PÉROUSIX
From prehistory to history
Pérousix appeared quite late, certainly towards the end of the Paleolithic or even the Mesolithic period, as the land was very inhospitable. It was heavily forested with trees hundreds of years old and great natural ponds, nowadays filled in. On the other hand this forest was inhabited by many wild animals and wild pig abounded, living off the acorns and beech mast.
So
Pérousix was above all a hunter. He excelled in tracking and trapping
game (he knew how to dig wild pig pits, hiding them under branches). He
used the hard wood of the holly tree to make spears.
THE ORIGINS OF PEROUSIX
Was he a descendant of Bituriges ancestors, who from Avaricum advanced as far as Montaigut, or of Avernie? Or did he have some relationship with both tribes? Either way Perousix took a long time to settle here. Yet he always returned, drawn by the abundant game. He must have begun to establish himself near Le Morian, to the west of which are found magnificent slabs of granite, one of which (section D N° 21) served as a shelter when the heavens got angry and threatened to fall on his head and which also served as an altar for the druids (there was no lack of mistletoe).
Then came the Age of Bronze and Middle Gaul.
The Avenes (maybe from the family of Limanix) discovered cassiterite at La Bosse, which they used to make tools and weapons. Thus, Limanix gradually became an excellent farmer, knowing how to make the most of the rich Limagne. For the period it was a heavily populated area. But this hardly helped Pérousix, who lived on the borders of two tribal areas, Bituriges and Avenes and even three tribes (the Ambarres, those " Saoniens", arrived and slipped in between Eduens and Avernes and pushed on as far as Bellenaves and La Bosse). For centuries these great tribes were perpetually struggling and Lapeyrouse was a sort of no-mans-land, where Pérousix had time after time to hide, to go underground, suffer pillaging and murder, the Bouble not providing a big enough natural defence…..
Despite all these problems, Pérousix set bravely to work, cleared a corner of the forest at Les Chemins, fished in the lake at Les Bruyères, built huts on its banks and had an observation point at Montmirail, from where he dominated the forest, the clearings and the moors and from where he watched carefully in the direction of La Bosse.
Everything changed after the year 58 BC, when Caesar undertook the conquest of Gaul. After the first easy success, Caesar, having returned to Provence (to the Narbonnaise), Pérousix perhaps saw Vercingetorix pass by on his way to propose "The Sacred Union" at Avaricum. After the betrayal of the Eduens, Caesar came rapidly back from the Midi, fording the Allier at Châtel-De-Neuvre then pillaging Avarium before presenting himself before Gergovia.
All these events disturbed the peace of Pérousix. After the defeat he resigned himself with difficulty to wearing the Roman yoke and contributed to the many uprisings of the Avernes in the 1st century.
The
Romans established a surveillance base near Les Sablons and avenged themselves
cruelly, setting fire to the magnificent forest of Pérousix. Then
they forced him to work: thus Pérousix participated in the construction
of the great Roman road from Lugdunum (Lyon, capital of the Gauls) to
Avaricum. An improvement of the existing Gallic road, it crossed the secondary
road, which went from Montet to Montaigut.. The foundations of this road
can be seen when the pond of Rivalais is dry. This road, which must have
passed near Les Sablons, the Caves de Beaune, Rivalais, Les Bourses, Boutevin
and near to La Bosse was extremely important as it linked a capital to
a county-town.
It allowed Lapeyrouse to be infiltrated by the Gallo-Roman civilisation.
The forest shrank back: Pérousix was compelled to cultivate more
ground especially at the bottom of the future commune which bordered the
imperial road. This great road would for centuries to come be a great
route of migrations and journeys.
Towards
the end of the 3rd century of our era, Christianity (established at Clermont
about 250) came to Pérousix.
But from the 4th century, invasions, made easier by the imperial road,
break out. In their turn Vandals, Allains, Suèves and even Huns
invade and ravage and Pérousix often out hides near Le Morian and
Montmirail. For 32 years (475-507) the country belongs to the Visigoth
kingdom, and then becomes part of Austrasie, a division of the Frankish
kingdom.
Then comes a more peaceful time, which sees the building of the first
castles. In the forest of Château Charles, to the west of the forester's
house, one can still see the remains of ditches and one can make out heaps
of boulders hidden under the forest, remains of the castle in which Charlemagne
slept during one of his journeys through his immense empire. There again,
the castle is not far from the ancient roman road.
During this time, the ancient country of Pérousix had become the
parish of Perrouze or Pérouze, that the Romans had called Perugia,
having had the habit of calling Pérousix: Pérougix.