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Origin and history

The hamlet of the Taxo d'Avall, now attached to Argelès-sur-Mer in the Pyrénées-Orientales, has its origins at least since the 9th century. The site is first mentioned in 823 as Villa Tacione, associated with a nearby river called Fluvium Tacitum. From the tenth century, the texts clearly distinguish two entities: Villa Tacidone subteriore (Taxo d'Avall, the "bottom") and Villa Tacidone superiore (Taxo d'Amont, the "top"), revealing a structured occupation of the territory. The etymology of the name suggests a connection with a late-Roman landowner, Tattius or Tascius, followed by suffix -onem, typical of the rural domain names of late antiquity.

In the 11th century, Taxo d'Avall became a power center with the construction of a castle, the seat of a Viscount. The first mention of a Viscount dates from 1013 with Guillem Adalbert I, followed by a line of local lords until the twelfth century. The castle, accompanied by a Romanesque church dedicated to Saint-Martin and Sainte-Croix, forms a fortified complex characteristic of Catalan medieval architecture. The current remains include a square dungeon, a watchtower, and courtines pierced with arches, while the church retains Romanesque elements such as carved capitals and a cradle vault.

The political history of the site is marked by changes in sovereignty. In 1172, Roussillon County passed under Aragonese domination, transforming the Viscount of Taxo into a seigneury. She changed her hands several times: to the Despuigs in 1344 by marriage, then to the Oms (teachers of Calmella) in the 14th century, before being assigned in 1668 to the Baron of Montclar, Joseph de Pons. During the Revolution in 1790, Taxo d'Avall was incorporated into the commune of Argelès-sur-Mer, while Taxo d'Amont was attached to Saint-André. Recent excavations and studies, such as those published in 2020 in Archéologie du Midi Médiéval, highlight the importance of the site to understand medieval rural habitat in Roussillon.

The architectural remains still visible today have been protected since 1986 as historical monuments. The church, dungeon and remnants of the fortified enclosure illustrate the evolution of the site, from Carolingian origins to its gradual decline after the Middle Ages. The modern Catalan toponymy, Tatzó d'Avall, recalls the deep linguistic and cultural roots of this hamlet, now reduced to a place called but bearing a feudal and seigneurial memory unique in Occitanie.

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