Gallo-Roman period The Roman villas, the substructures of which were identified through aerial photographs shot by Picard archaeologist
Roger Agache demonstrate that the area was well exploited during the Gallo-Roman period. They were located between the chemin des Essertis ("the Essertis path") and the
Grivesnes valley (average size villa, rectangular farmyard), at l'Epinette (wider villa, with a trapezoidal farmyard and with a legible central building), at the South-East exit of the village, between Pommeroy and le Moulin Prudent ("the prudent mill"). Small substructures scattered over a large area on the South-East corner of the Coullemelle wood could be remains of a
vicus (rural domain). The substructures were partly excavated. The vast majority of the inventoried furniture dates from the first centuries AD. The Neolithic left some traces in the site of l'Epinette ("the spruce"). Similarly, a small square enclosure spotted near le Bois Planté ("the planted wood") between Coullemelle and Grivesnes seems prehistoric.
Merovingian and Carolingian periods The oldest discovered texts date from years 985 to 989. They recall that every year on St. Mathieu fest, the twenty-four villages depending on the
Corbie Abbey were to deliver two or four
setiers of honey each and, for twenty-two of them, twenty-five to sixty
muids of blackberries. CULMELLAE ou CUMELLAE was concerned by both annual debts. Moreover, the provost of the abbey Saint-Pierre of Corbie was responsible for organizing, at the expenses of the
manse of Culmellae a
past (annual festive meal) commemorating, every 9 September, Father Isaac. It is not proven that there was a special relationship between the recipient and the donor of the meal. Nineteen manses, seven of which were located in the current district of
Montdidier, were to celebrate other abbots. Isaac reigned from 840 to 843, thus his birthday pasts could have occurred after the middle of the ninth century. Queen
Bathilde and her son
Clotaire III had funded the Corbie Abbey in 657. Coullemelle lands were not part of the first dot, however, they were given to Corbie in the Merovingian or early Carolingian period.
Demographic and economic development during the 12th and 13th centuries In July 1209, Richard de Gerberoy, bishop of Amiens, founded the cure of Coullemelle (Colonmeles) from the dismembering of the
Rocquencourt cure, at the request of Raoul de Clermont, of Foulque, Rocquencourt priest, of Osmond, Coullemelle vavasor and of the village inhabitants that were increasing in number. To this cure was attached the mense of Lord Raoul, located in the Bois (forest), as well as the menses of Fourquivillers (Focolviller) and of Bus Oserain. Saint-Nicolas church was pre-existing the foundation of the cure. The benedictine prior d'
Élincourt (in the Oise region) was the precentor. The « Focolviller » quoted in this text is the same as the « Forsenviller » of a chart of 1146 in which Thierry, bishop of Amiens, expresses the rights and the privileges of the benedictin priory of Notre-Dame of
Montdidier and gives the list of its belongings such as portions of the forest and of the fields of Fourquivillers. In a bull of 1173,
Pope Alexander III confirmed the rights and the possessions of the priory. Osmond mayor had already to deal with the
Corbie Abbey in 1174 when he had to recognize that his house in Coullemelle (Colomellis) with belonging to a fief of the abbey and that he owed the abey six capons and two
setiers of vine. He also owed the taxes of the Hopital, a lazaret located between Coullemelle,
Villers-Tournelle and Rocquencourt. By compensation, the abbot of Corbie granted to Osmond the land of Fros under the express reserve to pay the "terrage" and the tithe to the abbey. === The 14th and 15th centuries, the
Hundred Years' War and the
Jacquerie === The war between the
Plantagenets and the
Valois for the throne of France is triggered by the death without heirs of
Charles IV. The recovery by
Philip VI of Valois of the
Ponthieu from his English vassal caused devastation in East Picardy. After the French defeat at
Crecy 1360, Ponthieu returned to England. Beauvaisis and
Santerre are still controlled by the French, except during the 1429-1431 period when the Burgundians controlled northern Picardy and the English controlled southern Picardy. The English weaken and the war between Burgundy duke
Philip the Good and French king
Charles VII ends in 1435. However, the region remains disrupted until the late Middle Ages. For Coullemelle and the nearby villages, the most important event is the Great Peasant
Jacquerie in 1358, soon after the defeat of
Poitiers and the capture of
John the Good by the English. Among the victims of the peasants are the brothers Raoul and Jean de Clermont-Nesle, lords of Coullemelle. On May 28, a convoy from the
Montdidier region wants to cross the bridge of
Saint-Leu-d'Esserent to deliver grains to the Parisians. The Clermont, who are on their land, opposed. Raoul was killed and his brother managed to escape. This is the beginning of an uprising against the nobility which extends in Beauvaisis, especially in the area of Montdidier. The Jacques loot and burn houses of Raoul and his mother in
Fontaine and a mansion belonging to Jean in
Courtemanche. Many other castles were destroyed by the Jacques, including those of
Cardonnois,
Mesnil St Firmin, the
Herelle,
Breteuil,
Folleville,
La Faloise,
Lawarde-Mauger,
Fransures,
Louvrechy,
Mailly-Raineval,
Pierrepont and
Moreuil, all less than fifteen kilometers from Coullemelle. The revolt was quickly suppressed. June the 10th, everything is over. The Jacques were succeed, after a short respite, by big bands of adventurers who plunder and massacre between battles. The
Breteuil Castle, destroyed by the English in 1427, is then occupied by captain Blanchefort, companion of
La Hire and
Joan of Arc, for
Charles VII. His soldiers devastated villages among which, probably, Coullemelle. The castle of Folleville passed from one hand to the other. During these troubled times, the lands become worthless. Charles VII fate winner of the war that ended in 1453. In Coullemelle, the Busozerain farm and three hundred and eighty six
journaux (about half a hectare) of land passes from the hands of the abbey of Visigneux to the
Celestines of Offemont in 1395 then to the Amiens Celestines in 1435. In 1488, the stronghold of the Bouteillerie, which includes two hundred
journaux, belongs to
François de Bourbon as husband of
Mary of Luxembourg before being transmitted to John of
Fransures in 1494. François is a descendant of
Robert of France, sixth son of
Saint Louis. Francis and Marie will have as great grandchildren both
Henri IV and
Mary Stuart. Marie's cousin
John of Luxembourg St. Pol (1400-1466), Lord of
Haubourdin and
Ailly sur Noye whose church contains the monumental tomb where he is buried with his wife
Jacqueline of Trémoille. John fought mainly for the Burgundians. Throughout the war, the local population has decreased. In 1469,
Rocquencourt has no more than twenty two fires,
Quiry has twenty and
Esclainvillers ten. The fifty fires of Coullemelle make it one of the most populated parishes of the provost of Montdidier. Pierre Hurel from
Colomelles, diocese of Amiens, appears in the register of the Masters of the
University of Paris in 1349. The university was then divided into four Nations among which Picardy (fidelissima Picardorum natio) gather the students, speaking the same language, from ten dioceses from
Laon and
Beauvais to
Utrecht and
Liège. The other three nations were French, English and Norman. === The 16th century, from
Charles XI to
Henri IV === March 25, 1563, Charles IX ordered the alienation of the fourth part of the clergy property to support the kingdom. Accordingly, Corbie Abbey is obliged to sell part of its properties. The Fourquivillers farm with its two hundred and four journaux is awarded in September by Breteuil Abbey to Lanvin Geoffroy, abbot of Tenailles, Lord of Coullemelle, for three thousand six hundred and twenty six
livres. Fourquivillers is then owned by Knights Jean Lanvin, brother of Geoffroy and Olivier Plessis, Lord of Blérancourt and Cuisabot. In 1583, cardinal Sainte-Croix, Abbot of Breteuil, gives the Fourquivillers farm to Antoine Estourmel, Lord of Plainville and Coullemelle. Four years later, Estourmel, who disputed the amount claimed by Breteuil he considers too high in view of the ravages of the soldiery, won his trial. Religious give up their claims and Estourmel pays them a hundred
couronnes. Representatives of the
three Estates are called in
Peronne in 1567 to draw up the "practice of the government". Sir Geoffrey de Lanvin represents the Estate of nobility for his lands of Coullemelle and Fourquivillers. The first
Catholic League is formed there in 1568 headed by Jacques Humières, governor of Picardy, who refused to surrender the city to Protestants as requested by the king. Protestant lands are seized, particularly those of
Folleville,
Paillart and other lands owned by Louis de
Lannoy. August 3, 1588, the priest Jehan Frère part in the election of the representative of the clergy of the bailiwick of Montdidier to the
Estates General of
Blois. These Estates General sit on a background of struggles between factions of
religious war (1562-1593), the Catholic League accusing the royal authority of complacency towards Protestants. The last forty years of the century were marked by these struggles. In Picardy, Protestantism is mainly a matter of nobles. It has the support of governors
Coligny and
Louis de Condé. The latter is a nephew of
François de Vendôme-Bourbon and
Marie de Luxembourg who had held the stronghold of the Bouteillerie between Coullemelle and Villers. He is lord of Breteuil from 1556 to 1569. The novelist Michel Peyramaure to praise the warrior skill of Henry IV, wrote that in 1592 he defeated by surprise the Spanish between Montdidier and Coullemelle "The king was right. The Spanish army was in a hilly country. Farnese had spread its banners around the village of Coullemelle ". This happened in January when the king harassed the Spanish from Rouen to Folleville. Coullemelle cultivates cereals and
woad and has several grain and
Waide (woad in
Picard) mills on its territory. Grain farming is prosperous enough as opportunities to Flanders are wide open from the warehouses of
Corbie. However, the market of waide, which was of great benefit, ends in jeopardy during the war. There remains as traces a place called "''ch'moulin''" (the mill) and the name of a family still living in the village "the Wadiers". It is the same for another place name: a farm located between Coullemelle, Villers-Tournelle and Rocquencourt that had belonged during the late sixteenth century to the Hospitallers of Saint John. The people of Rocquencourt still speak of this pasture as the "Hospital".
The 17th century The economic crisis The
Thirty Years' War brought great damage to many surrounding villages. In 1636, the Spaniards plundered and burned castles and houses. At
Fontaine, they are accompanied by Polish mercenaries that are the origin of the locality name "Les Pollacs" (the Poles). Between
Le Cardonnois and
Mesnil-Saint-Georges, the "Coupe Gorge" (throat cut) recalls a victory of local inhabitants reinforced by some soldiers from Montdidier against more than a thousand Spanish soldiers. The Farm of Fourquivillers is destroyed between 1636 and 1640 by Spanish troupes or by a band of welders who ravage the country at this time. The
Fronde period induced an economic crisis in the region, the famine and the
bubonic plague from the north which in 1668 decimated
Amiens,
La Faloise,
Bonneuil,
Moreuil. However, in 1698 the population of Coullemelle reached the number of five hundred after several decades of large excess of births over deaths.
Church and nobility Among the priests Revel, Carneau, Gallet (1668-1699), Dangest, Godefroy (1700-1706) and Carron (1706-1754), the most famous is
Don Carneau, the Parisian poet. The last two at least are buried in the church. In 1617,
Vincent de Paul preached at
Folleville the sermon which founded the
priests of the Mission. He was then tutor of the children of the
Gondi family. The fief of the Chapelle Saint Quentin, independent of the lord of Fourquivillers, is held by the Jesuits of the Collège d'Amiens. They exploit about forty hectares in several fields located between the Croix Masson and Croq. The leases are shared among several laborers of Coullemelle among which the Ponthieu and Revel families whose descendants still lived the village during the last century. The family of Monchy gave several lords to Fourquivillers at the beginning of the century. To Charles, Marquis of Hocquincourt,
Marshal of France, succeeded his son Georges and then his grandson Charles. The seigniory and the lands fell into the hands of
Antoine de Pas, Marquis de Feuquieres by his marriage to Mary Magdalene de Monchy in 1694. The family of Estourmel, linked to that of the Bourbons, also provided with several lords Antoine then Charles, governor of
Corbie, and his wife Anne Gobelin of the family of
illustrious upholsterers and Anne de Wault, Dame de Monceau, sister of Charles. Anne Gobelin's niece is
Marie Madeleine d'Aubray, the famous poisoner known as
La Brinvilliers.
The 18th century Periods of excess mortality Parish registers provide accurate demographic information. In 1747, fifty-one deaths were reported, whereas the average annual rate was only eleven deaths. This is predominantly due to child death excess: forty-five children under the age of fifteen, sixteen of whom are under the age of two. It is also surprising to note that a peak of ten deaths appears in August with four women aged from seven to sixteen and six children under the age of fifteen. Among them, the children in nanny coming from Paris are numerous to die very young. The surrounding villages do not present this anomaly. Would it be
food poisoning? On the other hand, the excess mortality of 1783 (twenty-eight deaths for an average of fifteen) is explained without ambiguity by the exceptional eruption of the Icelandic volcano chain
Laki, which, for eight months, emitted thick clouds of toxic gases which had the effect of doubling the number of deaths in England and Northern Europe. A local witness insists on the persistence in June–July of a fog so thick "that we were six weeks without seeing the sun".
Occupations Most of the inhabitants are plowmen or weavers but craftsmen are also very present. In 1763, there were twenty-three farmers, fourteen wool-workers, twelve carpenters, thatched roofers, shoemakers, marshals, wheelwrights, coopers and a few more rare craftsmen, a sworn surveyor at the bailliage, a cleric lai, a surgeon and two lieutenants. Simon Toulet is a farmer of the lands of Coullemelle for the
Corbie Abbey. The year before, the parish received from the army the certificate of the death of Bon Théry. Son of the plowman François Théry and soldier of the
Royal Roussillon regiment since 1743, he died in 1660 following wounds received at the
Battle of the Plains of Abraham in
Quebec.
Church and nobility To Antoine Carron, parish priest from 1706 to 1754, succeeded Louis Bourgeois for ten years, François Pommart for two years and Jean Doublet for eighteen years. André Clain was appointed parish priest the year before
the Revolution. Abbot Doublet inscribed at the head of the parish book of 1773 that "Coullemelle has for patron
Saint Nicholas and for fief lords Messires de
Fricamps and the Religious of
Corbie". Pierre Violette is a tonsured clerk in 1785 and deacon in 1788. Coullemelle then gather a maximum of five hundred and eighty seven inhabitants: to laborers, households and craftsmen adding prosperous weavers and vine growers. On a plaque recovered from the ruins of the old church and exposed in the baptistery are inscribed two foundations. One is made by the husbandman Toussaint Revel, the other by « Grégoire Raisin, courier du cabinet du Roy »" (
Grégoire Raisin, courier of the King's cabinet). In the years 1720, Louis Pingré is Lord of Coullemelle. He is followed by Pantaleon Pingré Lord of
Fricamps and his widow Marie Catherine who in 1783 gave the seigniory of Fourquivillers and Coullemelle to her cousin Paul François Le Boucher du Mesnil, ultimate lord of the village. ==Population==