Les Eyzies and the Cro Magnon

Cro-Magnons are recognized as the earliest know race of modern humans, Homo sapiens. Generally considered the earliest European descendants, Cro-Magnons lived between 10,000 and 35,000 years ago. The first Cro-Magnon specimens were discovered in France in 1868 along with many sophisticated tools, artifacts and cave paintings. Cro-Magnons are credited with creating the first calendar nearly 34,000 years ago

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History of the Dordogne

Quiet and tranquil now, the Dordogne region has had a tumultuous past. This history has left its mark all over the region, so before any visit to the region it is useful to have a brief understanding of the history of the area, so that the caves and dwellings,the castles and the bastides, the culture and the heritage, are set in context.

There are several significant stages to the history of the Dordogne region:

PREHISTORY

There is evidence across the region of the prehistoric activity, most clearly seen in the numerous cave paintings. The caves at Lascaux are perhaps the finest example anywhere, and date from approximately 15,000 years ago. But man had lived in the area for perhaps 400-500,000 years prior to this high point. Initially as Homo erectus, but he gave way later (100,000 years ago) to Neanderthal man, who was more capable at making tools.

The caves of the area provided ‘quality accommodation to these individuals trying to escape the cold of the last ice age, and also enabled them to hunt for reindeer and mammoths. It is likely that when the ice age ended, and the reindeer moved north, this first early period of semi-civilisation came to an end.

It was about 35,000 years ago that humans ‘as we know them’ arrived - homo-sapiens, as Cro-Magnon man. They co-existed with Nenderthal man for about 5,000 years. It was Cro-magnon man who brought hunting and painting skills to the region. This period, which lasted until approximately 10,000 years ago, was the period in which the paintings of Lascaux caves etc were created.

From that period, until 2500 years ago there were fundamental changes in lifestyle. Hunting gave way in part to raising cattle for food, and food-gathering gave way to agriculture and the planting of crops. Decorative pottery was made, and towards the end of this period copper implements were also made.

History of the Dordogne after 2000 BC - the Celts and the Romans

Life in the Dordogne continued to improve. Bronze implements were made, horses were trained and used for hunting, and more sophisticated dwellings were constructed from rock - there are many dolmens in the region that remain from this period.

The wheel was invented, and when used with animals that could pull carts, will have had a substantial impact on the lifestyle of early man. But meanwhile greater, more efficient civilisations were developing elsewhere and these wre to change the Dordogne (and the world) for ever.

The Celts moved across France and reached the area about 2500 years ago. Much more sophisticated than the inhabitants at that time, they were skilled at metalworking, and developed trade routes across France and Europe. They lived in towns, usually constructed on hilltops for defensive reasons, where a complex administrative function was established.

They created the first cities, including the city that is now Perigueux.

The Romans arrive in the Dordogne

The life of the celts - gauls as they were known now - was soon to be disrupted by the arrival of the Romans. 2,200 years ago, in 56 BC, they moved into the Dordogne under Publius Crassus, a lieutenant of Caesar, and rapidly conquered the gauls.

In AD 16 Aquitaine was born, as Aquitania, covering a large part of South West France. The fertile land rapidly attracted new Roman settlers, who brought ever more advanced agricultural techniques to the region, and constructed buildings, towns and cities that were very sophisticated.

The chief Roman towns in the region were at Perigueux and Cahors.

Romans also brought their language and culture to the Dordogne, and introduced the first vines to the region. The rich among them lived in splendid villas, at the centre of large farming complexes.

Numerous remains from the Roman period exist in the region, although not in the scale that they are found.

Vandals , Francs and Moors

Constant attacks on all fronts weakened the Roman empire, and these intensified after about 300 years of occupation. Various tribes from eastern europe invaded the region, constantly attempting to take the fertile lands from the Roman occupiers.

The Vandals and Visigoths were the most successful at displacing the Romans. Many of the fine villas and towns that had been established were destroyed, and new towns started to be developed with defensive walls and fortifications. There are many examples of fortified towns to be seen in the Dordogne region.

The vandals and visigoths had a short lived victory, because by the beginning of the 6th century they too were defeated by the Francs.

The Moors from the south were soon to follow, and took control of the area in the eighth century, before being themselves defeated. A tumultuous time of change in the Dordogne region of France, with Charlemagne expanding the boundaries further.

The Vikings then invaded from the north during the 10th century, burning villages and destroying everything else in their path as they moved along the Dordogne and Isle rivers.

The vikings too were eventually repelled. As part of the repulsion of the Vikings, four ‘baronies’ were established - Beynac, Biron, Mareuil and Bourdeilles. This provided the backdrop for much of what happened in the region over the following centuries, with powerful central families controlling much of the Dordogne.

By 1000 AD a number of towns that we still recognise had been established across the region.

The Middle Ages

During the Middle ages many of the bastide towns in the area were founded. Many are still in existence nowadays (see Towns’).

Eleanor of Aquitaine was next to cause problems in the area. She inherited much of Aquitaine, and married the King of France, Louis VII. But this marriage was annulled after 15 years, and Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet. Henry then became king of England, and a large part of France thus fell under English rule. Not surprisingly this caused some tensions! The problem was to cause rivalries that lasted hundreds of years. The problem was compounded when Eleanor and Henry had a troublesome son - Richard the Lionheart. When King Henry died, Richard inherited the throne of England and all its French lands.

In 1328, following the deaths of the 3 sons of Philippe le Bel, the French selected  Philippe Count of Valois to be king, in place of Edward III. Edward III was the king of England and was also the nephew of the deceased French king.

Later, things got worse still, and in 1337 Philippe VI ordered that the lands of Aquitaine be taken from the English. In 1340 Edward III declared himself King of France. Thus the Hundred Years War began. During the Hundred Years war there were numerous ‘famous’ battles including the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The war was all but lost for the French, and it was agreed that Henry V was the heir to the French throne. But then Henry V died unexpectedly, leaving only a baby as his heir.

Soon after the young Joan of Arc appeared on the scene and remotivated the French king - now Charles VII - and his armies. It was in 1451 at the Battle of Castillon the English were finally defeated (a battle now spectacularly recreated each year for the enjoyment of tourists).

The 16th century led to further troubles, with numerous sieges, battles and unlimited cruelty during the Wars of Religion (between the catholics and the protestants) that ravaged the region. Several massacres of entire towns took place, and much of the earlier heritage of the Dordogne was destroyed.

It was only in 1598, when the Edict of Nantes granted certain freedoms to the protestants, that the battles came to an end.

The 17th and 18th centuries

Across the whole of France the 17th and 18th centuries were an unsettled time.

Centuries of battles had weakened the region, the Black death was rampant, and there were many years in which the harvests were poor. Food shortages, price rises and falling wages all made life very difficult for the poor, while the rich appeared to get ever richer, based in part on a series of unpopular taxes. Meanwhile the region experienced enormous population growth, further compounding the problems.

It is hard to imagine the desperation of a people who can simply see no escape from the terrible poverty, the high mortality rate and the daily struggle to survive.

The final straw was the imposition of a heavy salt tax on the region, and many people were living in constant destitution, virtually enslaved to the landowners and state.

This poverty also encouraged bands of ‘pirates’ to cross the countryside, pillaging villages as they went. The villagers were especially aggrieved that the landowners, despite receiving large amounts of tax, were unable to prevent these attacks.

This was more than could be tolerated and in 1594 there was a peasant revolt, touching much of the region between Bergerac and Sarlat.

A small victory was obtained, with a slight lifting of the taxes, but the victory was short-lived and for many years there were frequent uprisings against the landowners, almost always met with excessive force and reprisals. The revolts usually pitted peasants armed with pitchforks and agricultural implements against much better armed forces, so the outcome was not surprising.

These uprisings continued more or less sporadically until the time of the French Revolution.

Revolution, Napoleon, and after

Things reached a head in 1789, although more in Paris than the rest of the country.

The French Revolution overturned the existing regime and led to a time of great troubles in France, known as the Great Terror, which lasted until 1794 with much death and witch-hunting. The moderate Girondins based in Bordeaux suffered greatly during these years.

Only 10 years later, in 1804, Napoleon had leapt to power and been crowned emperor, to enormous popular support from the people. His fame and reputation relied largely on his great victories in wars with neighbouring countries, but he also had great success with a new legal code, the Napoleonic Code, which is still the foundation of the modern French legal system.

Many people from the Dordogne region joined the armies of Napoleon, which continued to enjoy success until the disastrous march on Moscow in 1812. This defeat was followed by others and napoleon was finally removed at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Poverty in the south-west of France increased still further, helped by the abolition of the slave trade which had formed an important part of Bordeaux revenues. But as the 19th century progressed some semblance of normality returned and the poverty levels decreased significantly.

Towards the end of the 19th century two new trends were seen that continue to this day. The first is tourism, and the second is rural depopulation. Unfortunately it took tourism another 100 years to catch up with the exodus of the young from the area, and to start to rebuild and reconstruct some of the long abandoned buildings and villages.

Finally it must be noted in tribute that many French from the region lost their lives at war during the 20th century, albeit that the battlefields were far away in northern France. Almost all villages in the Dordogne have a war memorial commemorating the young people of the region lost in the war.

The people of the Dordogne region also played an active role in the resistance movement during the second World War, and there are several locations that you will come across where there are memorials and tributes to these events.