Espagnac
Encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Espagnac-Sainte-Eulalie
Espagnac-Sainte-Eulalie
Espagnac-Sainte-Eulalie is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France....

 in the department of the Lot.

Espagnac is a commune
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 Corrèze
Corrèze
Corrèze is a department in south central France, named after the Corrèze River.The inhabitants of the department are called Corréziens or Corréziennes according to gender.-History:...

 department in central 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...

.

Economy

The main economic activity is cattle raising though it now benefits from the recent trend of rural tourism.

History

Though evidences of neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 and Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic occupation exist on the commune's territory, the village itself was probably only founded during or after the Gallo-Roman era, near the site of a villa not yet excavated. Some evidences suggest the presence of other villas and of a tile factory. The name of the village if of Latin origin, possibly derived from a family name.

During the Dark Ages, Espagnac seems to have become a dwelling of local importance, as attested by the existence of a Merovingian mint (three gold coins with the mention "Spaniaco Fit" have been found), of a large cemetery where sarcophagi have been exhumed and of an abbey. It seems to have been the head of a Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...

 vicaria
Vicaria
Vicaria is a neighbourhood of Naples, southern Italy. It takes its name from the eastern section of via dei Tribunali , in the neighbourhood of San Lorenzo, once known as "via della Vicaria", since the Vicaria Vicaria (Italian: "vicarage," in the secular meaning of "residence of the...

. The first written mention of its name appears in the will of Adhemar des Echelles, around 930 AD.

Then dependent on the abbey of Tulle
Tulle
Tulle is a commune and capital of the Corrèze department in the Limousin region in central France. It is also the episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulle...

, Espagnac devolved during the late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....

, and both the abbey and the church were burnt down by the troops of Gaspard de Coligny
Gaspard de Coligny
Gaspard de Coligny , Seigneur de Châtillon, was a French nobleman and admiral, best remembered as a disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion.-Ancestry:...

 during the Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...

. The current church dates back from the late 16th century. A small restored Carolingian Chapel and the privately-owned medieval castle of Puy-de-Val are also present on the territory of the commune.

Population

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