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History of the village |
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Conques in the year one thousand |
At first, the monastery of Conques did not seem to have gathered around it a dense population. Two centuries later, that is shortly after the year one thousand, the Book of Miracles of Saint Foy revealed the existence of an «important town, built on the hill above the monastery». Indeed, meanwhile, the latter had become a centre of attraction for the inhabitants of the region. Not only did the monks provide an appreciable market but the trading trend as well, sprang from the pilgrimage, with its constantly renewed clientele, could only encourage population.
The payable hospitability in private houses or hostels became another source of profit
because the friars could not provide all the pilgrims with food and accomodation. There is
no doubt that the "Mounédo street" (meaning money) retains the memory of money-changers or
other pawnbrokers who traded there while cobblers gathered beyond the
Vinzelle Gate.
The Benedictine monks installed tenants on the lands received as donations. Redistributing
a part of the pilgrims' offerings, they attracted numerous down-and-outs. That is why
beggars were legion in Conques such as this blind child trained to beg for charity or this
paralytic young girl who held out the hand stretched out on a pallet in front of the church.
Finally, in the second half of the XIIth century, the nearly simultaneous opening of great
building sites as far as the
abbey-church,
the
cloister,
the monastic buildings and the city walls were concerned, produced a considerable call for
manpower.
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The XIIth century as the most successful one for Conques |
| We are unaware of the number of inhabitants in the XIIth century which was probably the town's most successful one as for the abbey. But in 1341 Conques still boasted 730 homesteads, that is about 3000 inhabitants and came 7th amongst the towns of Rouergue. Therefore, it was not just a village but a real urban town with its city walls, municipal institutions - four consuls re-elected every year - and its various trading activities. At the end of the Middle Ages, it seemed even that its function of regional market came and relieved the declining pilgrims' contribution. King Charles VII allowed the development of annual trade fairs and weekly markets on Mondays. The covered market with its corn measures embedded into the wall remained until last century on the site of the current war memorial. Since 1326, there has been a public scales for the corn taken to the mills on the Ouche or the Dourdou. Consuls dedicated the weighing fees incomes for to the maintenance of roads and bridges. |
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Hard times |
But soon came hard times. In 1568 after the fire lit by protestants and liable for the
destruction of a part of the village, famine and epidemics followed others. In 1628 the
plague was particularly fatal : in a panic, the inhabitants sought shelter in chestnut
drying sheds in the deep forest. About one century ago, a mass of bones was discovered in
the site of the old cemetery at the
abbey-church
chevet. It is believed that they corresponded to three hundred corpses at least, all victims
of plague. Then, a series of bad harvests triggered off a new mortality wave as shown by the
funeral register for the year 1694 in the reign of Louis XIV. The canons had to give help to
the starving people by free distributions of beans.
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Conques since the revolution |
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Conques painfully recovered from this series of misfortunes. In the middle of the XVIIIth century, the inhabitants were less than one thousand ; on the eve of the French Revolution, they were only six hundred and thirty. At that time, wine growers and ordinary farm workers composed with beggars the major part of the population of Conques. In 1771, the parish priest answered to a questionnaire sent by the bishop of Rodez about the parish's state : «There is no trade because of the lack of suitable roads... Two thirds of the families do not eat any bread half of the time... There are approximately eighty disabled persons including numerous children and one hundred beggars in the parish.» And the priest concluded such a sad picture saying : «Nowadays, to be starving, to live on chestnuts, to sell our own land and work for another : here are our incomes, here is our plight !». |
In the XIXth century, the situation worsened and Conques was relegated to a position of ordinary village. Hit by the drift from the land, today it only owes its life to tourism and its activities as chief town of the canton.
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Texts from Jean-Claude FAU
Editions of Beffroi - Regional Council of Aveyron Photographs from André KUMURDJIAN Translation from Valérie FABRE |
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