wetland located in the north-west of the commune.

Amenities

;Sports and sports facilities
Other than the Lau-herri Society for Basque pelota, from where the professional champion Simon Haran originated, community life is organized around the Emak-Hor society which has rugby, handball, gymnastics, marching band, a male chorus and a folk group. The Golf course between Arcangues and Arbonne has safeguarded the environmental heritage of the town.
;Education
The commune has a primary school.
;Health
There is a pharmacy, a dentist, a GP, and physiotherapists.

Notable people linked to the commune

  • Rose d'Arcangues, married Casimir d'Angosse, French politician;
  • Jean-Baptiste Mariani, who died 18 January 1890 in Rome and was buried on 2 February in Arcangues, was a French diplomat, Minister Plenipotentiary at Munich in 1882, then Ambassador of France to Rome in 1890;
  • André Soulange-Bodin, buried in Arcangues, was a French diplomat and politician, Minister Plenipotentiary at Berlin, then Director of Personnel and of the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs in Paris, Mayor of Arcangues from 1919 to 1929. He was the author of two diplomatic works: The diplomacy of Louis XV and the Family Pact and The Pre-war Germany in Europe. He founded the Association The Basque House in Paris.
  • Henry Soulange-Bodin, son of André Soulange-Bodin, he is also buried in Arcangues. He was a man of letters and a French historian specialising in the chateaux of France.
  • Luis Mariano, whose real name was Mariano Eusebio González y García, born in Irun in 1914 and died in Paris in 1970, was a Basque-Spanish tenor. He is buried in the Arcangues cemetery which is regularly invaded by his admirers. A bust representing the singer, sculpted by Paul Belmondo is visible in a commune garden. Luis Mariano built Marionako Borda at Arcangues: a Basque house where he made several visits;
  • Gustave Pordea, born 3 February 1916 in Dej, died 12 August 2002 in Arcangues, was a Franco-Romanian diplomat and politician;
  • Micaela Cousiño y Quiñones de León, born in 1938 and spent part of her childhood in Arcangues, was the second wife of Henri d'Orléans - "Count of Paris, Duke of France", Orléanist pretender to the throne of France; she was married religiously at Saint John the Baptist Church of Uhabia on 26 September 2009, twenty-five years after her civil marriage;
  • Léopold Eyharts, born in 1957, is an astronaut and French Air Force Brigadier. He lived in Arcangues since childhood.
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