The inhabitants of the commune are known as Anhauztar.[4][5]
Geography
A business name on a lintel
Anhaux is located some 2 km west of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and some 10 km south of Ossès. Access to the commune is solely by country roads branching from the D15 road passing to the north of the commune. The commune consists of farmland in the north with the southern part more rugged and hilly.
The commune is drained by several left tributaries of the Nive (Adourdrainage basin).[6] The Ontzeroneker erreka' - a tributary of the Nive d'Arnéguy - with many tributaries rising in the commune forms the southern border with Lasse commune. A right tributary of the Berroko erreka, the Aparraineko erreka flows down from the Artzaïnharria (971 m).
Anhaux village is one of eleven hamlets or villages which were in the Baigorry Valley. In the Middle Ages, the eleven hamlets were: Ascarat, Sorhoeta, Moussourits, Lasse, Irouleguy, Urdos, Leispars, Occos, Oticoren, Guermiette, and Anhauz, all in the north of the valley. The south was not populated until much later. Despite sounding Basque, the name of this village seems to defy all analysis. The oldest document known on which the name Anhaux appears is now the cartulary of the abbey of Saint-Jean of Sorde where it appears in the 10th century.
Father Haristoy in his book Research on the Basque Country noted that recorded in this cartulary were:
"1068-1072 Oz Guilhem de Onotz and his wife received from Saint-Jean a piece of land located at Anhaux subject to they and their successors providing security and seven loaves, one pig, one pint of wine, and two measures of provisions";
"1072-1100 Fort Garcies de Onoz with his wife Farguild, and son undertook to give in perpetuity to Saint-Jean (of Sordes) six loaves, two measures of cider, and two civades".
The Benedictine Abbey in question was founded in the 9th century north-east of Navarre. It was, as with all the monasteries at the time, a vast agricultural area spread along the mountain streams in Orthe country and lower Navarre and, according to the two cited references, in the parish of Anhaux.
It was around 1023 that King Sancho III of Navarre founded the fief of the Viscounty of Baigory in favour of Garcias Lop who was related. The creation of the hamlet itself, on the viscounts' lands, therefore dates back to this period. Thus from the 11th century the status of houses at Anhaux was defined by the writer Jean-Baptiste Orpustan.[17] He provided a list of houses existing in the Middle Ages in Anhaux. This document was created from the archives from 1350, 1366, and 1412.
Of the twenty-eight houses found there, four were noble (only the house was noble and so the owners were considered as such), the others were fivatiéres which means that they paid a fee in crops, work, or money and were built on the land of the "Lord" of the main house.
The successive Viscounts of Baigorry then of Echaux enjoyed the tithes of the village until their liquidation in 1792.
The arms Anhaux are those of the Apesteguy family. They were adopted by the municipal council on 30 July 1993. Pierre Haristoy[18] wrote that the Apesteguy were lords of Jaureguia and of Anhaux and nominated the priest for the area. In deeds before 1670 several of the Apesteguy appear as noble. Towards 1720 Jean-Pierre d'Apesteguy was received by the States of Navarre. The house of Apesteguia was, until the 18th century, the Lay Abbey for the area. Its members played an important role in the valley until the end of the 19th century.
The Cassini map, made in the 18th century shows a parish consisting of:
the village of Anhaux with a parish church;
the hamlet of Choubitoua: currently a district of the same name;
the hamlet of Bassabouria: currently the Olheguy district;
the hamlet of Ounsaharte: currently the Lacoa district;
the hamlet of Ançonne: currently the Tambourine district and part of the Mounhoa district on the slopes of Arrola peak.
Heraldry
Arms of Anhaux
Blazon:
Azure, a pale of Argent flanked by two escallops the same.
The Church of Saint John the Baptist (Middle Ages) is registered as an historical monument.[24] It was almost entirely rebuilt in 1838. Its cemetery has some Hilarri.
Hilarri in the Cemetery
Environmental Heritage
The Adartza (1,250m) is a mountain located between Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry, Lasse, and Anhaux.
The Artzaïnharria is 971m high
The Arrolakoharria, between Banca, Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry, and Anhaux, is 1,060m high.
The Munhoa (or Monhoa) (1,021m) is a mountain located between Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. It can be accessed via Anhaux, Lasse, or Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry by the GR10.[7]
Notable people linked to the commune
Jean Iraçabal, born in 1851 at Anhaux and died in 1929 (buried at Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry), was a decorated French military officer.
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