History
Human settlement in the Dissay area dates back a long way as in 1998, a single tomb in Poitou -Charentes dating back 4300 years B.C. was updated during the summer.
The Roman Way
During the
Gallo-Roman period, settlements developed along the Roman Way which
links Saintes to Tours through Poitiers. In Dissay this ancient axis
still exists in the shape of a long straight pathway. It is a tradition
in Dissay to call it « the roman Way ».
673
the first
written traces of Dissay were in the year 673 in the Saint-Bercaire
charter charta sancti Bercatii). Although it is only a hypothesis, « in
villa Diséo supra fluvium Crete » could be describing Dissay as other
neighbouring toponyms are mentioned. Louis Rédet, the first archivist in
the Vienne, believes this hypothesis is probably true.
The Châtellenie
The
Châtellenie of Dissay belonged to the bishops of Poitiers, at least for
the first half of the 18th century. In around 1240, it became part of
the juridisdiction and civil powers of the town of Poitiers. The
lordships of Deffends and Marit were dependent on the tower of
Maubergeon, whereas a part of of the parish, on the left bank of the
Clain, was dependent on the Châtellenie of Jaulnay. The village which is
situated on one of the Roads to Compostelle is mentioned in the « liber
de miraculis sancti jacobi » which is kept in the Archives of the
Cathedral of Compostelle.
Pierre d'Amboise
The castle,
which was initially supposed to be a wooden building on the summit of a
motte, was transformed with the help of Hugues de Combarel who obtained
the permission of Charles VII « to fortify this hostel » on 11th January
1434 (v.s.) It was his successor, Pierre d'Amboise who reconstructed
the castle from 1484 to 1493, copying the entrance of that of Chaumont,
where he was born. The church of Dissay was also built in the 15th
century by Pierre d'Amboise.
Peasants, craftsmen and merchants
In
the 18th century, the population of Dissay was made up of 200 families.
Three quarters of those were farmers and labourers. Lists of tax payers
and the minutes of parish meetings show that craftsmen and merchants
were a smaller representative of the population than the peasants, but
they were nevertheless very active in the life of Dissay. In 1789,
Dissay had eight masons, four clogmakers, one cooper, five farriers, one
miller, one carpenter, one stone carver, one launderer, two sergers and
one joiner. The shopkeepers consisted of just three bakers and one
merchant.
In 1790 there were 257 families (1003 inhabitants). The
population went up to 1192 inhabitants in 1836, then stayed constant
during the 19th century since there were 1129 inhabitants in 1901.
The last census in 2007 was 2912 people living in Dissay. The commune covers 23,71 km2.
A history yet to be completed...
The history of Dissay has been covered in certains books (see underneath).
However
a systematic complete study of the history of Dissay has yet to be
done. If anyone is interested, large numbers of archives can be
consulted in the Departmental Archives of the Vienne, such as
sollicitors or State Service archives. You can also consult important
sources of the history of Dissay online, for example :
parish registers of marital status
nominative lists of population census
napoleonic land registers
On the site « Archives départementales de la Vienne »
To know more about the history of Dissay
L'évolution de la propriété foncière dans la commune de Dissay entre 1812 et 1912 Jean-Jacques Coulombeix. October 1972- Diploma of higher studies
La commune de Dissay pendant la révolution française Virginie Lebret. 1999 Masters
Dissay, histoire d'une commune François Grossin, President of the tourist office. 2001