Aubin (; Languedocien: Aubinh) is a commune in the Aveyron department in the Occitanie of southern France.
Geography Aubin is located some 20 km south-east of Figeac and immediately south of Decazeville. Access to the commune is by road D 5 from Viviez in the north-west which passes through the centre of the commune and the town and continues south to Montbazens. The D221 goes from the town north to Decazeville. The D 11 goes east from the town to Cransac. The minor D 513 road branches off the D 5 on the north-western border of the commune and goes east through the north of the commune to Firmi. The Capdenac-Gare to Rodez railway line passes through the commune and there is a station at the town: Aubin station. Apart from the town there are the hamlets and villages of Severac, Ruffies, Cerons, La Croix du Broual, Combes, Tramons, Ruau, Les Escabrins, and Saugiere. The commune is mixed forest and farmland with significant sized urban areas.Google Maps
The Riou Morte flows through the north-eastern corner of the commune as it flows north-west before turning west at Decazeville. The Enne river flows through the commune and the town from the east and continues north-west to join the Riou Morte at Viviez. The Ruisseau du Banel flows from the east north of the village and joins the Enne on the north-western border of the commune.
History
Classical Antiquity Lucien Mazars, an author of numerous books on local history, wrote in Aubin; its history, from its origins to the Revolution of 1789: "tradition [says] that Aubin, which bore the name Albin until the end of the 18th century, was founded by the Roman General Declus Clodius Albinus or in his honour". However, General Albinus did not exercise the functions of a legate in Gaul but rather in Roman Britain. His control of Gaul was probably too short to be able to found a town.
Middle Ages Fort Aubin initially served as a fortress and then was occupied during the Middle Ages by the Lords of Rouergue. The town became the center of important coal mines, and also had iron mines.
Contemporary era
The commune was the capital of the District of Aubin from 1790 to 1800.
In October 1869 soldiers fired on a demonstration of miners killing 14 and injuring 20.Georges Soria, Grand History of the Commune, Édition du centenaire 1971, T.I p.126 This was the second strike in the Second Empire after the one in June 1869 at La Ricamarie.Henri Guillemin, The coming of Mr. Thiers, Édition Utovie Captain Bernard Gosseran who gave the order to fire on strikers was later made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. This tragedy inspired the Ode à la Misère (Ode to Misery)The poem in the original French:" - Quel âge as-tu ? - Seize ans. - De quel pays es-tu ? D'Aubin. - N'est-ce pas là, dis-moi, qu'on s'est battu? On ne s'est pas battu, l'on a tué. - La mine Prospérait. - Quel était son produit ? - La famine. Oui, je sais, le mineur vit sous terre, et n'a rien. Avec la nuit de plus, il est galérien. - Mais toi, faisais-tu donc ce travail, jeune fille ? - Avec tout mon village et toute ma famille, Oui. Pour chaque hottée on me donnait un sou. Mon grand-père était mort, tué du feu grisou. Mon petit frère était boiteux d'un coup de pierre. Nous étions tous mineurs, lui, mon père, ma mère, Moi. L'ouvrage était dur, le chef n'était pas bon. Comme on manquait de pain, on mâchait du charbon. Aussi, vous le voyez, monsieur, je suis très maigre; Ce qui me fait du tort - Le mineur, c'est le nègre. Hélas, oui ! - Dans la mine on descend, on descend. On travaille à genoux dans le puits. C'est glissant. Il pleut, quoiqu'on n'ait pas de ciel. On est sous l'arche D'un caveau bas, et tant qu'on peut marcher, on marche; Après on rampe; on est dans une eau noire; il faut Étayer le plafond, s'il a quelque défaut; La mort fait un grand bruit quand tout à coup elle entre; C'est comme le tonnerre. On se couche à plat ventre. Ceux qui ne sont pas morts se relèvent. Pas d'air. Chaque sape est un trou dont un homme est le ver. Quand la veine est en long, c'est bien; quand elle est droite, Alors la tâche est rude et la sape est étroite : On sue, on gèle, on tousse; on a chaud, on a froid. On n'est pas sûr si c'est vivant tout ce qu'on voit. Sitôt qu'on est sous terre on devient des fantômes. Les pauvres paysans qui vivent sous les chaumes Respirent du moins l'air des cieux. On étouffait. - Pourquoi ne pas vous plaindre aussi ? - Nous l'avons fait. Nous avons demandé, ne croyant pas déplaire, Un peu moins de travail, un peu plus de salaire. - Et l'on vous a donné, quoi ? - Des coups de fusil. Je m'en souviens, le maître a froncé le sourcil. Mon père est mort frappé d'une balle. - Et ta mère ? - Folle. - Et tu n'as plus rien ? - Si. J'ai mon petit frère. Il est infirme… "
Victor Hugo,Ode à la Misère and the Aubin. poems to Victor Hugo.
Aubin railway station on the Capdenac-Gare to Rodez line opened in 1858.
Heraldry
Administration List of Successive MayorsList of Mayors of France
From To Name 1790 1791 Jacques Rouch Labraguiere 1791 1792 Antoine de Lalande 1792 1794 Joseph Domergue 1794 1794 Joseph Alary 1794 1795 Joseph Domergue 1795 1796 Dominique Lalande 1796 1796 Jean-Jacques Descrozaille 1796 1799 Jean-Baptiste Bessiere 1799 1800 Dominique Lalande 1800 1813 Jean-Jacques Descrozaille 1813 1844 Brassat Saint-Parthem 1844 1848 Eugène Alary 1848 1870 Auguste Maruejouls 1870 1871 Adolphe Segala 1871 1872 Auguste Maruejouls 1872 1881 Charles Coince 1881 1894 Henri Descrozaille 1894 1900 Jean Barbau 1900 1904 Henri Descrozaille 1904 1924 Jules Cabrol 1924 1935 Albert Maurs 1935 1939 Edmond Ginestet
Mayors from 1939 From To Name Party 1939 1944 Prosper Vergnes 1944 1944 Jean Nicot 1944 1963 Edmond Ginestet 1963 1965 Jean Martin 1965 1971 René Gres 1971 1989 Lucien Mazars 1989 1995 Robert Debuchy 1995 2008 Pierre Beffre PS 2008 2020 André Martinez 2020 2022 Laurent Alexandre 2022 2024 Michel Baert 2024 2026 Christine Teulier
Demography The inhabitants of the commune are known as Aubinois in French.Le nom des habitants du 12 - Aveyron, habitants.fr
Culture and heritage
Civil heritage The commune has two buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments: 2 Factory Chimneys (1847)Ministry of Culture, Mérimée The Jules Ferry du Gua School (1876).Ministry of Culture, Mérimée Designed by Emmanuel Brune and built between 1876 and 1880. It is 59 metres long and 12 metres wide built on a terrace overlooking the small houses which make up the suburb of Gua. The Town Hall contains several items that are registered as historical objects: A Statue: Maid of Honour at the Court of Francis I (1870)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A Painting with frame: Miners of the Saar (1950)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A Painting with frame: Unnamed abstract (1973)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A Painting with frame: Confidences (1950)Ministry of Culture, Palissy
Other sites of interest The Departmental House of Memory: Museum of resistance, deportation, and citizenship The Museum of Mines
Religious heritage The commune has several religious buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments: The Church of Notre-Dame-des-Mines (1942).Ministry of Culture, Mérimée The Church also contains many items that are registered as historical objects: A set of monumental paintings: Resurrection and Appearance of Christ, Ascension of Christ, Crowning of the Virgin (20th century)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A painting: Wayside Cross (1952)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A set of monumental paintings: Virgin and Child, Calvary and episodes of life of miners, Saint Famille (1951)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A set of monumental paintings and Wayside Cross: Cycle of the Passion of Christ, Episodes of life of miners (1951, 1952)Ministry of Culture, Palissy The Church of Saint-Blaise (1486).Ministry of Culture, Mérimée The Church also contains many items that are registered as historical objects: A Statue: Virgin and Child (16th century)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A Group Sculpture: The Resurrection (15th century)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A Statue: Christ on the Cross (12th century)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A Group Sculpture: The Baptism of Christ (15th century)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A Baptismal font (13th century)Ministry of Culture, Palissy A Consecration Cross (12th century)Ministry of Culture, Palissy An Altar (12th century)Ministry of Culture, Palissy The Church of Gua (1865)Ministry of Culture, Mérimée
Facilities
Sports The Étoile Sportive de Combes, a football club since 1921.Étoile sportive de Combes website
Notable people linked to the commune François Cogné, sculptor. Marie-Claire Bancquart, university professor, writer and poet, born in Aubin in 1932. Serge Mesonès, French footballer, born in 1948, died in 2001 at Aubin. , novelist, author, born at Aubin in 1959.
See also Communes of the Aveyron department
Bibliography Lucien Mazars, Aubin, its history from its origins to the Revolution of 1789, L. Mazars, Aubin, 1982, 119 pages, Cov. ill., ill., 22 cm, Lucien Mazars, Mining Land, Aubin-Decazeville basin, Fil d'Ariane, Rodez, 1999, 285 pages, ill., cov. ill., 22 cm, , BnF 36978991r Lucien Mazars and Francis Mazars, Mining Land in pictures, Decazeville-Aubin basin, Association des amis du Musée de la mine Lucien Mazars, Aubin, 2009, 265 pages, ill. in b&w and colour., cov. ill., 24 cm, , BnF 41491412h Madeleine Raygade-Panassié, Memories of Combes, coal and fire country, Association des amis du Musée du Rouergue, Rodez, 1994, 99 pages, ill., cov. ill., 24 cm, BnF 366921465 Christian-Pierre Bedel, preface by Pierre Beffre, Aubinh, Cransac, Firmin, Vivièrs / Christian-Pierre Bedel e los estatjants del canton d'Aubinh, Al canton collection, Mission départementale de la culture, Rodez, 1998, 247 pages, ill., cov. ill., 28 cm, , ISSN 1151-8375, BnF 36708370b Michel Girval, Aubin, Le Gua, Combes in the time of old postcards, Amicale laïque et républicaine de la commune d'Aubin, Aubin, 1999, 200 pages, ill., cov. ill. in colour, 30 cm, , BnF 37038703v Engineer Senez, Aubin - Geological Map of the coal basin of Aubin (Aveyron) made in 1840, Cartographic Manuscript Document, s.n., s.l., 1840, 1 flle: ms., 40x48 cm, BnF 407204575 See online Marie-Line Montbroussous, History of a successful integration, the Spaniards in the Decazeville basin, Éd. du Rouergue, Rodez, 1995, 199 pages, ill., cov. ill., 23 cm, , BnF 36685891f Gérard Pertus and Michel Herranz, Basin of Decazeville, Aubin, Cransac, Firmi, Viviez, factories and metalworkers. Vol. 1, Association de sauvegarde du patrimoine industriel du Bassin de Decazeville, Decazeville, 2010, 238 pages, ill., cov. ill., 31 cm, , BnF 42307098h Gérard Pertus and Michel Herranz, Basin of Decazeville, Aubin, Cransac, Firmi, Viviez, factories and metalworkers. Vol. 2, Association de sauvegarde du patrimoine industriel du Bassin de Decazeville, Decazeville, 2012, 237 pages, ill., cov. ill., 31 cm, , BnF 43520392g Gérard Pertus and Michel Herranz, Mines and miners, Decazeville basin: Aubin, Cransac, Firmi, Viviez, Association de sauvegarde du patrimoine industriel du Bassin de Decazeville, Decazeville, 2008, 211 pages, ill., cov. ill., 31 cm, , BnF 41420313w Gérard Pertus and Michel Herranz, Mine Pits, Decazeville basin: Aubin, Cransac, Firmi, Viviez, Association de sauvegarde du patrimoine industriel du Bassin de Decazeville, Decazeville, 2007, 117 pages, ill., cov. ill., 31 cm , BnF 411843247 Christian-Pierre Bedel, preface Pierre Beffre, Aubinh, Cransac, Firmin, Vivièrs / Christian-Pierre Bedel e los estatjants del canton d'Aubinh, Rodez, Mission départementale de la culture, 1998, Al canton coll., 247 pages, ill., cov. ill., 28 cm, , ISSN 1151-8375, BnF 36708370
External links Aubin official website Church of Notre-Dame website Aubin on the old IGN website The Miner on the sculptor's website Aubin on Géoportail, National Geographic Institute (IGN) website Albin on the 1750 Cassini Map