Dept. de L’Allier.

Title

Dept. de L’Allier.

Description

Decorative hand-colored map showing the area around Moulins in Allier with a magnificent border depicting the land and its people. Map index on the left and right, coat of arms in the top center.

ca. 1850

Artist

Lemercier / Levasseur (1800-1870)

Cadastre of the War and Bridge Department by V. Levasseur, Geographer Engineer attached to the Cadastre and the City of Paris. Huge Parisian firm of lithographic printers founded by Joseph Rose Lemercier (1803-1887), who began as the foreman for Langlumé in 1825. Working on his own account from 1827, 1829-36 in partnership with Bénard association formed in 1837 according to IFF catalogue for Joseph Lemercier. The firm was still active in 1841.

Historical Description

Auvergne is one of the historical provinces of France. The name of the region is derived from the Arvernians, a Gaulish tribe that settled in the area at the time of the Roman conquest. In late antiquity, Auvergne was conquered by the Visigoths under Eurich in the 70s of the 5th century and was absorbed into the Frankish Empire at the beginning of the 6th century. During the Middle Ages, four dominions emerged in Auvergne. In 1651, the county passed to Frédéric-Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon, who received Auvergne and Albret in exchange for the strategically much more important Sedan and Raucourt. His descendants were deposed during the French Revolution. In 1790, the historic province was divided into the current departments. The departments of Haute-Loire and Allier also include parts of the historical provinces of Bourbonnais, Lyonnais and Languedoc.