Balzac () is a commune in the

Charente Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the r ...

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 of south-western

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 ...

Geography

Balzac is located some 7 km north-west of

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...

. Access to the commune is by the D737 from Angoulême which passes through the east of the commune and the town continuing north to

Montignac-Charente Montignac-Charente () is a former commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. It was merged with Vars to form La Boixe on 1 January 2025. Population Sights and monuments * Château de Montignac - keep and remains of an 11th- ...

. The D105 branches off the D737 north of the town and goes east to Champniers. The D406 also branches off the D737 and goes west to Vindelle. Apart from the town there are the hamlets of Coursac, La Chapelle, Les Chabots, and Les Courlis in the commune. The commune is mostly farmland with a small forest in the south-west and a significant urban area for the town.Google Maps
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Geology and terrain

Balzac occupies the interior of a wide bend of the

. The bedrock of the large eastern half of the commune, which is the highest in altitude, consists of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

dating from the

Upper Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...

(

Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 154.8 ±0.8 Ma and 149.2 ±0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian ...

) period. The centre of the town, between Labbés, Genin, and Texier, is located on old alluvium from the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

period. The western part of the commune, between La Chapelle and Chabots, contains other alluvial deposits which form a low

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...

. The river bed (floodplain) is itself made up of more recent alluvium (

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

, sandy clay, and

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

). The terrain that separates the valley of the Charente from that of the ''Argence'' forms a kind of long cliff, very high and steep in its northern part, which is the concave side of the bend in the river near the villages of Coursac and Font-Saint-Martin, which gradually decreases in height to end at the foot of the Chateau of Balzac. The highest point in the commune is at an altitude of 102 m east at Puylebin to the east of Coursac. The lowest point is 30 m on the Charente river at the confluence of the Argence. The village is about 60 m above sea level.IGN Map on

Géoportail Géoportail is a comprehensive web mapping service of the French government that publishes maps and geophysical aerial photographs from more than 90 sources for France and its territories. The service, first developed by two public agencies (the ...

Hydrography

The river

forms the entire south, west, and north-west border of the commune as it flows around the commune and continues south-east to eventually join the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the G ...

. The ''Argence'' flows from the north-east and forms much of the eastern border where it joins the Charente in the south-eastern corner of the commune.

Climate

The climate is oceanic Aquitaine and similar to the town of Cognac where the departmental weather station is located. Styrieix argence

Neighbouring communes and villages

Toponymy

Old forms of the name ''Balzac'' are ''Balazacum'' and ''Balazaco'' in 1298. According to Dauzat, the origin of the name ''Balzac'' dates back to a

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

person ''Ballitius'', which itself is derived from ''Ballius'', to which is added the suffix ''-acum'' which would give ''Ballitiacum'' or "Domain of Ballitius". According to other sources, ''Balatius'' was the name of a Gallic man, derived from ''Balatos''.

History

Aerial archaeology has revealed evidence of a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

Promontory fort A promontory fort is a fortification, defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus using the topography to reduce the Rampart (fortification), ramparts needed. The oldest kno ...

on the slopes of Coursac in a position dominating the Charente. A Chateau existed in the 12th century and Balzac was a former fief under the

Bishopric of Angoulême In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

and the barony of Tourriers which was acquired in 1398 by Guy de La Rochefoucauld. From the 12th to the 17th century the chateau passed through many hands. The present chateau was rebuilt on the same site in 1600 by Guillaume Guez and his wife who left from time to time for their house in Angoulême. It was the residence of the family Guez de Balzac and

Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (31 May 1597 – 18 February 1654) was a French author in Baroque Précieuses style, best known for his epistolary essays, which were widely circulated and read in his day. He was one of the founding members of the . ...

, the "Restorer of the French Language", lived there. From 4 March to 29 August 1619

Marie de' Medici Marie de' Medici (; ; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV. Marie served as regent of France between 1610 and 1617 during the minority of her son Louis XIII. Her mandate as rege ...

was hosted there by the Guez family, "not wishing to stay elsewhere until the peace that made her son

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

". The castle became the crossroads for personalities of the time during her stay - such as

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

, the Duke of Épernon, the

Cardinal de La Rochefoucauld Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

, and the Count of Bethune. The road to

Vars Vars, VARS may refer to: People * Ellen Marie Vars (born 1957), Norwegian Sami author * Henry Vars (1902–1977), Polish-American musician * John de Vars Hazard (1888–1968) * Láilá Susanne Vars (born 1976), Norwegian Sami lawyer and politic ...

was a transport route by donkey for Salt to the port of Basseau. The name ''la Montée des Sauniers'' (Ascent of Salt workers) above Coursac came from this. Formerly the ''Terrier de Bourguignol'', then called the ''Plantier de Bourguignone'', located near the ''Pont Suraud'' (Suraud Bridge) on the Argence was a

dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...

called the ''Tomb of Bourguignon'' which was still visible in 1760. At the beginning of the 20th century cherries and peas from Balzac were particularly appreciated from Angoulême to Paris. The fields provided milk feeding two major dairy factories in the commune, run by Messrs. Hortolan and Rochier.

Heraldry

Administration

List of Successive

Mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Demography

The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Balzatois'' or ''Balzatoises'' in French. Balzac lost 30% of its population in the second half of the 19th century which then stabilised and experienced consistent growth in the last quarter of the 20th century.

Distribution of Age Groups

Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Balzac and Charente Department in 2017 Source: INSEEÉvolution et structure de la population en 2017: Commune de Balzac (16026)
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Facilities

Education

The school is an Inter-communal Educational Grouping (RPI) with Vindelle. Balzac has a primary school (Nursery and from CP to CE2) and Vindelle has an elementary school (from CE2 to CM2). The Jean Caillard High School for Balzac is located in Genins.

Sites and monuments

*The Chateau of Balzac (17th century) is registered as an historical monument. was built by the father of

. This chateau has lodgings which overlook the Charente and is surrounded by a park enclosed by walls with pierced portals. There are also a canal, a fishpond, a

lavoir A lavoir (, wash-house) is a public place set aside for the washing of clothes. Communal washing places were common in Europe until industrial washing was introduced, and this process in turn was replaced by domestic washing machines and by s ...

, and a feudal church. *The Parish church of Saint Martin is located in the town next to the castle. It is of

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

and dates from the 12th century.Church of Saint-Martin
Balzac official website, 2012, consulted on 14 March 2014 Balzac is also the location of the headquarters of the ''Community of communes of Braconne and Charente''.

Chateau of Balzac Picture Gallery

File:Balz ch3.JPG , The Chateau File:Balzac2.2.jpg, Gate at the Chateau entrance File:Balzac2.5.jpg, Entrance to the Chateau File:Balzac2.15.jpg, The Lavoir in the Chateau File:Balzac2.17.jpg, The fishpond File:Balzac2.1.JPG, The kitchen in the Chateau File:Balzac2.8.JPG, The well in front of the Chateau

Notable people linked to the commune

(1597–1654), French writer, lived in the Château of Balzac.