Saint-Martin-l'Ars 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

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.department and

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...

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 an ...

of western

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 area ...

Geography

The

Clouère The Clouère (french: la Clouère, ) is a river that flows through the west-central French departments of Charente and Vienne. Its source is at Lessac, from which it flows generally northwest. It is a right tributary of the Clain, into which ...

flows north-northwest through the middle of the commune. The

Clain The Clain (; oc, Clen, link=yes) is a long river in western France, a left tributary of the river Vienne. Its source is near Hiesse, Charente. The Clain flows generally north, through the following departments and towns: *Charente * Vienne: ...

flows northwest through the south-western part of the commune and crosses the village.

Geology and terrain

The commune is part of the region known as the Civraisien and has a beautiful landscape of hills.

Hydrography

202 ponds have been identified across the municipality (out of 30,000 recorded in the Poitou-Charentes region). They were created by humans, especially to meet the water needs of people (community ponds), livestock or after extraction (clay, marl, millstones). Rich in botanical life they play a major role for amphibians (

newt A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

s), reptiles (

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

s) and

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

. They are a symbolic element of the rural heritage and contribute greatly to the maintenance of

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

in both the plains and the woodlands.

Climate

The climate is oceanic with mild summers.

Toponymy

The village's name comes from Saint Martin of Vienne,

bishop of Vienne The Archbishopric of Vienne, named after its episcopal seat in Vienne in the Isère département of southern France, was a metropolitan Roman Catholic archdiocese. It is now part of the Archdiocese of Lyon. History The legend according to whi ...

in the 2nd century, the evangelist of

Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...

. The suffix "ars" means "burnt".

Demographics

History

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 opposing ...

, the battle line crossed the commune, from 22 June 1940 to 1 March 1943, leaving the settlement in the free zone and a small part of the territory of the municipality in the occupied zone. On 14 July 1941, the population showed their strength of will by celebrating the National Day, which was banned in 1940, around a bonfire and singing the

Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

. In 1945, to celebrate the liberation and return of the Republic, a

lime tree ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they ...

was planted as a "tree of liberty".

Abbey of Notre-Dame de la Réau

The Abbey of Notre-Dame de la Réau, located on the left bank of the Clain in a secluded corner on the borders of Poitou and the Lower Marche, was founded in the 12th century by canons following the rule of St. Augustine.François Eygun, ''L’Abbaye de la Réau'', Poitiers, 1956, p. 24 It was a very important house, the influence of which, as a result of its many subsidiaries, extended far beyond the region as far as Anjou and Brittany. It was dissolved 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 coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. Having reviewed the history and archaeological survey in 1937, François Eygun wrote in the Poitevin Press in 1970 that this was "one of the most prestigious monuments of the Haut-Poitou".v

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saintmartinlars Communes of Vienne