| Aydius | |
| Commune Status: | Commune |
| Arrondissement: | Oloron-Sainte-Marie |
| Canton: | Oloron-Sainte-Marie-1 |
| Insee: | 64085 |
| Postal Code: | 64490 |
| Mayor: | Bernard Choy[1] |
| Term: | 2020 - 2026 |
| Intercommunality: | Haut Béarn |
| Coordinates: | 43.002°N -0.54°W |
| Elevation Min M: | 551 |
| Elevation Max M: | 2173 |
| Area Km2: | 34.72 |
Aydius (in French pronounced as /aidjus/;[2] [3] Occitan (post 1500);: Aidius) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France.
Aydius is located some 25 km south by south-east of Oloron-Sainte-Marie just east of Bedous. Access to the commune is by the D237 road from Bedous which goes to the village and terminates there. The commune is alpine in nature with extensive forests, rugged terrain and snow-capped mountains in the east.[4]
The Gabarret river rises in the east of the commune and flows west gathering a large number of tributaries including the Ruisseau d'Arces, the Ruisseau du Saslars, the Gave de Béranfueil, the Gave de Bouren, the Ruisseau d'Ilhiec, the Ruisseau Sarité, the Ruisseau de Traillère, and the Ruisseau de Sahun (which forms part of the western border of the commune) before flowing west to join the Gave d'Aspe at Bedous.
The commune name in Gascon is Aidius. Michel Grosclaude said that the name probably comes from the same root as Aydie but its origin and meaning remain obscure.
The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.
| Name | Spelling | Date | Source | Page | Origin | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aydius | Aydius | 1385 | Grosclaude | Village | |||
| Lo temple de Sent Martin d'Aydius | 1590 | Raymond | Register of Aydius, BB, i, folio 3 | ||||
| Aydius | 1750 | Cassini | |||||
| Anire | Amire | 1385 | Raymond | Census | Farm | ||
| Anire | 1863 | Raymond | |||||
| Le Col des Arques | Le Col des Arques | 1863 | Raymond | Pass from Aydius to Gère-Bélesten | |||
| Les Arrouyes | Les Arrouyes | 1863 | Raymond | Mountain | |||
| Barca | Barca | 1863 | Raymond | Mountain | |||
| Le Béranguet | Le Béranguet | 1863 | Raymond | Stream | |||
| Le Bouren | Le Bouren | 1863 | Raymond | Stream | |||
| Les Ichantes | Les Ichantes | 1863 | Raymond | Hamlet | |||
| L'Illecq | L'Illecq | 1863 | Raymond | Stream | |||
| Les Jaupins | Les Jaupins | 1863 | Raymond | Hamlet | |||
| Mariebère | Marie-Bère | 1863 | Raymond | Mountain[5] | |||
| Bois de Mousquaté | Mousquété | 1863 | Raymond | Forest | |||
| Mousté | Mousté | 1863 | Raymond | Mountain on the border with Sarrance | |||
| Col de Pian | Le Col de Pian | 1863 | Raymond | Pass to Bedous | |||
| Col de Picas | Le Col de Picas | 1863 | Raymond | Mountain Pass | |||
| Salars | Les Salars | 1863 | Raymond | Hamlet |
Sources:
Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. [7]
Origins:
A rock shelter dating from prehistory called Abri Gandon-Lassus has been discovered in the commune.
Paul Raymond noted on page 18 of his 1863 dictionary that the commune had a Lay Abbey, vassal of the Viscounts of Béarn and that in 1385 there were 30 fires and Aydius depended on the bailiwick of Aspe.[7]
List of Successive Mayors[10]
| From | To | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 2014 | Bernard Bourguinat | |
| 2014 | 2026 | Bernard Choy |
The commune is part of four inter-communal structures:
In 2017 the commune had 114 inhabitants.
The economy of the commune is mainly focused towards agriculture and livestock. The commune is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone of Ossau-iraty.
The commune has many sites that are registered as historical monuments:
Aydie contains a number of high mountains:
In his book L'ours et les brebis (The Bear and the sheep), Etienne Lamazou recounted his life as a transhumant shepherd from 1913 to 1969. Originally from Aydius, he never left except to take his cattle to their winter plain. He recounted the life of a shepherd as it still existed at the beginning of the 20th century. All the action takes place in and around Aydius and the book has many thousands of anecdotes sometimes soothing, sometimes moving, and often instructive.