Aast (, ) is a commune in the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon language, Gascon Occitan language, Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; ) is a Departments of France, department located in the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the southwest corner of metropolitan ...

department in the

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine () is the largest Regions of France, administrative region in France by area, spanning the west and southwest of Metropolitan France. The region was created in 2014 by the merging of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in southwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Aast is the first commune in France by alphabetical order.

Geography

Location

The village is situated on the plateau of Ger and is composed of a dozen scattered houses. Aast is 20 km east of Pau and 20 km north of

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...

. Access to the commune is by road D70 then D311 north-east from

Gardères Gardères (; ) is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France. Together with Luquet, the commune forms an enclave of Hautes-Pyrénées within the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. A neighbouring second enclave com ...

, road D64 north-west from Ger, and road D311 when coming south from Ponson-Dessus. Other country roads can also be used to access the commune.Google Maps
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Hydrography

Located in the

Drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of the

Adour The Adour (; ; ) 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. is known as the ' ...

, Aast is traversed by the ''Carbouère'' stream, a tributary of the ''Louet'' river.

Localities and hamlets

* Aast * Bayet * Bidou * Cadet * France * Gachau * Hourcade * Lasbordes * Lasserre * Lassus * Lescloupe * Mouly * Pouquet * Rémy * Toulou Géoportail
,

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

, consulted on 14 October 2011

Neighbouring communes and villages

Toponymy

''Aast'' is the first French commune in alphabetical order. Previously, ''Aas'', another commune in the Lower Pyrenees, came first until 1861, when it merged with the commune of Assouste to form the new commune of Eaux-Bonnes. The commune's Béarnais name is also ''Aast''. According to Dauzat and Rostaing ''Aast'' comes from the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

''ast'' ("rock"). This seems unlikely given the physical setting. Michel Grosclaude Michel Grosclaude, Toponymical Dictionary of communes, Béarn, ed. Edicions reclams & Édition Cairn - 2006 , page 201 suggests that the name of the town derives from an

anthroponym Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'', 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'', 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the proper names of human beings, both individual and coll ...

composed of ''Aner'' + ''Aster''. Brigitte Jobbé-Duval Brigitte Jobbé-Duval, Dictionary of place names - Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 2009, ed. Archives and Culture recalls that in 1429, ''Aast'' appeared as ''Hast'', which means ''lance'', and therefore advanced the theory that ''Aast'' could refer to a battle that occurred there. The following table details the origins of the commune name. Sources: *

Raymond Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

: ''Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees'', 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. ''Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees''
, Paul Raymond, Imprimerie nationale, 1863, Digitised from Lyon Public Library 15 June 2011 *Cassini:

Cassini Map The Cassini Map or Academy's Map is the first topographic and geometric map made of the Kingdom of France as a whole. It was compiled by the Cassini family, mainly César-François Cassini (Cassini III) and his son Jean-Dominique Cassini (Cas ...

from 1750Cassini Map 1750 – Aast
Origins: *Census: Census of MontanerManuscript from 1429 in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques *Reformation: Reformation of BéarnManuscript from the 16th to 18th centuries - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques

History

There was a

Lay Abbey A Lay Abbey (Fr: Abbaye laïque) was a basic component of the Middle Ages in the western foothills of the northern Pyrenees. The adjective lay indicated that the property did not belong to a religious order. It is possible to identify a hundred la ...

in Aast which was abolished in 1791. The Lordship of Aast was owned by the Day family from 1674 until the French Revolution. In 1678, Jérome de Day, adviser to the king, bought the abbey and

tithes A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques or via onli ...

with rights of patronage: he was to provide a priest and entitled to receive a portion of the tithe, to sit in the choir, to be first to receive the blessed bread, and to be buried in the church.

Heraldry

Administration

List of Successive Mayors of Aast ;Mayors from 1942

Population

The inhabitants are known as ''Aastois(es)'' in French.

Culture and heritage

Civil heritage

The town has a number of old farmhouses: * The Fray Farmhouse (17th century) *A Farmhouse at Bayet (19th century) *Houses and Farms (18th and 19th century)

Religious heritage

The Church of Saint Martin (1854) dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours was built under

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

during the administration of Mayor Bartholomew Lassus. Recently renovated by the artist Villarubias, there are many objects in the church registered as historical objects: *A Processional Lantern (18th century) *A

Thurible A thurible (via Old French from -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... from incense burner suspended from chains, in which incense">Medieval Latin ) i ...

(17th century) *A Pail for holy water (19th century) *A Painting: Christ on the cross with the Virgin, Saint Madeleine and Saint Martin (18th century) *2 Paintings: Saint Martin Bishop, and the Charity of St. Martin (19th century) *Statue: Saint Joseph (19th century) *Altar

Pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

(19th century) *A Pulpit (18th century) *2 Altars and

Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

s (19th century) *The Main Altar (19th century) *5 stained glass windows by Henri Gesta (1927) *The Furniture in the ChurchMinistry of Culture, Palissy

References

External links

''Aast'' on the 1750 Cassini Map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aast, Pyrenees-Atlantiques Communes of Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia