Last modified: 2024-10-19 by olivier touzeau
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Flag of Oloron-Sainte-Marie - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 13 June 2022
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Oloron-Sainte-Marie (Béarnese: Auloron e Senta-Maria; 10,616 inhabitants in 2021; 6,831 ha) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department.
The place is a Roman creation in the 1st century AD on the way to the Somport pass, and owes its name, Iluro, to the Aquitaine peoples. Established for the most part on the alluvial terrace at Sainte-Marie on which the future cathedral will be established, it is also a citadel with ramparts on the hill of Sainte-Croix d'Oloron. The promontory of Sainte-Croix is its oppidum. In 506, Gratus, the first known bishop, attended the Council of Agde and became Saint Grat, whose feast is still celebrated in the fall today.
After the great invasions, Iluro is gradually depopulated. But around 1058, it would seem that some habitats remained because Bishop Étienne de Lavedan settled on the alluvial terrace where a chapel dedicated to the Virgin still stands. In 1080, Viscount Centulle V the Younger came to build the new town of Oloron (medieval name derived from Iluro) on the old Roman oppidum. In these medieval times, no other location could be safer than this promontory bordered on the east-west sides by waterways. This viscount encourages people to come and live and trade in Oloron by establishing legal and economic privileges contained in the act of settlement, privileges which will be taken up and reinforced in 1220, thus creating the For d'Oloron, the oldest in Béarn. Meanwhile, the ancient city of Iluro has risen from its ashes and now bears the name of its cathedral, Sainte-Marie. The Viscount's descendants worked on the construction of monuments on their return from the Reconquista or the Crusades. However, in 1214, Gaston VI Moncade had to cede the lands of Sainte-Marie, then later those of the surrounding villages to the bishops, because he was compromised with the heretical Albigensians. There were then two distinct parts: Oloron, viscount town and Sainte-Marie, episcopal town, which became rivals for about eight centuries, Sainte-Marie remaining economically dependent on Oloron.
In the 13th century, taking advantage of the Albigensian crusade, the bishop obtained lordship over Sainte-Marie and its hamlet of Saint-Pée; Oloron had its privileges extended, then was endowed with an enclosure and two bridges. In the 14th century and 15th century, it obtained the right to market and fairs and its growth led to the creation of suburbs. It was soon the economic capital of Béarn and Soule, thanks to its transit trade with Spain and the development of its textile crafts. The wars of religion and then the Revolution twice suspended this prosperity.
From October 11, 1795 to March 5, 1796, Oloron had the status of capital of the Basses-Pyrénées department held by Pau, who had succeeded Navarrenx. Sainte-Marie-Legugnon existed from 1841 to 1858. The commune was created in 1841 by the merger of the communes of Legugnon and Sainte-Marie. In 1858, it merged with the commune of Oloron to form the new commune of Oloron-Sainte-Marie. The rivalry between the two cities ended, favoring the arrival of the railway in 1883 and the substitution of industry for crafts.
The coat of arms is blazoned Argent, a cow Gules horned, collared and belled Azure, surmounted by a crosslet bottony of the same.
Olivier Touzeau, 13 June 2022
The flag of Oloron-Sainte-Marie is white with logo (photo, 2018).
Olivier Touzeau, 13 June 2022