Exmes

Exmes (French pronunciation: [ɛm]) is a former commune in the Orne department in north-western France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Gouffern en Auge.^[2] It was the seat of the county of Hiémois (French: Comté d'Hiémois), granted before his death in 1027 by Richard II, Duke of Normandy, to his younger son, Robert, who eventually succeeded as Duke of Normandy. In 1136, Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, led an expedition against Exmes and burned parts of the town, including the church of Notre Dame.

Exmes
Part of Gouffern en Auge
Location of Exmes
Exmes Show map of France Exmes Show map of Normandy
Coordinates: 48°45′40″N 0°10′50″E
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Orne
Arrondissement	Argentan
Canton	Argentan-2
Commune	Gouffern en Auge
Area 1	10.43 km2 (4.03 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[1]	268
• Density	26/km2 (67/sq mi)
Demonym	Hiémois
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal code	61310
Elevation	145–268 m (476–879 ft) (avg. 317 m or 1,040 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Herbert de Losinga, Bishop of Norwich (c. 1095–1119), was born in Exmes as well was François Le Prévost d'Exmes (1729–1793), an 18th-century playwright.

Toponymy

Attested apparently first from Merovingian times, the name is of Celtic origin, with many parallels in other placenames and words.

Heraldry

Arms of Exmes

The arms of Exmes are blazoned : Azure, 2 greyhounds passant argent.

See also

• Communes of the Orne department