Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré (; frp, Sè Zhouère) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population of ...

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 the

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (ARA; ; frp, Ôvèrgne-Rôno-Ârpes; oc, Auvèrnhe Ròse Aups; it, Alvernia-Rodano-Alpi) is a region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Au ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of south-eastern

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 ...

. It is part of the

Canton of La Ravoire The canton of La Ravoire is an administrative division of the Savoie department, southeastern France. Its borders were not modified at the French canton reorganization which came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is in La Ravoire. It consists o ...

in the Arrondissement of Chambéry and included in the

Grand Chambéry Grand Chambéry is the ''communauté d'agglomération'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Chambéry. It is located in the Savoie department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, southeastern France. It was created in January 2017 ...

agglomeration community An agglomeration community (french: communauté d'agglomération) is a government structure in France, created by the Chevènement Law of 1999. It is one of four forms of intercommunality, less integrated than a métropole or a communauté u ...

(previously ''Chambéry Métropole - Cœur des Bauges'').

Geography

Location

Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré is located less than ten kilometres (about six miles) southeast of the city of

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chambér ...

and northeast of the city of

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

(as the crow flies). Neighboring municipalities of the commune are

Challes-les-Eaux Challes-les-Eaux (; Arpitan: ''Chales''), known as Triviers until 1872, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 5,609. Chambéry Aerodrome is located in th ...

and Curienne to the north,

Chignin Chignin (; frp, Shenyin) is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. The village of Chignin is located between the communes of Les Marches, Montmélian, Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré and Challes-l ...

to the east, and

Myans Myans is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Savoie department The following is a list of the 273 communes of the Savoie department of France. The commune ...

to the south and west. Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré and its neighboring municipalities together form the outer suburb of Chambéry

Topography

Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré has an area of and extends into the southwest edge of the

Bauges The Bauges Mountains ( French: ''Massif des Bauges'') is a mountain range in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Eastern France, stretching from the city of Annecy, Haute-Savoie to the city of Chambéry, Savoie, which is part of the French Prealps. Major p ...

, a limestone

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

in the northern

French Prealps The French Prealps (french: Préalpes) are a group of subalpine mountain ranges of medium elevation located immediately west of the French Alps. They roughly stretch from Lake Geneva southwest to the rivers Isère and Drôme; east to a line runn ...

. The main part of the municipality is situated in the ''Cluse de Chambéry'', the

glacial valley U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by the process of glaciation. They are characteristic of mountain glaciation in particular. They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with steep, straight s ...

which separates the Bauges and the

Chartreuse Mountains The Chartreuse Mountains (french: massif de la Chartreuse ) are a mountain range in southeastern France, stretching from the city of Grenoble in the south to the Lac du Bourget in the north. They are part of the French Prealps, which continue a ...

. The administrative centre is located on the

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

, at less than above sea level. The lowest point sits at , the level of the

cluse William Sampson Cluse (20 December 1875 – 8 September 1955) was a British Labour Party politician. Born in Islington, he was orphaned at the age of five, by the time he was eleven Cluse was working part-time. At the age of fifteen he was app ...

. In the eastern part of the commune, a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

called the ''Trouée des Marches'' ('Gap of the Marches') allows connection by road to the municipalities located there. Elevation extends over above sea level in this area and reaches at the height of the massif. The commune does not contain any significant bodies of water, aside from streams and rivulets.

Land use

Over half of the land in Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré (57.9%) comprises agricultural areas, with an additional 22.3% classified as hardwood forests. Vineyards (10.3%) and discontinuous urban areas (9.5%) account for the remaining land. In addition to the village center on the valley floor, Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré also includes the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of ''La Boisserette'' (440 m; 1,440 ft) in a

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

in the foothills of the Bauges.

History

The first documented reference to a settlement in what is now Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré can be traced to around 1100 CE, under the Latin name ''Ecclesia Sancti Georgii'' (; 'Parish of Saint George'). In 1110 CE, Bishop Hugues de Grenoble founded a

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...

of the

Canons Regular of St. Augustine Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...

at ''Saint-Georges'', to which the churches and parishes of ''Saint-Georges'', ''Saint Pierre'' in Chignin, ''Saint Vincent'' in Triviers (today Challes-les-Eaux), ''Saint Jean-Baptiste'' in Barby and ''Saint Maurice'' in Curienne were initially assigned. Two centuries later, the variant ''Jeoire'', latinized ''Jourius'', was popularized in the

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

and

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

regains and was adopted as the standard name used by the priory''.'' In the following centuries, four more parishes were added. The priory was one of the first to be integrated into the ''Sainte Maison de Thonon'' in 1599, an instrument of

counter-reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

in the

Chablais Chablais () was a province of the Duchy of Savoy. Its capital was Thonon-les-Bains. Chablais was elevated to a duchy in 1311 by Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor. This region is currently divided into three territories, the ''Chablais savoyard'', the ...

created by

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born ...

. The place name ''Prieuré'' was added to the commune name in 1901. The priory church of ''Saint-Georges du Prieuré'' is the only construct of the former priory still standing. The church was built during the last quarter of the 14th century into the 15th century, replacing the original Romanesque church from 1110 CE. Two

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

from the original church were reused in the later building. The church and its inventory were designated as

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

in 1956, recognizing its importance to the architectural, historical, and cultural heritage of France.