Une communauté forestière aux xiv e et xv e siècles. Aix-en-Othe (Champagne)

Abstract

A peasant community in the heart of the Forest of Othe in Champagne at the end of the 14th century into the 15th century is described through the accounting records of the activities of its inhabitants: iron workers, from extraction to processing and transport; woodworking craftsmen; members of families on the plateaus and in the valley of the Vanne who assumed supervisory and administrative responsibilities in the name of the Bishop of Troyes; and last-ditch efforts to preserve the iron industry. An exceptional survey document from 1461 on people’s legal status provides a portrait of a society as it described itself over several generations of families. Fifty years later, iron work had almost completely disappeared. Fuel wood and wood ash became the primary resource, and deforestation led to settlement of plowed land by newcomers, radically changing traditional activities and social ties.