Montaut () 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

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlanti ...

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 south-western

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 ...

Geography

Location

Montaut is situated at the east of the department, 25 km south-east of Pau. The commune is bordering the department of

Hautes-Pyrénées Hautes-Pyrénées (; Gascon/Occitan: ''Nauts Pirenèus / Hauts Pirenèus'' awts piɾeˈnɛʊs es, Altos Pirineos; ca, Alts Pirineus alts piɾiˈneʊs English: Upper Pyrenees) is a department in the region of Occitania, southwestern France. ...

Access

The commune is served by departmental roads 212, 812 and 937 and Line 0535 of the regional buses in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Montaut-Bétharram station has rail connections to Tarbes, Pau, Bordeaux and Bayonne.

Hydrography

The lands of the commune are watered by the Gave of Pau, tributary of the

Adour The Adour (; eu, Aturri; oc, Ador) is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High-Bigorre (Pyrenees), in the commune of Aspin-Aure, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay) near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost ca. i ...

, and by its tributaries, the stream of Siot (fed on Montaut by the streams of the Uchas and Bignes) and the Mouscle, itself joined on the commune by the stream, the Mousclère.

Places and Hamlets

*Annette * Loustau * Pasquine * Village * Hameau d'en Bas * Hameau d'en Haut * Content * Sarusse

Toponymy

The toponym Montaut appears in the forms ''Mont-Altus'' and the ''bastide of Montaut'' (12835Paul Raymond (archiviste), Paul Raymond, ''Dictionnaire topographique Béarn-Pays basque'' and the 14th century respectively, titles of BéarnTitres de la vicomté de Béarn - Archives départementales des Pyrénées-Atlantiques) and Montaud (15355, reformation of Béarn). Its Bearnese name is ''Montaut'' or ''Mountaut''..

History

Montaut is a former

bastide Bastides are fortified new towns built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony, Aquitaine, England and Wales during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although some authorities count Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban, which was founded in 1144, as the f ...

founded in 1327 by Marguerite de Moncade, the grandmother of Gaston III de Foix-Béarn. The original Bastidian plan still includes the remains of its past.

References

Communes of Pyrénées-Atlantiques {{PyrénéesAtlantiques-geo-stub