Eure
Eure () is a department in Normandy in Northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2019, Eure had a population of 599,507.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
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
in northern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
The inhabitants are called Morsanais.
History
In medieval times Morsan was also written ''Morçan'', ''Morsent'' or ''Morseng''. It belonged to the
Bec Abbey
Bec Abbey, formally the Abbey of Our Lady of Bec (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame du Bec), is a Benedictine monastic foundation in the Eure ''département'', in the Bec valley midway between the cities of Rouen and Bernay. It is located in Le Bec Hello ...
until Jean de Morsent 1276 affirmed that he needed his wealth for his followers in times of war.
Chevalier Philémon Lesens (also ''Le Sens''), was the first baron of Morsan. He was nobleman of the
Maison du Roi
The Maison du Roi (, "King's Household") was the royal household of the King of France. It comprised the military, domestic, and religious entourage of the French royal family during the Ancien Régime and Bourbon Restoration.
Organisation ...
of King
Henry IV of France
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...
and governor of Bernay. He built a hunting lodge. At the time of Abdon-Thomas-François Lesens (1724–1800), who had been page of
Louis XV of France
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
before he became marquis of Morsan,Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698–1782) redesigned the facade. The hunting lodge is privately owned nowadays.
Morsan got municipal administration in 1789.
In 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War Morsan was garrisoned by the Prussian army. In 1940, during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
it was garrisoned by the German army.
There are no street names in Morsan, the village is divided in districts. The old districts of Morsan were: le Château, la Couranterie, les Jumeaux, la Mourioterie, la Mondière. The center of the village is called ''Bourg'' instead of ''la Mondière'' today.
Morsan is one of the communes in Eure under the risk of sudden forming of deneholes. In former times the peasants have exploited the
marl
Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae.
Marl makes up the lower part o ...
underground to fertilize the fields. During heavy rain those ancient excavations can open again. These special deneholes are round holes of 1,5–2 meters diameter and several meters deep. There are around 16000 of those holes in the département Eure.
Population
Image:Morsan Ecole Communale.jpg, village school
Image:Morsan église.jpg, Church de la sainte Trinité in Morsan. Nave was built in the 13th century, choir in the 17th century.Église Sainte-Trinité Observatoire du patrimoine religieux (french)
Image:Le château blanc.jpg, Le Château Blanc, the
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
Lustschloss
In Renaissance and Early Modern German architecture, a ''Lustschloss'' (french: maison de plaisance, both equating in English to "pleasure castle/house") is a small country house or palace which served the private pleasure of its owner, usuall ...