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Departments of Saintonge
The department (Santonian: département) is the first-level administrative subdivision of the Kingdom of Saintonge.Prior to the Santonian Revolution, Saintonge was divided into provinces of varying sizes, most of which were headed by a powerful Duke, who used their provinces' resources to wage wars and battles. With the weak central government under the monarch, the different provinces were under vastly different laws and tax regimes, as the provincial nobles sought to extract resources and control their domains. At the time of the revolution, there were about 41 provinces.
The Santonian Revolution brought about a desire for more centralisation, partly to equalise the tax burdens throughout the country and to make government accessible to the common people. Thus, the proposal for the abolition of the provinces and the creation of new administrative subdivisions was considered in 1791.
There were many proposals, including simply dividing large provinces such as Bavière, Champagne, Griffonné, and the Pouilles; but some small provinces (Bordulac, Forez) were too small to constitute self-sufficient entities. Thus the plan proposed by Jacques-Benjamin Freycinet, deputy of the Comminges, and Bishop Marie-François-Gaspard Luché of Castelnaudary was approved.
Freycinet-Luché Plan
The Freycinet-Luché plan divided the country into mostly evenly-sized departments. The departmental capitals were to be accessible from all the parishes of the department within a two day's ride, so that public services are brought closer to the people. It also ensures that the government's policies and laws were evenly disseminated and applied throughout the country, and taxes equitably collected. The new departmental borders also tried to respect the economic centres and transportation links of the country.
Many of the new departments followed old provincial boundaries: the province of Domnonée was simply divided into three departments: Authie, Côtes-du-Nord, and Sée. However, some provincial borders were straightened out: the convoluted borders of Aurignais and Landelles were straightened out. One particular province, though, was slated for total elimination: Perche, whose Duke masterminded the Gunpowder Plot of 1789, was divided and the parts parcelled to four departments.
The departments were mostly named after their main rivers or physiogeographical features. This was because the descendant provinces of the Griffonné, Tyrosse, and Germandie quarrelled over who gets to retain the name of the old province. Freycinet and Luché, to end the debates, forbade using the names of the old provinces and instead gave them the names they have today.
Reorganisation of the Saintes area
The last major changes in departmental borders occurred in 1903, when expansion of the city of Saintes necessited its reorganisation. Thirty-nine adjacent suburban communes in the département of the Saine were amalgamated with Saintes city proper to form the current shape of the City of Saintes. This huge city of Saintes was seen to dominate its department, and so the département of the Saine was dissolved and parts parcelled to adjacent ones. The enlarged city of Saintes was given the powers of both a department and a commune/parish. The intendancies of Saint-Océan and the remnant of the intendancy of Sancoins were merged with the intendancies of Avranches and Brissarthe (formerly of the department of the Boëme) to form the new department of the Cenise. The department of the Lisle lost some of its communes to the city of Saintes and was compensated with the area around Nogent-sur-Lisle (formerly from the department of the Sambre). The department of the Sambre then gained Sainte-Menehould from the department of the Saine-et-Loine. The Saine-et-Loine, in turn, gained the remainder of the intendancies of Royan and Lanthenay. These changes are largely responsible for the convoluted shape and the odd size of the Saine-et-Loine.
Functions
The departments fulfilled the function as envisioned by Freycinet and Luché. The departmental capitals all became the seats of basic government institutions (including courts), making public services accessible to the people; while the entire country could be governed properly and effectively - eliminating lawless areas that stifled progress and development. Most government ministries and institutions have offices in each department, usually in the capital (chef-lieu).
Each department is further divided into intendancies (intendances). Large government offices (such as those concerned with education, health, and justice) also have sub-offices in each intendancy to ensure efficient and uniform delivery of services.
Superintendent and Intendants
Each department has a superintendent (superintendant), a career civil servant appointed by the central government to represent the central government and oversee the activities of the government in each department. The superintendant also supervises the departmental local government. The superintendent is based in the capital of the department.
The superintendent is assisted by two or more intendants. The superintendent is responsible for the intendancy covering the departmental capital; while his/her intendants are assigned, one to each intendancy (which is how intendancies got their name). The intendants have the same function as the superintendent, except his/her function relating to the departmental local government.
The departments and intendancies are composed of parishes (paroisses), the lowest level of local government in Saintonge. Each parish is part of an intendancy and a department; no parish may be a member of more than one intendancy or more than one department.
Departmental Local Government
Each department has a 99-member General Council (conseil général), elected by proportional representation by the inhabitants of the department. The departments have a parliamentary system of government. The General Council elects an executive, headed by the president (président), which oversees day-to-day functioning of the departmental government and exercises powers delegated to the departments by the central government.
Saintonge is divided into 89 departments and one department-level city (Saintes). The City of Saintes has the functions of both a department and a parish; its City Council serves as the equivalent of a General Council; and its mayor the equivalent of the president of a department. The City of Saintes also has a government-appointed superintendent.
Each department is assigned an "official geographical code" by the Institut royal de la statistique et des études économiques (IRSEE, Royal Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies). Departments are assigned numbers from 11 to 99, 10 is assigned to the City of Saintes, the numbers 1-9 are "reserved". These numbers came to be used in other things such as licence plates, postal codes, road numbers and designations, or even codes for court cases and police files. Sometimes these codes are used as shorthand for the department names.
Code | Department | Capital | Population (2020) | Area | Density |
10 | Saintes | Saintes | 9,001,273 | 530.25 | 16,975.53 |
11 | Basses-Alpes | Novale | 1,832,247 | 5,296.16 | 345.96 |
12 | Hautes-Alpes | Verceil | 1,017,896 | 9,280.36 | 109.68 |
13 | Basses-Andes | Tyrfleur | 829,276 | 10,332.88 | 80.26 |
14 | Hautes-Andes | Dax | 1,094,913 | 10,414.06 | 105.14 |
15 | Arc | Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc | 471,171 | 13,158.26 | 35.81 |
16 | Arconce | Largentières | 1,163,086 | 10,648.87 | 109.22 |
17 | Argens | Malines | 1,285,940 | 6,003.63 | 214.19 |
18 | Aubrac | Sauveterre-de-Comminges | 525,150 | 8,497.07 | 61.8 |
19 | Aulne | Saint-Nazaire | 1,178,932 | 4,947.36 | 238.3 |
20 | Aure | Beaujeu | 835,535 | 7,112.26 | 117.48 |
21 | Authie | Vantes | 1,194,854 | 4,837.15 | 247.02 |
22 | Avaloirs | Langon | 745,507 | 6,978.83 | 106.82 |
23 | Baltée | Vitrolles | 1,281,566 | 5,101.79 | 251.2 |
24 | Besbre | Niort | 2,283,052 | 5,366.94 | 425.39 |
25 | Basse-Bléone | Barenton | 1,218,648 | 16,235.63 | 75.06 |
26 | Haute-Bléone | Frutinges | 496,966 | 16,104.71 | 30.86 |
27 | Boëme | Redon | 842,241 | 4,818.37 | 174.8 |
28 | Borgne | Meux | 878,643 | 6,040.59 | 145.46 |
29 | Bouche-du-Rhâne | Nyon | 3,384,769 | 5,840.06 | 579.58 |
30 | Bourbre | Louviers | 1,046,064 | 6,926.47 | 151.02 |
31 | Breuse | Carpriquet | 1,513,242 | 14,188.77 | 106.65 |
32 | Basses-Brômes | Brive | 2,778,168 | 10,814.07 | 256.9 |
33 | Hautes-Brômes | Péronne | 1,229,111 | 9,958.51 | 123.42 |
34 | Capoterre | Beaucaire | 1,227,348 | 4,291.47 | 286 |
35 | Cenise | Saint-Océan | 3,933,261 | 2,527.15 | 1,556.4 |
36 | Chalaronne | Langres | 1,423,914 | 10,076.16 | 141.32 |
37 | Chartreuse | Gresible | 1,637,511 | 10,161.16 | 161.15 |
38 | Côle | Beaune | 3,155,009 | 9,165.72 | 344.22 |
39 | Coole | Malençon | 1,188,110 | 7,762.39 | 153.06 |
40 | Haute-Coole | Lusignan | 976,245 | 8,780.69 | 111.18 |
41 | Corb | Plaisance | 2,274,372 | 7,672.38 | 296.44 |
42 | Côtes-du-Nord | Douvres | 1,100,397 | 6,137.38 | 179.29 |
43 | Doire | Loudun | 2,765,252 | 9,558.55 | 289.3 |
44 | Dronne | Craon | 1,263,643 | 7,160.81 | 176.47 |
45 | Dropt | Sens | 3,069,677 | 8,404.76 | 365.23 |
46 | Durance | Valence | 968,746 | 6,379.52 | 151.85 |
47 | Dyle | Trèves | 489,954 | 11,792.05 | 41.55 |
48 | Epte | Corbeil | 899,428 | 4,366.21 | 206 |
49 | Haine | Coire | 2,089,164 | 5,703.93 | 366.27 |
50 | Huisne | Meximieux | 430,983 | 7,233.71 | 59.58 |
51 | Ill | Bronn | 725,317 | 10,150.28 | 71.46 |
52 | Inde | Creusenac | 1,073,262 | 6,767.42 | 158.59 |
53 | Lac | Chalais | 676,882 | 3,610.2 | 187.49 |
54 | Lauter | Ratisbonne | 927,321 | 7,481 | 123.96 |
55 | Leir | Joinville | 998,661 | 6,743.28 | 148.1 |
56 | Lignon | Tiffauges | 1,106,585 | 7,002.37 | 158.03 |
57 | Limagne | Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges | 519,322 | 5,977.24 | 86.88 |
58 | Lisle | Torcy-le-Grand | 3,801,095 | 4,509.03 | 843 |
59 | Loine | Jourdain | 1,292,321 | 7,328.22 | 176.35 |
60 | Haute-Loine | Castelnaudary | 738,209 | 8,989.18 | 82.12 |
61 | Loing | Blaye | 1,262,522 | 7,919.77 | 159.41 |
62 | Luberon | Jussac | 969,225 | 8,263.6 | 117.29 |
63 | Lys | Tarascon | 629,774 | 5,013.35 | 125.62 |
64 | Margerides | Louvain | 714,583 | 9,560.65 | 74.74 |
65 | Monce-et-Briance | Coni | 1,722,487 | 7,397.82 | 232.84 |
66 | Nébrodes | Modane | 1,513,310 | 10,441.89 | 144.93 |
67 | Ource | Bellac | 889,330 | 5,572.66 | 159.59 |
68 | Puy-d'Or | Provins | 2,721,003 | 7,825.65 | 347.7 |
69 | Queyras | Soleure | 865,878 | 5,426.13 | 159.58 |
70 | Rance | Béthanie | 1,399,742 | 3,742.55 | 374.01 |
71 | Ravennes | Thouars | 972,532 | 7,628.29 | 127.49 |
72 | Haut-Rhâne | Brigue | 299,027 | 12,576.68 | 23.78 |
73 | Rhue | Beauséjour | 1,099,298 | 7,103.28 | 154.76 |
74 | Roer | Givet | 693,566 | 4,755.32 | 145.85 |
75 | Haute-Saine | Avesnes-sur-Helpe | 555,229 | 10,039.68 | 55.3 |
76 | Saine-et-Loine | Surgères | 7,323,030 | 5,626.27 | 1,301.58 |
77 | Sambre | Trappes | 1,799,964 | 7,368.39 | 244.28 |
78 | Sâne | Brisach | 471,649 | 8,902.93 | 52.98 |
79 | Sarine | Bâle | 3,389,689 | 5,530.72 | 612.88 |
80 | Saulx | Beauregard | 1,000,416 | 4,278.69 | 233.81 |
81 | Scyotte | Aubeterre | 2,710,107 | 5,897.66 | 459.52 |
82 | Sebre | Avéry | 575,943 | 5,416.55 | 106.33 |
83 | Sée | Cantorbéry | 870,226 | 7,338.81 | 118.58 |
84 | Semois | Aix-en-Aunis | 2,566,570 | 2,971.83 | 863.63 |
85 | Seudre | Aurigny | 2,214,076 | 4,845.36 | 456.95 |
86 | Simbruins | Côme | 4,280,090 | 10,716.91 | 399.38 |
87 | Suippe | Pérouse | 1,060,334 | 8,422.07 | 125.9 |
88 | Sûre | Trémoigne | 482,258 | 6,974.55 | 69.15 |
89 | Tage | Mirande | 1,375,915 | 7,143.05 | 192.62 |
90 | Tamise | Feurs | 1,044,790 | 7,606.53 | 137.35 |
91 | Taur | Lavaur | 516,540 | 8,163.82 | 63.27 |
92 | Tech | Courtilon | 1,008,476 | 5,570.98 | 181.02 |
93 | Tessin | Vicence | 1,262,471 | 8,010.05 | 157.61 |
94 | Trieux | Embrun | 1,303,265 | 7,229.03 | 180.28 |
95 | Vauperté | Cadenbach | 424,358 | 12,226.3 | 34.71 |
96 | Vercors | Rhêmes | 735,713 | 6,455.85 | 113.96 |
97 | Vesle | Saint-Gaudens | 518,880 | 8,896.32 | 58.33 |
98 | Vôges | Bréhaut | 498,705 | 15,108.15 | 33.01 |
99 | Yerres | Bompaire | 884,457 | 7,485.75 | 118.15 |
Total Saintonge | 133,505,667 | 686,619.20 | 194.44 |
Trivia
The most populated department (aside from Saintes) is Saine-et-Loine (7,323,030), and the least-populated is Haut-Rhâne (299,027).
The largest department by area is Basse-Bléone (16,235.63 km2) and the smallest (aside from Saintes) is Cenise (2,527.15 km2).
The most densely populated department (aside from Saintes) is Cenise (1,556.4 people per km2), while the most sparsely populated department is Haut-Rhâne (23.78 people per km2).