Sames, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Encyclopedia
Sames is a commune
in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques
department in south-western France
.
It is nowadays generally listed as one of the communes in the Basque Country province
of Lower Navarre
(in basque, Nefarroa Beheroa).
river, the only significant river going to the Gulf of Gascony (otherwise known as Bay of Biscay, from the Basque province Biscaya) other than the Garonne river in the whole of France’s vast southern province called Aquitaine
(Aquitania
, the old roman province, that later was called Novempopulania
, spread all the way from the Garonne river to the Pyrenees and was populated by Basque-related people from time immemorial).
While the Garonne river picks up the longest trail of its waters from middle-eastern Pyrenees till Toulouse, most of its waters actually come from its west bank and the old cambrian mountains of Massif Central, whereas the waters from all the central and western part of the Pyrenees flow down into the Adour (that kept a very ancient bask name, “Atur” or "Aturri").
Sames lies at the precise point where most of the waters converge at the very feet of the northernmost mountainous rises of the Pyrenees to build the powerful Adour, a river over 300m wide, 6 m deep, and swept by tides of 2m up to Sames (and a bit beyond) that from there strikes straight westward to the Atlantic Ocean:
- the original Adour coming down southward from a trip northward up to the city of Dax
from its welling site in the central Pyrenees in the highland of Bigorre
,
- the so called gaves (mountain river) of Pau, issued from the valleys down from the Vignemale
mountain range , and generally all of eastern Bearn, and the Gave d'Oloron
, draining waters from the western part of Bearn (Aspe
, Ossau), the eastern part of the Bask province called Lower-Navarre, and that of Soule
(basque, Zuberoa or Xiberoa)
- the Bidouze
(probably related to basque bidasoa, river), as such the strongest river itself in the whole of the French Basque country resulting from a number of gaves a few miles upstream, and that originates from the Pyrenean heartland of Lower-Navarre, close to the Spanish border.
Sames is hence a place where the last hills of the Pyrenees splash their feet down into a powerful flow of waters flushed up and down twice daily by the tides
- at the western and northern sides, a large area of flat lowlands encompassed between the Adour, the Gaves, and the Bidouze; such grounds are locally designated as "barthes"
- at the southern side, the valley of the Bidouze which is there a lazy powerful stream
- wedged in-between, an outcrop of the Pyrenees that raises steeply into a hill range raising some 60m over the plain, that blocks the Bidouze river on the northern and eastern side for miles.
North of Sames lies the hilly country of southern Landes, a zone built from derelict rocks and soil abandoned by glaciers over the past 20 million years. West of Sames opens the wide Adour valley down to the sea, distant by about 35 km. South of Sames raise continuously the lower mountains of the Pyrenees (150m altitude just across the river, going to 600m at about 15 km then 900m at about 20km)
Local craftmanship trade in blades and knives of typical regional pyrenean style, so called "two nails pyrenean knives" by "Lames de Sames",an artisanal workshop founded by designer and craftsman Christophe Lauduique (web site), with a sales shop at the nearby sea resort of Anglet
.
An artisanal wood furniture company.
Some elements (a wall holding in a recess a set of IIIrd century Roman empire bronze coins) indicate that some settlement, probably of agricultural type , existed at the hill top site of "Le Bourg" at that period.The current village church portal, of a simple roman type which was all a very rural parish could afford, has been dated back to the early XIVth century.The very first documents mentioning the village, under a name form identical to today's, date back to 1255 ; several minor mentions appear at diverse occasions throughout the XIIIth and XIVth centuries.
The main events of the village relate to the Order of Malte, through the addition, around 1445, on the bank of the Bidouze, of a secondary hostel and hospital that supplemented the facilities they held in the nearby city and active port of Bayonne; the place they obtained probably for free from the Earl of Gramont (the local notability whose main hold was nearby Bidache) was probably hardly occupied at all, and they gave it its name, St Jean (Saint John) being the patron of their Order, whereas the parish was consecrated to the Virgin Mary; that neighbourhood was henceforward known as "Saint Jean d'Etchart" until the Order relinquished the place in late XVIIIth century, "Etchart" being an add-on epithet of probable local basque origin (a swampish area close to is still known as "Etchouette"); the Order established there a chapel, which served as secondary church for the people in the neighbouhood and they long sustained their right for burial there (until a royal decree in 1668 forbade it); several buildings still stand from that period with dates starting from the early 1600s
In the rest of the commune, some farmsteads were run, and a few still are extant
In the late XVIIIth and first half of the XIXth century years, a few wealthy bourgeois established mansions in the village, three at the hill top (the first around 1775, the other two, more lavish and gifted with large surroundings parks and gardens, around 1850), and one on the site of the old Order of Malte establishment (1807).
Lordship and dominion over Sames through the centuries
While Sames per se held no strategic interest whatsoever,being devoid of any military stronghold, the area at large itself was in permanent turmoil due to local rivalry between huge powers-that-be lording over Aquitaine and northern Spain, that surprisingly have made some of the most renowned personalities in western Europe involved with the sovereignty of those otherwise insignificant grounds over four centuries.
The area was until the late XIIth century a part of the overall province of Labourd, lorded from Bayonne
, and included into the dukedom of Aquitaine and hence the realm of France, which was simple enough; the local power entities were an abbay on the other side of the hills, the abbay of Arthous (see the web site of this XIth century abbay http://www.arthous.landes.org/index.php?id=38), 2 km away, serving as stage place for pilgrims to Compostella, and founded in 1160 (the church was consecrated in 1167), and the lords of Guiche
, 1.5km away across the Bidouze river.
However, in 1193, Richard the Ist so called the Lionheart of England, also duke of Aquitaine
and as such a vassal
to the King of France, agreed, for some unknown strategy and as an aftermath of his marriage with Berengaria of Navarre
, to relinquish the sovereignty of a strip of land that lay next to the Earldom of Bearn
from the Pyrenees down to the Adour to his father-in-law, Sanche of Navarre
, who was lording over northern Spain; this strip was carved out of the province of Labourd
, was integrated in the kingdom of Navarre
under the name of Lower Navarre
(Basse-Navarre, Neferroa Beheroa), and thus evaded from the realm of France for the next four centuries.
Sames, which was hemmed in at the tip of the three wide rivers, remained under the realm of France, but found itself in "political isolation", its only ground route being north and east cut off by villages (Oeyregave
) under sway of the Earl of Orthe (who bestraddled Bearn and the province of Lannes, now Landes
, north of Adour and the Gaves) with a fortress at Peyrehorade
, from the rest of the Labourd province by the Bidouze
river on the other bank of which was set a ring of villages part of Navarre (all its south-western neighbours starting from Bidache
, where a new fortress was established in 1325 by the Earls of Gramont
), or still in France but belonging to the House of Albret
-Navarre (Guiche
, due south, with a very strong fortress dating back to the XIth century), while the Dukes of Aquitaine, who controlled Bayonne
, the only port between Spain and Bordeaux, established a stronghold on the hilltop of Hastingues
half a mile away in 1289 under an agreement with the abbey of Arthous (which sought protection from the Earls of Orthe
).
Last Sames was owned at that period by a family settled in nearby Bearn, but without any ground connection (they owned the village of Came
10km away); however the role of the Order of Malta established at Saint Jean d'Etchart starting from 1445 and linked with Bayonne was probably paramount.
The jurisdictional, police, and fiscal situation of the commune was henced very blurred until two decisive steps were taken in the second half of the XVIth century
a) from a local Lordship point of view, Sames was integrated with the neighbouring villages at the south into a new Earldom, the Earldom of Guiche (1563), created by Charles IX King of France on behalf of the Gramont family (who was also possessed in the kingdom of Navarre...), and was hence clearly reinstated into the Labourd province
b) in 1589, Henri of Navarre became Henri IV, King of France, thus ending the four centuries recess of Lower Navarre from the realm of France
In 1790, when the territorial divisions of France were reorganized by the Revolution, Sames was linked to its Labourd and Lower Navarre neighbours into the Department of Basses-Pyrénées.
Hence are come the still extant uncertainties as to where Sames belongs; its three close neighbours all belong to different "provinces": Bidache, to Lower Navarre,(theoretically historically steered from Saint Jean Pied de Port, but in practice steered by itself as a self-proclaimed "free town"), Hastingues, to the province of Lannes (Landes) (historically steered from Dax) , Guiche, to Labour (historically steered from Bayonne).
In conclusion, although actual daily links were probably quite slack, and in relation to the local importance of the Order of Malte based in Bayonne, it is more consistent to include Sames in the province of Labourd (Lapurdi), which is what Atlas Turistico Euskal Herria does (although in a somewhat isolated way, most ill-informed sources still list Sames in Lower Navarre).
Haritsmendi or Harismendi, nowadays « Hourdillé », basque haritz (oak) mendi (mountain); Suhas Neuf and Suhas Vieux, of old (XVIIIth century) Suhast, basque Zohasti, a small hamlet in the vicinity of Saint-Palais, ; Berdoye,?, nowadays « Dufrene » from the family that owned it in the middle XVIIeme siècle; Pé de Puyo : from the family that owned it in the middle XVIème siècle, "pujo" exists in basque as well as occitan, with the same meaning (mound), mayve a family originating from Puyoo a small township 20 km away? Pédepujo is a typical patronym form in pays d'Orthe (Péducasse, Pécastaings...); Nougué, of old (XVIIIth century) Noguer, maybe occitan nogué (walnut tree) or maybe basque Nugerre similar to Mugerre (close to Bayonne); Lagraulet, occitan agraule, crow ou raven; Dachary; Pitoun; Jouanine; Dallemane ou Lamane; Camou Bas, basque Gamoue (today Camou), a hamlet neighbour to Suhast/Zohasti in the vicinity of Saint-Palais, or (unlikely) occitan camou, fertile ground; Saint Jean Bas; Artiguenave, occitan artiga, meadow, here newly opened meadow,; Hanare; Darnauticon; Lacoudelle; Hayet, a typically local patronym, not clearly defined as basque or occitan, see the Lailhet settlement in Guiche- maybe occitan "alhede", ground infested with wild garlic-a catastrophy for the taste of milk when grazed by cows..., or maybe basque haits, rock or also some type of oak?; Claverie; Le Moura, occitan, moura, mouras, mourac, swampish zone; Souyès, maybe basque Zuhaitz, tree ou Zuhaizti, grove?;
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a department in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.- History :...
department in south-western France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
It is nowadays generally listed as one of the communes in the Basque Country province
Provinces of France
The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the département system superseded provinces. The provinces of France were roughly equivalent to the historic counties of England...
of Lower Navarre
Lower Navarre
Lower Navarre is a part of the present day Pyrénées Atlantiques département of France. Along with Navarre of Spain, it was once ruled by the Kings of Navarre. Lower Navarre was historically one of the kingdoms of Navarre. Its capital were Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Saint-Palais...
(in basque, Nefarroa Beheroa).
Geolocation and geography
Sames lies in the valley of the AdourAdour
The Adour is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High-Bigorre , at the Col du Tourmalet, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost as the Adour du Tourmalet. At its final stretch, i.e...
river, the only significant river going to the Gulf of Gascony (otherwise known as Bay of Biscay, from the Basque province Biscaya) other than the Garonne river in the whole of France’s vast southern province called Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
(Aquitania
Aquitania
Aquitania may refer to:* the territory of the Aquitani, a people living in Roman times in what is now Aquitaine, France* Aquitaine, a region of France roughly between the Pyrenees, the Atlantic ocean and the Garonne, also a former kingdom and duchy...
, the old roman province, that later was called Novempopulania
Novempopulania
Novempopulania was one of the provinces created by Diocletian out of Gallia Aquitania, being also called Aquitania Tertia. The area of Novempopulania was historically the first one to receive the name of Aquitania, as it was here where the original Aquitani dwelt primarily...
, spread all the way from the Garonne river to the Pyrenees and was populated by Basque-related people from time immemorial).
While the Garonne river picks up the longest trail of its waters from middle-eastern Pyrenees till Toulouse, most of its waters actually come from its west bank and the old cambrian mountains of Massif Central, whereas the waters from all the central and western part of the Pyrenees flow down into the Adour (that kept a very ancient bask name, “Atur” or "Aturri").
Sames lies at the precise point where most of the waters converge at the very feet of the northernmost mountainous rises of the Pyrenees to build the powerful Adour, a river over 300m wide, 6 m deep, and swept by tides of 2m up to Sames (and a bit beyond) that from there strikes straight westward to the Atlantic Ocean:
- the original Adour coming down southward from a trip northward up to the city of Dax
Dax
Dax may refer to:In French geography:* Arrondissement of Dax, an arrondissement of the Landes département of France* Town of Dax, Landes, FranceIn Star Trek:...
from its welling site in the central Pyrenees in the highland of Bigorre
Bigorre
Bigorre is region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of the larger region known as Gascony...
,
- the so called gaves (mountain river) of Pau, issued from the valleys down from the Vignemale
Vignemale
The Vignemale , at 3298 metres, is the highest of the French Pyrenean summits, in the border with Spain ....
mountain range , and generally all of eastern Bearn, and the Gave d'Oloron
Gave d'Oloron
The Gave d'Oloron is a river of south-western France near the border with Spain. It takes its name from the city Oloron-Sainte-Marie, where it is formed from the rivers Gave d'Aspe and Gave d'Ossau.It joins the Gave de Pau in Peyrehorade...
, draining waters from the western part of Bearn (Aspe
Aspe
Aspe is a town and municipality located in the comarca of Vinalopó Mitjà, in the province of Alicante, Spain.The town is located in the valley of the river Vinalopó, 25 km from Alicante city...
, Ossau), the eastern part of the Bask province called Lower-Navarre, and that of Soule
Soule
Soule is a former viscounty and French province and part of the present day Pyrénées-Atlantiques département...
(basque, Zuberoa or Xiberoa)
- the Bidouze
Bidouze
The Bidouze, is a left tributary of the Adour, in the French Basque Country , in the Southwest of France.- Geography :The Bidouze rises at the base of Eltzarreko Ordokia in the Arbailles massif....
(probably related to basque bidasoa, river), as such the strongest river itself in the whole of the French Basque country resulting from a number of gaves a few miles upstream, and that originates from the Pyrenean heartland of Lower-Navarre, close to the Spanish border.
Sames is hence a place where the last hills of the Pyrenees splash their feet down into a powerful flow of waters flushed up and down twice daily by the tides
Landscape configuration
The Sames area is hence constituted of three zones- at the western and northern sides, a large area of flat lowlands encompassed between the Adour, the Gaves, and the Bidouze; such grounds are locally designated as "barthes"
- at the southern side, the valley of the Bidouze which is there a lazy powerful stream
- wedged in-between, an outcrop of the Pyrenees that raises steeply into a hill range raising some 60m over the plain, that blocks the Bidouze river on the northern and eastern side for miles.
North of Sames lies the hilly country of southern Landes, a zone built from derelict rocks and soil abandoned by glaciers over the past 20 million years. West of Sames opens the wide Adour valley down to the sea, distant by about 35 km. South of Sames raise continuously the lower mountains of the Pyrenees (150m altitude just across the river, going to 600m at about 15 km then 900m at about 20km)
Settlements and neigbourhoods
Settlements in the commune are organized under several neighbourhoods, each with its own personnality, partly shaped by history; locally are thus distinguished :- "le Bourg",a small borough uphill, consisting in a cluster of homes around a medieval church; some traces of occupation dating back to the IIIrd century AD have been found there
- "quartier Saint Jean", an ancient settlement dating back at least to the late Middle Ages, that grew around a stay belonging to the Order of Malte established around 1445, with a kind of hospital and rooms for travellers to and from Spain; this settlement, known as Saint Jean d'Etchart, was until the late XVIIIth century organized as a small self supporting hamlet, and had its own church and graveyard; both hostel and chapel have been erased (the latter with only some foundations left now drowned in the rectified riverside), and a couple of old farm buildings probably dating back to that period;
- Vic Neuf ("Vic Nau"), a rural zone with dispersed homesteads sloping down from the Bourg to the riverside of Bidouze ;
- Vic de Lalande, a rolling upland spreading behind the Bourg towards the neighbouring communes of HastinguesHastinguesHastingues is a commune in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France. Its nickname, due to its location on a rouded-shaped hill, is lou Carcolh ....
et BidacheBidacheBidache is a commune of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.It is located in the former province of Lower Navarre, but it was a little principality after Antonio I proclaimed himself sovereign prince in 1570, until the French Revolution finished it.-External links:*...
, originally farmland with few farms, but now sprouting with new homes ; - the « Îles », a sparse thread of farms along the banks of the gaves and Adour, deriving its name from small river islets that used to stand there in the XVIth century and have now disappeared (some comparable islets still exist further downstream at LahonceLahonceLahonce is a village in the traditional Basque province of Labourd, now a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.-External links:...
and Sainte-Marie-de-GosseSainte-Marie-de-GosseSainte-Marie-de-Gosse is a commune in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France.-References:* -External links:*...
); - "Moura", a recent real-estate zone that is developing around an artificial lake created in the early 1990s at the occasion of the huge civil works for the nearby highway linking Toulouse to Bayonne
Demography
Economic life
Local economics are based on agriculture, foremost maize (corn), kiwi vines both the green and yellow types, and, to a somewhat lesser extent, vegetable growing.Local craftmanship trade in blades and knives of typical regional pyrenean style, so called "two nails pyrenean knives" by "Lames de Sames",an artisanal workshop founded by designer and craftsman Christophe Lauduique (web site), with a sales shop at the nearby sea resort of Anglet
Anglet
Anglet is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in Aquitaine in south-western France. The town's name is pronounced [ãglet]; i.e...
.
An artisanal wood furniture company.
History
Settlement and grounds occupation historySome elements (a wall holding in a recess a set of IIIrd century Roman empire bronze coins) indicate that some settlement, probably of agricultural type , existed at the hill top site of "Le Bourg" at that period.The current village church portal, of a simple roman type which was all a very rural parish could afford, has been dated back to the early XIVth century.The very first documents mentioning the village, under a name form identical to today's, date back to 1255 ; several minor mentions appear at diverse occasions throughout the XIIIth and XIVth centuries.
The main events of the village relate to the Order of Malte, through the addition, around 1445, on the bank of the Bidouze, of a secondary hostel and hospital that supplemented the facilities they held in the nearby city and active port of Bayonne; the place they obtained probably for free from the Earl of Gramont (the local notability whose main hold was nearby Bidache) was probably hardly occupied at all, and they gave it its name, St Jean (Saint John) being the patron of their Order, whereas the parish was consecrated to the Virgin Mary; that neighbourhood was henceforward known as "Saint Jean d'Etchart" until the Order relinquished the place in late XVIIIth century, "Etchart" being an add-on epithet of probable local basque origin (a swampish area close to is still known as "Etchouette"); the Order established there a chapel, which served as secondary church for the people in the neighbouhood and they long sustained their right for burial there (until a royal decree in 1668 forbade it); several buildings still stand from that period with dates starting from the early 1600s
- La maison dite Dufrene du lieu-dit Saint-Jean date de 1608.
- Batiment de 1706 au quartier Saint-Jean
In the rest of the commune, some farmsteads were run, and a few still are extant
- Ferme de 1631 au lieu-dit Laborde de Garat
In the late XVIIIth and first half of the XIXth century years, a few wealthy bourgeois established mansions in the village, three at the hill top (the first around 1775, the other two, more lavish and gifted with large surroundings parks and gardens, around 1850), and one on the site of the old Order of Malte establishment (1807).
Lordship and dominion over Sames through the centuries
While Sames per se held no strategic interest whatsoever,being devoid of any military stronghold, the area at large itself was in permanent turmoil due to local rivalry between huge powers-that-be lording over Aquitaine and northern Spain, that surprisingly have made some of the most renowned personalities in western Europe involved with the sovereignty of those otherwise insignificant grounds over four centuries.
The area was until the late XIIth century a part of the overall province of Labourd, lorded from Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
, and included into the dukedom of Aquitaine and hence the realm of France, which was simple enough; the local power entities were an abbay on the other side of the hills, the abbay of Arthous (see the web site of this XIth century abbay http://www.arthous.landes.org/index.php?id=38), 2 km away, serving as stage place for pilgrims to Compostella, and founded in 1160 (the church was consecrated in 1167), and the lords of Guiche
Guiche
Guiche can refer to:*Guiche, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.*Gīshu, a fictional character*a slang word for perineum; see also Guiche piercing...
, 1.5km away across the Bidouze river.
However, in 1193, Richard the Ist so called the Lionheart of England, also duke of Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
and as such a vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
to the King of France, agreed, for some unknown strategy and as an aftermath of his marriage with Berengaria of Navarre
Berengaria of Navarre
Berengaria of Navarre was Queen of the English as the wife of King Richard I of England. She was the eldest daughter of King Sancho VI of Navarre and Sancha of Castile. As is the case with many of the medieval queens consort of the Kingdom of England, relatively little is known of her life...
, to relinquish the sovereignty of a strip of land that lay next to the Earldom of Bearn
Béarn
Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...
from the Pyrenees down to the Adour to his father-in-law, Sanche of Navarre
Sancho VI of Navarre
Sancho VI Garcés , called the Wise , was the king of Navarre from 1150 until his death in 1194....
, who was lording over northern Spain; this strip was carved out of the province of Labourd
Labourd
Labourd is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques département. It is historically one of the seven provinces of the traditional Basque Country....
, was integrated in the kingdom of Navarre
Kingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
under the name of Lower Navarre
Lower Navarre
Lower Navarre is a part of the present day Pyrénées Atlantiques département of France. Along with Navarre of Spain, it was once ruled by the Kings of Navarre. Lower Navarre was historically one of the kingdoms of Navarre. Its capital were Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Saint-Palais...
(Basse-Navarre, Neferroa Beheroa), and thus evaded from the realm of France for the next four centuries.
Sames, which was hemmed in at the tip of the three wide rivers, remained under the realm of France, but found itself in "political isolation", its only ground route being north and east cut off by villages (Oeyregave
Oeyregave
Oeyregave is a commune in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France....
) under sway of the Earl of Orthe (who bestraddled Bearn and the province of Lannes, now Landes
Landes
Landes is a département in southern France.- History :Landes is one of the original 83 départements that were created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
, north of Adour and the Gaves) with a fortress at Peyrehorade
Peyrehorade
Peyrehorade is a commune in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France.-See also:*Communes of the Landes department...
, from the rest of the Labourd province by the Bidouze
Bidouze
The Bidouze, is a left tributary of the Adour, in the French Basque Country , in the Southwest of France.- Geography :The Bidouze rises at the base of Eltzarreko Ordokia in the Arbailles massif....
river on the other bank of which was set a ring of villages part of Navarre (all its south-western neighbours starting from Bidache
Bidache
Bidache is a commune of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.It is located in the former province of Lower Navarre, but it was a little principality after Antonio I proclaimed himself sovereign prince in 1570, until the French Revolution finished it.-External links:*...
, where a new fortress was established in 1325 by the Earls of Gramont
Gramont
Gramont is the name of an old French noble family, whose name is connected to the castle of Gramont, Agramont in Spanish, in the French Basque province of Lower Navarre.- Key representatives :...
), or still in France but belonging to the House of Albret
Albret
The lordship of Albret , situated in the Landes, gave its name to one of the most powerful feudal families of France in the Middle Ages...
-Navarre (Guiche
Guiche
Guiche can refer to:*Guiche, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.*Gīshu, a fictional character*a slang word for perineum; see also Guiche piercing...
, due south, with a very strong fortress dating back to the XIth century), while the Dukes of Aquitaine, who controlled Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
, the only port between Spain and Bordeaux, established a stronghold on the hilltop of Hastingues
Hastingues
Hastingues is a commune in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France. Its nickname, due to its location on a rouded-shaped hill, is lou Carcolh ....
half a mile away in 1289 under an agreement with the abbey of Arthous (which sought protection from the Earls of Orthe
Orthe
Orthe is a series of science-fiction novels by Mary Gentle.The Orthe series consists of the books Golden Witchbreed and Ancient Light and the short story The Crystal Sunlight, the Bright Air...
).
Last Sames was owned at that period by a family settled in nearby Bearn, but without any ground connection (they owned the village of Came
Came
A came is a divider bar used between small pieces of glass to make a larger glazing panel, sometimes referred to as leaded glass. This process is then referred to as "leading". Cames are mostly made of soft metals such as lead, zinc, copper or brass. They generally have an H-shaped cross section,...
10km away); however the role of the Order of Malta established at Saint Jean d'Etchart starting from 1445 and linked with Bayonne was probably paramount.
The jurisdictional, police, and fiscal situation of the commune was henced very blurred until two decisive steps were taken in the second half of the XVIth century
a) from a local Lordship point of view, Sames was integrated with the neighbouring villages at the south into a new Earldom, the Earldom of Guiche (1563), created by Charles IX King of France on behalf of the Gramont family (who was also possessed in the kingdom of Navarre...), and was hence clearly reinstated into the Labourd province
b) in 1589, Henri of Navarre became Henri IV, King of France, thus ending the four centuries recess of Lower Navarre from the realm of France
In 1790, when the territorial divisions of France were reorganized by the Revolution, Sames was linked to its Labourd and Lower Navarre neighbours into the Department of Basses-Pyrénées.
Hence are come the still extant uncertainties as to where Sames belongs; its three close neighbours all belong to different "provinces": Bidache, to Lower Navarre,(theoretically historically steered from Saint Jean Pied de Port, but in practice steered by itself as a self-proclaimed "free town"), Hastingues, to the province of Lannes (Landes) (historically steered from Dax) , Guiche, to Labour (historically steered from Bayonne).
In conclusion, although actual daily links were probably quite slack, and in relation to the local importance of the Order of Malte based in Bayonne, it is more consistent to include Sames in the province of Labourd (Lapurdi), which is what Atlas Turistico Euskal Herria does (although in a somewhat isolated way, most ill-informed sources still list Sames in Lower Navarre).
Patrimoine civil
- Le château Poulit date du XIXe siècle ;
- Ferme de 1631 au lieu-dit Laborde de Garat
- Batiment de 1706 au quartier Saint-Jean
- La maison dite Dufrene du lieu-dit Saint-Jean date de 1608.
- Maisons de maître des XVIIe, XVIIIe et XIXe siècles.
Patrimoine religieux
L'église de l'Assomption-de-la-Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie date en partie du XIVe siècle. Elle recèle un ensemble de deux autels secondaires du XIXe siècle, une Vierge à l'Enfant sculptée et du mobilier inventorié par le ministère de la Culture.Olden names of homesteads and farms in Sames
Homesteads since beyond memory have always been gifted with names that actually supersede the names of their actual inhabitants in the local habit; those names have changed through the centuries and reflect the local churning between basque and occitan influences and their evolution over time.- quartier Saint Jean
Haritsmendi or Harismendi, nowadays « Hourdillé », basque haritz (oak) mendi (mountain); Suhas Neuf and Suhas Vieux, of old (XVIIIth century) Suhast, basque Zohasti, a small hamlet in the vicinity of Saint-Palais, ; Berdoye,?, nowadays « Dufrene » from the family that owned it in the middle XVIIeme siècle; Pé de Puyo : from the family that owned it in the middle XVIème siècle, "pujo" exists in basque as well as occitan, with the same meaning (mound), mayve a family originating from Puyoo a small township 20 km away? Pédepujo is a typical patronym form in pays d'Orthe (Péducasse, Pécastaings...); Nougué, of old (XVIIIth century) Noguer, maybe occitan nogué (walnut tree) or maybe basque Nugerre similar to Mugerre (close to Bayonne); Lagraulet, occitan agraule, crow ou raven; Dachary; Pitoun; Jouanine; Dallemane ou Lamane; Camou Bas, basque Gamoue (today Camou), a hamlet neighbour to Suhast/Zohasti in the vicinity of Saint-Palais, or (unlikely) occitan camou, fertile ground; Saint Jean Bas; Artiguenave, occitan artiga, meadow, here newly opened meadow,; Hanare; Darnauticon; Lacoudelle; Hayet, a typically local patronym, not clearly defined as basque or occitan, see the Lailhet settlement in Guiche- maybe occitan "alhede", ground infested with wild garlic-a catastrophy for the taste of milk when grazed by cows..., or maybe basque haits, rock or also some type of oak?; Claverie; Le Moura, occitan, moura, mouras, mourac, swampish zone; Souyès, maybe basque Zuhaitz, tree ou Zuhaizti, grove?;