Creuse (; oc, Cruesa or ) is a

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in central France named after the river Creuse. After Lozère, it is the second least populated department in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. It is bordered by

Indre Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administ ...

and

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

to the north,

Allier Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named afte ...

and Puy-de-Dôme to the east, Corrèze to the south, and

Haute-Vienne Haute-Vienne (; oc, Nauta Vinhana, ; English: Upper Vienne) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve departments that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitai ...

to the west. Guéret, the

Prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

of Creuse has a population approximately 12,000, making it the largest settlement in the department. The next biggest town is La Souterraine and then Aubusson. The department is situated in the former Province of La Marche. Creuse is one of the most rural and sparsely populated departments in France, with a population density of 21/km² (56/sq mi), and a 2019 population of 116,617 - the second-smallest of any

Departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

.Populations légales 2019: 23 Creuse
INSEE The land use is mostly agricultural and the department is well known for its

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

and

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according t ...

production, and for the Charolais and Limousin cattle breeds.

History

Creuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

on 4 March 1790. It was created from the former province of La Marche. The County of Marche was a county in medieval France that approximately corresponded to the modern ''département'' of Creuse. Marche first appeared as a separate fief around the mid-10th century, when William III, Duke of Aquitaine, gave it to one of his vassals named Boso, who took the title of count. In the 12th century, the countship passed to the family of Lusignan. They also were sometimes counts of Angoulême and counts of Limousin. With the death of the childless Count Guy in 1308, his possessions in La Marche were seized by

Philip IV of France Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (french: Philippe le Bel), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre as Philip I from 12 ...

. In 1316 the king made La Marche an '' appanage'' for his youngest son the Prince, afterwards Charles IV. Several years later in 1327, La Marche passed into the hands of the

House of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanis ...

. The family of Armagnac held it from 1435 to 1477, when it reverted to the Bourbons. In 1527 La Marche was seized by

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe ...

and became part of the domains of the French crown. It was divided into ''Haute Marche'' and ''Basse Marche'', the estates of the former continuing until the 17th century. From 1470 to the Revolution, the province was under the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris. In 1886, Bourganeuf ville lumière, located in a remote part of Creuse, became somewhat improbably the third town in France to receive a public electricity supply. Three years later, in 1889, the construction of a primitive hydro-electric factory at Cascade of the Jarrauds (''Cascade des Jarrauds'') on the little river

Maulde Maulde () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes cooperate in the ...

Saint-Martin-Château Saint-Martin-Château (Limousin: ''Sent Martin Chasteu'') is a commune in the Creuse department in central France. Population See also *Communes of the Creuse department The following is a list of the 256 communes of the Creuse department ...

, away, established a more reliable electricity supply for the little town. The creation of a power line from the plant to Bourganeuf was supervised by an innovative engineer named Marcel Deprez; this was the first time that a power line over such a long distance had been constructed in France. The achievement was crowned with the region's first telephone line, which was installed to permit instant communication between the generating station and the newly-illuminated town.

Geography

Creuse is part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is in the Massif Central and permeated by the Creuse and its tributaries. The river is dammed at several locations both for water supply and hydroelectricity generation. As is typical for an inland area of continental Europe, Creuse has relatively cold winters with some snowfall into April, but also hot summers. Rain falls throughout the year because of the relatively high elevation. The topography is principally rolling hills intersected by often steep valleys. The terrestrial ecology is typically cool temperate with a species mix common in the western UK: with oak, ash,

hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

and '' Prunus'' species dominating the woodlands. There are no commercial vineyards. Much of the farming is beef cattle: Charolais and Limousin, and also sheep.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Guéret, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 2,000 inhabitants:

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called ''Creusois''. The population of the department is approximately equal of the country of Kiribati. The population peaked at 287,075 in 1851, after which it declined gently until the First World War. During and after the war, the decline in population became much more rapid both because of the death and disruption that characterised the war years and because of the higher wages available to any workers with marketable skills in the economically more dynamic towns and cities outside Creuse. By 1921 the registered population had slumped by almost 38,000 (approximately 14%) in ten years to 228,244, and the decline continued throughout the twentieth century. Over the last four decades of the twentieth century Creuse experienced the greatest proportional population decline of any French department, from 164,000 in 1960 to 124,000 in 1999 – a decrease of 24%. Because of its low population density, it is considered to fall within the

empty diagonal The empty diagonal (french: diagonale du vide) is a band of low-density population that stretches from the French department of the Landes in the southwest to the Meuse in the northeast. The diagonal's population density is very low compared to ...

Politics

The President of the Departmental Council is Valérie Simonet of The Republicans.

Current National Assembly Representative

Culture

Language

Until the 1980s, Occitan was the primary language of rural areas. There remain three different Occitan dialects in use in Limousin, although their use is rapidly declining. These are: * Limousin ( oc, Lemosin) dialect * Auvergnat ( oc, Auvernhat) dialect in the East * in the North, the Crescent transition area between Occitan and French is sometimes considered as a separate (basically Occitan) dialect called Marchois ( oc, Marchés).

Cuisine

The Creuse Cake is a dessert named after the region. It is made with butter and hazelnuts. There are many varieties, and they are sold throughout France.

Notable people

* George Sand (1804–1878) She situated some of the action of her 1844 novel ''Jeanne'' in rural Boussac. * Thierry Ardisson (1949- ), host and journalist *

Pierre d'Aubusson Pierre d'Aubusson (1423 – 3 July 1503) was a Grand Master of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, and a zealous opponent of the Ottoman Empire. Pierre probably joined the Knights of Saint John in 1444 or 1445, and then left for Rhodes. Ear ...

(1423–1503), Grand Master of the

order of St. John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

(the Knights Hospitaller) . *

Jacques Barraband Jacques Barraband (or Pierre-Paul Barraband) (1767? (baptized 1768), Aubusson (Creuse), France–1 October 1809, Lyon) was a French zoological and botanical illustrator, renowned for his lifelike renderings of tropical birds. His pictures were ba ...

(1767–1809) painter and draftsman * Léonard-Léopold Forgemol de Bostquénard (1821–1897), general in the French Army. * Jean de Brosse (1375–1433) councillor to

Charles VII of France Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461), called the Victorious (french: le Victorieux) or the Well-Served (), was King of France from 1422 to his death in 1461. In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, Charles VII inherited the throne of F ...

* Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894) Impressionist painter, owned a castle in Creuse * Gilles Clément (1943- ): prizewinning park and landscape designer * François Denhaut (1877–1952) inventor of flying boats *

David Feuerwerker David Feuerwerker (October 2, 1912 – June 20, 1980) was a French Jewish rabbi and professor of Jewish history who was effective in the resistance to German occupation the Second World War. He was completely unsuspected until six months before ...

(1912–1980), rabbi of Creuse. *

Armand Guillaumin Armand Guillaumin (; February 16, 1841 – June 26, 1927) was a French impressionist painter and lithographer. Biography Early years Born Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin in Paris, he worked at his uncle's lingerie shop while attending eveni ...

(1841–1927) impressionist painter * Jean Guitton (1901–1999) Catholic philosopher and theologian * Marcel Jouhandeau (1888–1979) writer * Lucien Le Cam (1924–2000) statistician * Pierre Leroux (1797–1871) philosopher and political economist * Jean Lurçat (1892–1966) tapestry artist *

Jules Marouzeau Jules Marouzeau (20 March 1878 – 27 September 1964) was a French philologist. 1878 births 1964 deaths French philologists French Latinists Lycée Voltaire (Paris) teachers {{France-linguist-stub ...

(1878–1964) Latinist and philologist * Pierre Michon (1945- ) novelist * Martin Nadaud (1815–1898) politician and writer * Raymond Poulidor (1936–2019) cyclist * Michael Riffaterre (1924–2006), writer and critic *

Maurice Rollinat Maurice Rollinat (December 29, 1846 in Châteauroux, Indre – October 26, 1903 in Ivry-sur-Seine) was a French poet and musician. Early works His father represented Indre in the National Assembly of 1848, and was a friend of George Sand, who ...

(1846–1903) poet * Jules Sandeau (1811–1883) novelist *

Georges Sarre Georges Sarre (26 November 1935 – 31 January 2019) was a French politician and leader of the Citizen and Republican Movement. Sarre was an early supporter of Jean-Pierre Chevènement and François Mitterrand within the new Socialist Pa ...

(1935- ) Secretary of State * Antoine Varillas (1624–1696) historian * Hubert Védrine (1947- ) Minister of Foreign Affairs *

Jacques Laffite Jacques-Henri Laffite (; born 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver who competed in Formula One from to . He achieved six Grand Prix wins, all while driving for the Ligier team. From 1997 to 2013, Laffite was a presenter for TF1. ...

(1943- ) racing driver * Jean-Pierre Jabouille (1942- ) racing driver has creusoises origins and has a property in Creuse, sponsor of a motor rally Creusekistan *

Marcel Balsa Emanuel Marcel Lucien Balsa (January 1, 1909 in Creuse – August 11, 1984 in Maisons-Alfort) was a French racing driver. Balsa started in racing after World War II, when he acquired a Bugatti Type 51 and became quite competitive in the French na ...

, born on 1 January 1909 in

Saint-Frion Saint-Frion (; oc, Sent Frion) is a commune in the Creuse department in central France. Population See also *Communes of the Creuse department The following is a list of the 256 communes of the Creuse department of France. The communes c ...

and died 11 August 1984 in Maisons-Alfort, French driver. * Nathalie Baye (1948- ) actor is a resident of the department * Victor Lanoux the actor settles in Creuse to

La Chapelle-Taillefert La Chapelle-Taillefert (; oc, La Chapela Talhafer) is a commune in the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography An area of farming and forestry comprising the village and a few small hamlets situated in t ...

* The lawyer Serge Klarsfeld and the comic Popeck took refuge through the organization of Felix Chevrier, the castle Masgelier in Le Grand-Bourg and stayed there several months * François Baroin, French politician native son of Dun-le-Palestel The summers were devoted to the Creuse, where the mother of the little Frenchman had a house. * Jean-Francois Cope, French politician *

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...

, filmmaker, spent part of his childhood in Sardent with his grandmother *

Jean Auclair Jean Auclair (born 3 May 1946 in Vigeville) was a member of the National Assembly of France from 1989 to 2012. He represented the Creuse's 2nd constituency until its abolition and was a member of the Union for a Popular Movement The Union ...

, (1946-) is a French politician. * Michel Vergnier, (1946-) Socialist politician, deputy mayor of Gueret since 29 November 1998.

Tourism

As a traditionally rural and lightly populated area, with ancient and typical ''art de vivre'', original stone architecture, no major urban center and many heritage site such as castles, abbeys and Celtic stone monuments: the Creuse department has become a

Green tourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

destination since the late 1990s. Creuse enjoyed a temperate climate with mild springs and autumns, rather cold and snowy but sunny winters, and relatively warm and sunny summers, but not as hot as in the southern parts of France. Thanks to its preserved forested landscape, little pollution and wonderful stone buildings, many foreigners (notably British and Dutch, but also German and Belgian) have sought to buy holiday homes in Creuse. The major tourist attractions are the tapestry museum in Aubusson and the many castles, notably those of Villemonteix, Boussac, and Banizette. The monastery of Moutier-d'Ahun has exceptional wood carvings from the 17th century. ( :fr:Abbaye de Moutier-d'Ahun). After World War 1, some towns in France set up pacifist war memorials. Instead of commemorating the glorious dead, these memorials denounce war with figures of grieving widows and children rather than soldiers. Such memorials provoked anger among veterans and the military in general. The most famous is at

Gentioux-Pigerolles Gentioux-Pigerolles (; oc, Genciòus) is a commune in the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography An area of lakes, forestry, quarries and farming, comprising three villages and several hamlets situated i ...

in the department (see picture on the left). Below the column which lists the name of the fallen, stands an orphan in bronze pointing to an inscription 'Maudite soit la guerre' (Cursed be war). Feelings ran so high that the memorial was not officially inaugurated until 1990 and soldiers at the nearby army camp were under orders to turn their heads when they walked past. The Chapelle du Mas-Saint-Jean is in Saint-Sulpice-le-Dunois. A local legend declares that Joan of Arc prayed there in about 1430."Jeanne d'Arc at the Chapelle du Mas-Saint-Jean: reality Or legend?"
Town of Dunois website Guéret, Creuse is also home to a large nearby animal park named Les Loups de Chabrières containing some of France's few remaining wolves, held in semi-captivity. It includes 24 European Grey Wolves, two Canadian White Wolves and two Canadian Black Wolves in five enclosures. Motor racing Mas du Clos It is twelve kilometers from Aubusson at the foot of the family castle of

Saint-Avit-de-Tardes Saint-Avit-de-Tardes is a commune in the Creuse department in central France. Geography The village lies on the left bank of the Tardes, which flows west through the southern part of the commune, then north through its western part. Population ...

Pierre Bardinon Pierre Bardinon (1931 – August 2012) was a French businessman and collector of Ferrari cars. Pierre Bardinon was born in 1931, an heir to the Chapal family. He later inherited their leather and fur business. Bardinon owned the Circuit du Mas d ...

creates all pieces in 1963.

Gallery

File:ChateauDeVillemonteix.jpg, Villemonteix Castle in winter File:Bourganeuf - Château.JPG,

Bourganeuf Bourganeuf (; Limousin: ''Borgon Nuòu'') is a commune in the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography An area of farming and forestry, comprising the village and several hamlets situated in the valley of t ...

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

with infamous

Cem Sultan Cem Sultan (also spelled Djem or Jem) or Sultan Cem or Şehzade Cem (December 22, 1459 – February 25, 1495, ; ota, جم سلطان, Cem sulṭān; tr, Cem Sultan; french: Zizim), was a claimant to the Ottoman throne in the 15th century. Ce ...

tower File:EvauxLesBains1.jpg, View of Evaux-les-Bains File:PontSuspenduTardes1.jpg, 19th-century bridge architecture in Creuse File:Aubusson tour de l horloge.JPG, Aubusson's Medieval Clock Tower File:Tapisserie d'Aubusson (Huet).JPG, typical

Aubusson tapestry Aubusson tapestry is tapestry manufactured at Aubusson, in the upper valley of the Creuse in central France. The term often covers the similar products made in the nearby town of Felletin, whose products are often treated as "Aubusson". The i ...

File:PierresJaumatres3.jpg, Natural granitic site of Les Pierres-Jaumâtres, in Creuse File:Monet The Petite Creuse River.jpg, Monet's ''Petite Creuse'', 1889 File:Paysage en Creuse.JPG, Western Creuse typical landscape File:Ruisseau du Langladure au Moulin.jpg, Small river in Creuse File:ChateauBoussacSurPetiteCreuse.jpg, Boussac

, Creuse Image:Pont senoueix vgen.jpg, Senoueix Bridge Image:Vache-de-race-limousine-en-correze-2.jpg, typical Limousin cattle in Creuse Image:Guéret Loups de Chabrières.JPG, The wolves of Chabrières Image:Lac vassivière vue géné.jpg, Lake Vassivière in Creuse