First rule of the beats 1730 (≈ 1730)
Creation of the first common rule.
1834
Last Bates Rule
Last Bates Rule 1834 (≈ 1834)
End of the formalized institution of beatates.
10 septembre 1990
Registration for historical monuments
Registration for historical monuments 10 septembre 1990 (≈ 1990)
Official protection of the monument and its elbow.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
House of Assembly of Augeac, with its elbow (Box B 445): inscription by order of 10 September 1990
Key figures
Béates vellaves - Secular educators
Training in hamlets.
Origin and history
The Assembly House of Augeac is an emblematic monument of the Velay, located in the commune of Bains, Haute-Loire. Built between the 18th and 19th centuries, it embodies a unique local institution: that of the beatates. These young pious women, organized in a secular association as early as 1730, raised children in hamlets too modest to own their own school. The house, the collective property of the inhabitants, served both as housing for the bates and as a place of instruction.
The architecture of the house reflects its utility and community function. Its main façade is squared with a door and two windows topped by massive stone lintels. A bell, placed on the roof and supported by a flat stone structure, allowed the villagers to gather together. This simple building, inscribed in historical monuments in 1990, illustrates the adaptation of the rural communities of Vellaves to their scattered environment, where mutual assistance and the transmission of knowledge were of paramount importance.
The institution of the beatates, active until 1834, was based on a system of exchange: the village hosted and maintained the beatate in return for its educational and religious services. These women, subject to a common rule, played a central role in the social cohesion of hamlets. Their house, often accompanied by an adjacent corner, remained an undivided property of the inhabitants, symbolizing their solidarity. The house of Augeac, with its elbow, has been preserved for its character representative of this cultural and architectural heritage unique to the Velay.
The protection of this monument by decree of 10 September 1990 underlines its historical and ethnological importance. It bears witness to an original social organization, where education and spiritual life were provided by lay people in a community setting. Today, the Assembly House in Augeac offers a concrete overview of the Vellave traditions, marked by the geographical isolation and ingenuity of rural populations to overcome the lack of centralized infrastructure.
