Record Atlas
5 eras · 1250–2026 · 2 places

Haute-Auvergne — Aurillac and Saint-Flour (Cantal)

Aurillac, Saint-Flour, Arpajon-sur-Cère. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1250–1317 County of Auvergne under Alphonse de Poitiers — bailliage des Montagnes d'Auvergne Archives départementales du Cantal · FamilySearch

The distinction between the high and low country dates from about 1250, when Alphonse de Poitiers created the bailliage des Montagnes d'Auvergne. After Alphonse's death in 1271 Auvergne reverted to the royal domain.
1317–1573 Kingdom of France — Haute-Auvergne, diocese of Saint-Flour Archives départementales du Cantal · Archives municipales de Saint-Flour · FamilySearch

The diocese of Saint-Flour was created in 1317. In 1328 the Montagnes bailliage counted 215 parishes and 27,382 hearths. The gentlemen of the high country were mustered at Aurillac on 15 May 1533.
1573–1790 Kingdom of France — vice-bailliage of the Montagnes d'Auvergne Archives départementales du Cantal · FamilySearch

A vice-bailli of the Montagnes d'Auvergne was created in 1573 to suppress disorder and the post was suppressed in 1720. Historians treat the Haute-Auvergne before the Revolution as mainly a droit écrit area.
1790–1801 France — Cantal department Archives départementales du Cantal · FamilySearch

Cantal was one of the original departments created on 4 March 1790, with Aurillac as prefecture and Saint-Flour and Mauriac as sub-prefectures. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy abolished the diocese of Saint-Flour, whose bishop refused the oath. Civil registration began in 1792.
1801–2026 France — Cantal Archives départementales du Cantal · Archives municipales de Saint-Flour · FamilySearch · Geneanet

The bishopric of Saint-Flour was reinstated after the Concordat of 1801 with the borders of the Cantal department. Registers older than 100 years are in the departmental archives; the more recent ones stay at the mairie.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1250–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

2 places on this ground

118 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 58 more.

All record regions · The map