Mussidan

Mussidan
Commune
Crempse River
Crempse River
Coat of arms of Mussidan
Coat of arms
Location of Mussidan
Mussidan is located in France
Mussidan
Mussidan
Location within France
Mussidan is located in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Mussidan
Mussidan
Location within Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 45°02′09″N 0°21′59″E / 45.0358°N 0.3664°E / 45.0358; 0.3664
CountryFrance
RegionNouvelle-Aquitaine
DepartmentDordogne
ArrondissementPérigueux
CantonVallée de l'Isle
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Stéphane Triquart
Area
1
3.85 km2 (1.49 sq mi)
Elevation
50 m (160 ft)
Highest elevation
106 m (348 ft)
Lowest elevation
42 m (138 ft)
Population
 (2023)
2,771
 • Density720/km2 (1,860/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
24299 /24400
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Mussidan (French pronunciation: [mysidɑ̃]; Occitan: Moissida) is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Mussidan station has rail connections to Bordeaux, Périgueux, Brive-la-Gaillarde and Limoges.

History

Former Higher primary school for girls

.

According to the *Black Book* of Saint-Florent de Saumur, in 1081, Alguier, a knight and lord of Mucidan [sic], donated the church of Saint-Pierre de Sorziac to the monastery of Saint-Florent de Saumur and the priory of Montcarret. Shortly thereafter, he dispossessed the monks of Saint-Florent of the said church in order to donate it to Fulcrade and the religious community of Charroux.

From at least the first half of the 13th century, the lords of *Mucidan* belonged to the Montaut family (starting with Raimond I de Montaut—though the precise origins of these *Montauts* cannot be determined). By the following generation, this line merged into the Castillon family through the marriage of Raimond's daughter, Mathe de Montaut, to Guillaume-Amanieu de Castillon d'Eauzan (died c. 1302); the Castillon family subsequently adopted the name *Montaut de Mussidan* and is considered a cadet branch of the Viscounts of Castillon. The son of Mathe and Guillaume-Amanieu, Raimond I (or II), married Faïs de Gontaut of Badefol; their issue included: Auger (d. 1360)—also "Prince" of Blaye in 1356 via an exchange with King Edward III and Lord of Aubeterre by grant from the said English king in 1357; husband (in 1330) of Régine de Salviac and father of Raimond II (or III) de Montaut-Mussidan "Castillon" (born c. 1335, d. 1406; also Lord or "Prince" of Montendre, Montguyon, Blaye, and Aubeterre; husband (in 1365) of Marguerite d'Albret, daughter of Bérard I de Vayres, Lord of Vayres and Verteuil, and of Guiraude de Gironde). Their eldest daughter, Rosine de Montaut, passed Montendre, Montguyon, and Mussidan to her husband, Guy II de La Rochefoucauld-Verteuil-Barbezieux, whom she married in 1382.

The La Rochefoucauld family held Mussidan until around 1500, after which it passed to the Gramont family (Jean I de Gramont, c. 1375–1429, having married Marie de Montaut-Mussidan, the youngest daughter of Raimond II and Marguerite d'Albret; the second daughter, Mathe de Montaut, had married Nicolas Roger de Beaufort). Mussidan subsequently passed to the Caumont La Force family—notably Henri-Jacques Nompar de Caumont—remaining with them until the Revolution.

The siege of the town is mentioned in Montaigne's *Essays* (1569).

The spelling "Mucidan" appears on the Cassini map, which depicts France between 1756 and 1789.

The town served as the administrative center of the Mussidan district from 1790 to 1800.

An initial wooden bridge was built across the Isle River in 1840.

Roundup of 16 January 1944

On 16 January 1944, 35 hostages were arrested by the Germans for acts of resistance. They were deported to German work camps.

Battle and executions of 11 June 1944

On 11 June 1944 Francs-Tireurs et Partisans destroyed a German armoured train at Mussidan station. During the fight, eight guerrillas and the train guard were killed. At the same time a convoy of the 11th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht arrived from Bordeaux. The guerrillas were obliged to withdraw. As a reprisal, a detachment of the Gestapo from Périgueux led by Second Lieutenant Michaël Hambrecht, reinforced by a platoon led by Alexandre Villaplane, head of one of the five sections of the North African Brigade and former captain of the France football team at the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, 350 men over the age of sixteen from the city and its surroundings were arrested. The village was plundered by the North Africans. In the evening, 47 civilians were shot near the town hall; five others were massacred in the street, including Raoul Grassin, the mayor of the town, and a councillor. Eight boys were under 18. Only two people survived despite their serious injuries. The Mussidan massacre constitutes the largest massacre of civilians committed in the Dordogne during the Second World War, the tenth largest in France. 115 inhabitants were deported.

These sufferings earned Mussidan the award of the 1939-1945 war cross on 11 November 1948, a distinction also awarded to eighteen other municipalities in the Dordogne.

Population

International relations

It is twinned with:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Populations de référence 2023" (in French). National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 18 December 2025.
  3. ↑ Archives d'Anjou. Ch. Labussière. 1843. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Histoire de Mussidan". Agenda 2019 de Mussidan. p. 24..
  5. ↑ D'après le panneau d'information intitulé Le 11 juin 1944 à Mussidan, parc Voulgre, Mussidan.
  6. ↑ Lormier, Dominique (1994). Les FFI au combat. Jacques Grancher. p. 18. ISBN 9782402100120.
  7. ↑ "Communes décorées de la Croix de guerre 1939 - 1945" (PDF).
  8. ↑ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Mussidan, EHESS (in French).
  9. ↑ Population municipale entre 1968 et 2023, INSEE