Quintal (; ) is a commune in the

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie () is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its Prefectures in France, prefecture is Annecy. To the north is Lake Gene ...

department in the

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

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 south-eastern

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 ...

. On the south-south-east side of the commune sits the

Semnoz Semnoz () is a mountain of Haute-Savoie, France. It lies in the Bauges range. It has an altitude of above sea level. The mountain is crossed by the D41/D110 road near to the Crêt de Chatillon at an altitude of . Tour de France The penultimate s ...

mountain. The village is on the border between the Arrondissement of Annecy and the Albanais, which it was historically a part of. It borders the communes of Sevrier,

Saint-Jorioz Saint-Jorioz (; ), located on the western banks of lake Annecy, is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in south-eastern France. Population Wo ...

Viuz-la-Chiésaz Viuz-la-Chiésaz (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in south-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Haute-Savoie department Refere ...

and Seynod (the latter being a former commune merged with

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

). It is a rural community with an economy focused on agriculture and local artisanship, with most inhabitants working throughout the Annecy's agglomération, the economic growth of Annecy is a driving factor for the demography of the commune of Quintal.

History

In roman times the village hosted a

miliarium A miliarium () was a cylindrical, oval or parallelepiped column placed on the edge of Roman roads to mark the distances every thousand passus (double Roman steps), that is, every mile.A passus is an ancient Roman unit of length that is 2 gradū ...

marking the fifth

roman mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

away from the nearby city of

, named "''Boutae''" at the time, which gave it its name "''quintilius''", latin for "fifth". The place is found to be referred to as « Cura de Quintaz » around 1344. The seigneury of Quintal belonged from the

14th century The 14th century lasted from 1 January 1301 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCCI) to 31 December 1400 (MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and natural disasters in both Euro ...

(c. 1302) until the

17th century The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCI), to December 31, 1700 (MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized ...

to the Diocese of Puy-en-Velay. On 23 September 1641, Noble Jean-François Garnerin, State Councilor at the Senate of the

Duchy of Savoy The Duchy of Savoy (; ) was a territorial entity of the Savoyard state that existed from 1416 until 1847 and was a possession of the House of Savoy. It was created when Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, raised the County of Savoy into a duchy f ...

, General Controller of the finances of the Duchy of Savoy, acquired the seigneury.. In the spring of the year

1796 Events January–March * January 16 – The first Dutch (and general) elections are held for the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic. (The next Dutch general elections are held in 1888.) * February 1 – The capital of Upper Can ...

, in order to equip the Church of the Visitation with a bell that had been destroyed during the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...

, Antoine Paccard, elected mayor in 1795, called upon an itinerant bell founder, ''Jean Baptiste Pitton'', originally from

Carouge Carouge () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. History Carouge is first mentioned in the Early Middle Ages as ''Quadruvium'' and ''Quatruvio''. In 1248 it was mentioned as ''Carrogium'' while i ...

.. The new bell bore the inscription "''If I survive the Terror, it is to announce happiness''". It was finally installed with the establishment of the

Concordat A concordat () is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 Antoine Paccard founded the Paccard foundry, still active to this day, originally for the purpose of this bell.

References

Communes of Haute-Savoie {{HauteSavoie-geo-stub