Arthez-d'Asson

Arthez-d'Asson is in the Ouzom Valley some 30 km south by south-east of Pau and 35 km east by south-east of Oloron-Sainte-Marie. The commune is almost entirely surrounded by the commune of Asson. Access to the commune is by road D126 which comes from Asson in the north passing through the commune and the village, continuing south up the Valley to Ferrières. The commune is almost entirely farmland although with patches of forest particularly along the river.[3]

The Ouzom River flows through the length of the commune from south to north gathering some tributaries on the right bank, such as the Cau du Hau, the Cau du Gat, the Arriou Sec, and the Cau de la Heche, and continuing north to join the Gave de Pau near Coarraze.The Ruisseau de Thouet forms the north-western border of the commune as it flows north-east to join the Ouzom.[3]

The commune name in béarnais is Artés d'Asson. Michel Grosclaude indicated that the name Arthez possibly came from the mediterranean radical arte ("green oak" then "undergrowth"), with the collective basque suffix -etz. He proposed it in the sense of "Vegetation of the undergrowth".[6]

The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.

Sources:

• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)[5]
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750[7]

Origins:

• Saint-Pé: Cartulary of the Abbey of Saint-Pé[8]
• Lescar: Cartulary of Lescar[9]
• Fors de Béarn[10]
• Cour Majour: Regulations of the Cour Majour[11]

Paul Raymond noted on page 14 of his 1863 dictionary that the commune was formed in 1749 by the union of the hamlets of Arthez-deçà and Arthez-delà from the commune of Asson.[5]

Panoramic view from the right bank of the Ouzom

List of Successive Mayors[12]

(Not all data is known)

In 2010 the commune had 501 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known from the population censuses conducted in the commune since 1793. From the 21st century, a census of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants is held every five years, unlike larger towns that have a sample survey every year.[Note 1]

Population of Arthez-d'Asson

Pasturage at Arthez-d'Asson

The commune is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone of Ossau-iraty.

The béarnais singing group from Arthez-d'Asson Los de l'Ouzom was created during the 1980s.

Arthez-d'Asson has a primary school.

• Jean-Paul d'Angosse, born in 1732 at Lembeye and died in 1798 at Arthez-d'Asson, was a military man, owner of an ironworks, French politician;
• Armand d'Angosse, born in 1776 at Arthez-d'Asson and died in 1852 at Corbère-Abères, owner of an ironworks, French politician;
• Charles d'Angosse, born in 1774 at Arthez-d'Asson and died in 1835 at Paris, owner of an ironworks, administrator and French politician.
• Jean Espagnolle, born in 1828 at Ferrières and died in 1918 at Arthez-d'Asson, was a churchman, preacher, and an honorary canon;
• Henri Bremond, born in 1865 at Aix-en-Provence and died in 1933 at Arthez-d'Asson, was a churchman, historian, and French literary critic, member of the Académie française.

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department