Hautefaye

French commune
nomcommune=Hautefaye
région=Aquitaine
département=Dordogne
arrondissement=Nontron
canton=Nontron
insee=24209
cp=24300
maire=
mandat=
intercomm=
longitude=0.494166666667
latitude=45.5375
alt moy=
alt mini=139
alt maxi=206 m
hectares=1247
km²=12.47
sans=116
date-sans=1999
dens=9
date-dens=1999

Hautefaye is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.

History

On August 16, 1870, France was soon losing a war against Germany. Less than three weeks later, Emperor Napoleon III would be captured by the enemy and his regime immediately overthrown by a self-proclaimed Government for National Defence. At that precise moment, rural France, which had largely been faithful to Napoleon I and welcomed his nephew, was very nervous.

During a fair at Hautefaye, somebody started a rumour accusing a young nobleman named Alain de Monéys of having betrayed the Emperor and the Nation. Both claims were in fact false, as Monéys was not a Republican and his patriotism was spotless, but a crowd gathered around him. The parish priest did try to calm the mob by offering drinks to divert their attention but, however well-meaning the effort may have been, it probably only helped get the crowd even more inebriated than they already were and therefore more dangerous. The mayor, unable to show leadership in the face of such excitement, is reported to have said "Eat him if you like". Monéys was battered and tortured for two hours. The crowd finally burnt him on the village square, probably still alive. People taking part in the killing collected fat dripping from his burning body onto bread, eating the resulting "tartines" (the latter fact has not been proved as historical).

On February 6, 1871, four of the twenty-one people found guilty for the murder of Monéys were guillotined on the Hautefaye village square.

Historical population

ee also

*Communes of the Dordogne département

References

*Alain Corbin: "Le village des "cannibales", Aubier, 1990
*Georges Marbeck: "Hautefaye, l'année terrible", Robert Laffont, 1982.

External links

* [http://www.ign.fr/affiche_rubrique.asp?rbr_id=1087&CommuneId=24209 Hautefaye on the l'Institut Géographique National site]
* [http://www.recensement.insee.fr/RP99/rp99/co_navigation.co_page?nivgeo=C&codgeo=24209&theme=ALL&typeprod=ALL&lang=FR&quelcas=LISTE Hautefaye in the INSEE site]
* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=query&req=Hautefaye Hautefaye on the Quid site]
* [http://www.lion1906.com/Pages/ResultatLocalisation.php?InseeVille=24209 Location of Hautefaye in the map of France]
*Map and aerial photos:
**Street
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=45.52&longitude=.494&zoom=6 Street map from Mapquest] , [http://local.live.com/map.aspx?&lats1=46.52&lons1=.494&alts1=35 LiveLocal] or [http://maps.google.com/maps?||=45.52,.494 Google] or [http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?lat=45.52&lon=.494&mag=2 Yahoo! Maps]
**Satellite
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.52,.494&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k Google] or [http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=45.52|.494&style=h&lvl=15&v=1 Microsoft Virtual Earth] - image now available