Morsan

Morsan
Town hall
Morsan
Location within Upper Normandy region  Morsan
Administration
Country	France
Region	Upper Normandy
Department	Eure
Arrondissement	Bernay
Canton	Brionne
Mayor	Francis Agasse (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	155–175 m (509–574 ft) (avg. 172 m/564 ft)
Land area1	4.83 km2 (1.86 sq mi)
Population2	119  (2008)
- Density	25 /km2 (65 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	27418/ 27800
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 49°10′57″N 0°35′42″E / 49.1825°N 0.595°E / 49.1825; 0.595

Morsan is a commune in the Eure department in Haute-Normandie in northern France. The inhabitants are called Morsanais.

History

In medieval times Morsan was also written Morçan, Morsent or Morseng. It belonged to the Bec Abbey until Jean de Morsent 1276 affirmed that he needed his wealth for his followers in times of war.^[1]

Chevalier Philémon Lesens (also Le Sens), was the first baron of Morsan. He was nobleman of the Maison du Roi of King Henry IV of France and governor of Bernay.^[2] He built a hunting lodge. At the time of Abdon-Thomas-François Lesens (1724–1800), who had been page of Louis XV of France before he became marquis of Morsan,^[2] Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698–1782) redesigned the facade.^[3] The hunting lodge is privately owned nowadays.^[4]

Morsan got municipal administration in 1789.

In 1871, during the Franco-Prussian War Morsan was garrisoned by the Prussian army. In 1940, during World War II it was garrisoned by the German army.

There are no streetnames in Morsan, the village is divided in districts. The old districts of Morsan were: le Château, la Couranterie, les Jumeaux, la Mourioterie, la Mondière.^[1] The center of the village is called Bourg instead of la Mondière today.

Morsan is one of the communes in Eure under the risk of sudden forming of deneholes. In former times the peasants have exploited the marl underground to fertilize the fields. During heavy rain those ancient excavations can open again. These special deneholes are round holes of 1,5–2 meters diameter and several meters deep. There are around 16000 of those holes in the département Eure.^[5]

Population

Historical population of Morsan

1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2008
119	130	130	93	70	92	119

• 

  village school

• 

  Church de la sainte Trinité in Morsan. Nave was built in the 13th century, sanctuary in the 17th century.^[6]

• 

  Morsan on the Cassini map Lisieux-Honfleur

See also

• Communes of the Eure department

References

• INSEE

1. ^ ^{a b} Le Prevost, Auguste; Léopold Delisle, Louis Paulin Passy, Andrew Dickson White (1864) (in french). Mémoires et notes de M. Auguste Le Prevost pour servir à l'histoire du département de l'Eure. Evreux: Société d'agriculture des belles-lettres, sciences et arts de L'Eure. p. 425. http://books.google.com/?id=0GkDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA425. 
2. ^ ^{a b} de Magny, Edouard (1863) (in french). [full text on Gallica Nobiliaire de Normandie]. 2. Paris. pp. 475 et seq.. full text on Gallica. 
3. ^ Brismontier, Bruno (September/Oktober 2008). "Normandy, an original splendor". Propriétés de France (Le Figaro) 114: pp. 32f. 
4. ^ Miller, Judith (2003). The Style Sourcebook: The Definitive Illustrated Directory of Fabrics, Wallpapers, Paints, Flooring, Tiles. Firefly Books. p. 19. ISBN 9781552977910. 
5. ^ Dossier d'Information Communal des risques majeurs de la commune Morsan (french)
6. ^ Les Communes de l'Eure et leurs églises (french)

External links

• Morsan on the site of the Prefecture of Eure (French)
• Morsan on Les Communes de France
• Morsan on the annuaire-mairie (French)